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March 17, 2006

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?
Macwebagentfull 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.

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» Mac Support for MotionBased Web Agent from GPS Review
MotionBased has announced partial support for Macs by releasing the MotionBased Web Agent. This follows Garmins announcement in January at MacWorld that they would be supporting Macs. The Web Agent is a browser plugin for Safari which connects y... [Read More]

Comments

Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Sweet! Nice work.

It works! I was able to upload 100+ activities.

Thanks so much! Congrats ... you guys just got a paying customer. I'm sure there will be tons more like me!

YEAH! Now I don't have to use my huband's computer. Just uploaded my first activity on mac and it worked great!

Currently not functioning for me. I've got a 305 with a number of workouts. The web agent runs, but when the file uploads I get "The contents of the file is not recognized." Restarted safari, reinstalled the software, restarted the gps. Same results

Thanks so much! This upgrade was what it took to get me to buy a Forerunner and now I've subscribed to MB to track all of my workouts. Really looking forward to Map Player support.

Your work is much appreciated guys!! Well done, keep working on the map player etc! :-)

Thank you!!

Thank you guys so much for this app. It works great with my new Edge 205 and really makes MotionBased a great, great tool for us. Thanks again!

Great!

Hopefully Garmin gets ist things together as well so I can download courses and tracks to my edge...

Eric,

I can't tell you the timeframe of Garmin Training Support for the Mac; however, you will soon be able to download courses to your Edge through MotionBased. We're shooting for May if not sooner.

http://blog.motionbased.com/2006/03/courses_at_sea_.html

Excellent! I am an inline speed skater considering a Forerunner 301 as my first GPS/HRM unit. It was starting to look like lack of Mac support would be a deal-breaker, but I guess not. Chalk up one more sale!

What's the latest on Mac support? Both Garmin and Motionbased seem to have fallen behind on their release plans.

As you know, MotionBased already supports Mac uploads and basic functionality on the site. We intend to have the Map Player, Analyzer and Download functions working by early February.

The Mac version of Garmin Training Center is slated for release in early January.

Garmin Training Center for Mac slated for January? I just may buy the Forerunner I was just looking at! I think you'll find more runners using Macs than you realized.

For all sick of waiting for Garmin, use TrailRunner for OS X and your ForeRunner, TODAY:

TrailRunner is a route planning application for people who enjoy running, biking, hiking or skiing, works with the Nike + Apple Sport Kit.

With TrailRunner you can plan workout routes on a geographical map, export the route directions onto any GPS Device like the Garmin ForeRunner and Garmin Edge and import the collected exercise data back into the workout diary. Other features are an exercise plan, .Mac weblog publishing, a GPS, GPX and KML Import/Export and an integrated map and elevation data download from global mapping services like USGS topo maps.

With this feature set TrailRunner is the perfect companion for runners, bikers, hikers and all people wandering under the sky.

You can find more information about TrailRunner on my website: http://www.trailrunnerx.com.

Happy season greetings. berbie.

As the subject of this MBlog post states, Garmin does support the Mac when one utilizes MotionBased. You can upload to MotionBased and utilize all features other than the Analyzer and Map Player. With the introduction of the Player (still in Beta, it will eventually replace the Analyzer) http://wiki.motionbased.com/mb/Player, we are one step closer to giving full support to the Mac. You also have unlimited storage at MotionBased, full access to the TrailNetwork, and data analysis for every activity including some amazing Reports features. While the Training Center Team continues work on releasing the finished product of TC, you might want to check out all the features available to Mac users at MotionBased.

When will the rest of the handheld Garmin GPS line (from this list http://www.motionbased.com/info/gps/view.mb?tile=info.gps.supported) be supported. I already own a GPSmap 60C.

Hi Gino,

It is our goal to offer support for all devices with USB by the end of the year.

Kathryn

kind of a half-ass support don't you think? i have a GPS map 60 ($500) and a mac that has 10.3.9 ($2000) so i am S.O.L.. doesn't garmin own part of MB? you would think they would have figured this out by now.
well it is back to using mac pro gps for a while i guess.

i wish the mac guys would just design some software for their machine so we do not have to rely on after market stuff....

a really dissatisfied customer......
david

Hi David,

As stated above it is our goal at MotionBased to support all devices with USB by the end of 2007. MotionBased has been a division of Garmin since October of 2005. We have offered partial Mac support since early 2006.

Garmin released Training Center for Mac for use with USB fitness devices in January of 2007. The goal is to continue broadening the support for other USB devices.

We do wish that this process was faster moving.

Best,

Kathryn
MotionBased Staff


So February is almost over and spring is fast approaching, how is the new release coming along?

Back in spring 06 you said that by that summer you would be fully Mac supported. Is this correct or not. It is unclear from your webiste.

i hope you are.

Back in spring 06 you said that by that summer you would be fully Mac supported. Is this correct or not. It is unclear from your webiste.

i hope you are.

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