Non-APRS iPhone Tracking

If you're not a ham and just want to do tracking I found a great tracking app I use for biking. You don't need a cell signal as it uses the built-in GPS and is very accurate. It can be used for biking, hiking, skiing, flying, etc. It's not free but it's only $4.99. Below is a link from a short flight I took last weekend to practice some T & G's. I see that I need to work on making my pattern more consistent. I had it programmed to do voice reports every mile. That was fine for biking but it was talking all the time while flying because the miles ticked off too fast. It's also set to automatically e-mail me a report when I stop it. It gives you all sorts of stats but my top speed wasnt' quite that fast so I'll have to send the company a report about that bug. There are a lot of settings that can be changed for reporting. I had it tracking for almost 3 hours today on a bike ride and still had plenty of battery power left.

Website:
http://www.cyclemeter.com

Sample Track:
http://j.mp/dCbgVk

If you zoom in on the Google Map it takes you right from the hanger door and down the taxi-way. Nice little app.

Mark,

How does it post the data to the internet? or does it post after you are back on the ground? The obvious safety feature of any of the tracking methods is the frequency and accuracy of the data.

greg

There are a couple options for posting. The first option is to automatically e-mail your track to you when you're done. Or you can manually e-mail it to anyone you choose. The second option is to set up automatic Twitter post at pre-determined times. Of course you have to set-up a Twitter account and have cell coverage for that to work.

For flying I still use a SPOT and wouldn't expect this to be a substitute for that. This does provide much better tracking than a SPOT but more for just viewing your track later. I haven't tried it, but I'm guessing it would also work in Airplane Mode to help save the battery as well. As you probably know cell coverage isn't the best when flying so the phone would be working hard to find coverage and would use the battery faster.

By the way, here are some stats that wasn't included on the sample track map that it normally sends with the e-mail.

Started: Feb 28, 2010 4:17:00 PM
Trip Time: 35:20
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 48.30 nm
Average: 82.02 nm/hr
Fastest Speed: 594.04 nm/hr
Climb: 4222 feet
Calories: 0
Route: SPB
Activity: Fly
Official Route: Yes

Now you can see what I meant by maximum speed being off a little. I sent an e-mail to their tech support an hour and a half ago and just got a response. That's impressive since it's late Sunday night. I need to send them more info so they can figure it out. Everything else seems fine though. The program is really designed for land based activities but works great in the airplane as well.