MBlog

Courses at Sea Otter

For the second year in a row, MotionBased is providing the mapping services for most of the races and tours at the Sea Otter Classic taking place April 6 - 9, 2006.

In addition to providing detailed stats, maps and 3-D Google Earth fly-thrus, MotionBased is pleased to announce that we have created Sea Otter Courses that you can download to the new Garmin fitness devices.

Huh? That's right. This is our first step in getting an activity from MotionBased to your GPS device for not only navigation, but for racing and pacing. Because with the Courses feature on the new Garmin fitness devices, the route you download from MotionBased brings along the performance data from the previous activity so you can compare your status from yourself or someone else in "real-time."

Example of Courses - Elevation Profile

We are launching this feature for just a few select routes (look for the blue Courses button) at the 2006 Sea Otter Classic. But watch out... because we plan to enable "Course Downloads" for all activities stored at MotionBased very, very shortly.

Planning to attend Sea Otter? We'll see you there. The MotionBased crew will be there in full force with papa Garmin -- a major sponsor of the Sea Otter Classic. Look for us at the Garmin booth in the Sea Otter Village marketplace. We'll be running demos, talkin' shop, and spreading the good word about Garmin, MotionBased and the latest and greatest feature -- Courses!!!!!

Don't forget to bring your GPS device. It's going to be a Dot Racing bonanza!!

See ya there,
The MB Crew

New Edge or Forerunner Locking Up?

Garmin has identified a bug in some new Forerunner and Edge units (205 and 305) that cause them to lock up after a full charge. Here's a temporary fix until the next software update:

"To power the unit back on, press the "Mode" and "Reset" buttons at the same time. Let go of those two buttons, press the power button, and the unit will turn back on."

Mac Widget

They say the way to a Mac user's core duo is through a widget. So we couldn't help ourselves, and fashioned the MB Dashboard Widget. Displaying the most recent 20 activities in the TrailNetwork or a users Digest, it's a quick and easy way to stay on top of the action at MB. Sorry PC folks, it's a Mac thing.

Since the TrailNetwork is the data source, the Dashboard Widget only shows public activities – whether the username is you, a friend, or one discovered on the TrailNetwork. To change the displayed results, click the i in the bottom right, and input a different username.

Download and learn more about the Dashboard Widget.

Choosing the Right GPS Device

We get asked all of the time -- "What GPS device should I get?" With the latest editions to the Garmin® line-up, we created a GPS fitness guide for Forerunner® and Edge™ to help you evaluate the options. Of course, we have our favorite list of recommended GPS devices (including the GPSMAP® 60CSx handheld). You won’t go wrong with these options –- building that quiver of GPS devices never hurts either.

Mac Support is Here!

After months of hard work and heckling encouragement from the Mac community, we are happy to announce partial Mac support with the release of the MotionBased Web Agent. At Macworld 2006, Garmin announced its commitment to support Mac by the end of the year – this is their first Mac utility. 

What is the MotionBased Web Agent?
A browser plug-in that enables Macs to communicate with Garmin Forerunner and Edge devices. Meaning, Mac users can get data off their GPS device and on MotionBased. Unlike the MotionBased Agent (PC only, client application), the MotionBased Web Agent runs within Safari. After installing the plug-in, users simply connect their USB device and upload by clicking a button in the browser. We evaluated all options and decided a Safari plug-in is the best user experience. Hope you agree? 

Partial Mac Support??
Before getting too excited, let me explain “partial support”. NOT all of MotionBased works on a Mac. Firstly, the Web Agent only works in Safari, and not Firefox or other browsers. Secondly, the Map Player and Analyzer are PC only. We hope to have complete Safari support this summer. So what does work? Well, everything else: Digest, TrailNetwork, Dashboard, Google Maps and Google Earth integrations. As well as sharing via email, links, and viewports.

Download the MotionBased Web Agent and learn more about our Mac support. 

Welcome aboard,
The MB Crew

And of course, we want to thank the folks at Apple for their support and our counterparts at Garmin Tempe.

Training Center Import

Yee-haw! You can now import Garmin Training Center history (.hst file) into MotionBased. "What took so long?" I'm not exactly sure. I heard some chatter in the server-room, it sounded complicated and way over my head.  But who cares, it's here now.

Keep in mind, this should be done as a one-time history dump. Training Center exports your ENTIRE history, it's a "process" and puts a burden on our servers. In the future, if you want data in both places, upload to MotionBased via the MB Agent and Training  Center separately.

The Drill:

• First, you need the latest Garmin Training Center, plus a MotionBased account and MB Agent.

• Next, "Export History" from Garmin Training Center (save file locally to computer)

• Launch MotionBased Agent

• Click Import Files

• Browse and open History File (????_history.hst)
• Check radio button "Send to MotionBased"
• Send   
  

 

• Get comfy with this page, it can take a few. The MB agent is working hard, and most importantly 'zipping' your file to expedite the transfer. Note - DO NOT upload through the MotionBased Upload page via your browser. The file will be rejected by our server.
  

• Voila, it's in your Inbox.

• Now get busy on the Inbox, get those puppies in your Digest
• That's it, not bad huh?

Like anything that's easy, there's a down side. MotionBased cannot import the heart zones associated with the activities. MB assigns the default heart zones. This only pertains to imports, and not the case with activities received from the device. We plan to resolve this with heart rate zone preferences in the next release. 

Tell Us Your Story

We see your runs, rides, or whatever gets you outside, but we know there’s more. If you’re new to fitness and diggin’ MotionBased, we want to hear about it. What’s your story? How does MB fit into your life? What motivates you, is it the little red dot? 

We’re fortunate to get amazing stories about ultras and epics, but we don’t always hear from new users with modest goals. If you’re interested in sharing your story with the MB community, we’d love to hear it. Everyone’s story is special, but we can only choose one. If we pick yours, you get a FREE year of MotionBased Standard.

Put your fingers to work and let your story be heard.

Send emails to stories@motionbased.com. Please include username, that'll keep it honest :-)