Trax ------------- Perfect for runner, bikers, x-country skiers, snowshoers, walkers, kayakers, hikers... you get the idea! Thank you for downloading Trax. Trax is a Palm Pilot application that allows athletes to record statistics about their activities. This file should have all the info you need to get up and running Requirements: - A GPS which outputs NMEA, most do, the Earthmate GPS probably will NOT work though - A Palm device with Palm OS 3.0 or greater - Someway to connect the GPS and your Palm - Microsoft Excel, you need it to analyze data on your computer ------------- Quickstart ---------- Getting Started - Install the application - Get your GPS up and running, get a position lock. Refer to your GPS manual if you need help. Recording - Start Trax - Tap on the Icon labeled New and create a new Trax - Now tap on the record Icon on the main screen or select Record from the menu - Select the Trax you just created as the one you want to record to - In the record screen you should see a Data Link icon, if not check your connections - Now start your activity and hit the Start button - When you have finished hit Stop Analyzing - You can now view a map of your activity by selecting Map from the menu or if you want you can look at a graph by selecting Analyze - Next step is to get this stuff on your PC. Sync your Palm. Now go into the Start menu on your PC and then into programs. Find the Trax folder and then run the Trax program in there - It should start up Microsoft Excel, it might warn you that you are about to run a macro, no worries though that is what you want to do - Now that you have it started hit the Load button and load the Trax you recorded. If you can't find it check out the Troubleshooting section. ------------- Installation ------------ All you should have to do is run the setup.exe file. This program should install the Palm application, the Conduit, and an Excel macro. The Application --------------- This is the meat of the whole package. The Palm application records all the data from the GPS and saves it. Once the data is saved it can either be analyzed on the Palm Pilot or download onto your desktop PC for a more detailed analysis. Opening Screen The opening allows you to access the major functions of the program. Tapping on one of the icons brings you to the corresponding function. The 'i' in the upper right corner provides you with help on getting started. New Screen This screen allows you to create, delete, and rename Trax. When you delete a Trax that is not empty, all the records in that Trax get moved into Default. It is impossible to delete the Default Trax If you want to get rid of the records in the Default Trax just record over them. Record Screen Before you begin recording make sure your Palm Pilot is connected to your GPS. Also make sure you GPS has a 2D or 3D lock. To start recording you have to select which Trax you want to record into. Recording will delete all records currently in the Trax. After you select a Trax you will be brought to the main record screen. Before you can actually start the recording process the Trax program has to be receiving data from the GPS. If Trax is receiving data it will display a satellite icon in the lower left-hand screen. It will also display a message and tell how many satellites are locked onto. Once the Satellite icon has been displayed at least once hit the start button. This will get everything going. Once the recording starts you will be able to see the current latitude, longitude, speed, total time, total distance, avg. speed along with information about the system such as number of records recorded and the amount of free space left on the Palm Pilot. Map Screen The map screen allows you to view a map of a recorded Trax. To zoom in, tap the magnify glass with a plus and to zoom out tap the magnify glass with a minus. The arrows on the border of the map allow you to scroll around. Tapping anywhere on the map will provide you with information about that point on the map. It will give the speed at that point, and the distance and time up until that point. Tap anywhere on the map to clear this information. Tap the circular refresh arrow to return the map to its original view. If you want to change the Trax you viewing, use the drop-down menu in the upper right hand corner. Analyze Screen The analyze screen provides you with a graph of speed over time and statistics about that Trax. To switch which Trax is displayed use the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner. List Screen This screen allows you to view individual records within a Trax. You can look at distance, speed, and time. To switch which Trax is being viewed use the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner. Settings Screen The Settings screen can be accessed from the menu under tools. The Record Frequency settings allows you to set how often a record is record. The Record Frequency represents the minimum amount of time in between records; it could be a couple seconds extra sometimes. The lower the Record Frequency the greater the memory requirement because more records are going to be recorded. The benefit however is that a more detail record is kept. If your course is going to be changing a lot it is better to have a lower Record Frequency so that it captures this detail. It never hurts to experiment a little to find a setting you like. Your are also able to change weather statistics are displayed in kilometers or miles. Changing this affects how the map, list and analyze screen display their statistics. There are also two alarms that can be set. One will sound after a certain number of miles while the other will sound after a certain number of minutes. This is helpful if you want to go jogging for 2 miles. The Trax program will start beeping after two miles have been recorded. ------------- The Conduit ----------- The conduit transfers the Trax you have recorded from the Palm Pilot to your desktop computer. It should be installed when you install the Trax program. The conduit does its stuff when you Hotsync your Palm. You should see Trax Transfer flash on the screen briefly when you sync. After your done with the Hot Sync check the directory Trax Transfer saves its files into (the default is C:\Trax\). In this directory there should be a bunch of files ending in ".CSV". These are the saved version of your Trax. If there are no files in the directory check to make sure the Trax Transfer conduit is installed. Right click on the Hotsync icon in the system tray and select Custom. Trax Transfer should appear as one of the installed conduits. The directory which the conduit saves into can be change using the Trax excel macro. ------------- The Trax Macro -------------- To start this macro, look for the Trax group in the Start menu. Once you start it Excel might give you a warning that you are about to run a Macro, it's okay though, that's what you want to do! Once it gets going you can Load a Trax or change the directory where the Trax Transfer conduit saves. If you load a Trax it will open it up and transform it into something much easier to interpret. If you want to open another file you have to launch the Macro again from the Start menu. ------------- Advice ------ I have found that the best way to carry everything is to use those Neoprene belts that they have for carrying a Walkman when you go jogging. I use a Handspring Visor and the Magellan GPS companion module. It is very light weight and probably one of the most compact solutions out there. And if it looks like rain outside put everything in a ziplock bag. Thanks... --------- Thanks for giving this program a try! I hope you find it useful. If you have any ideas about what could make it better please let me know. This is a project I am very interested in and plan to keep working on. Also if you come up with any interesting or unusual uses or stories let me know and I will put them up on my website. Shout out... ------------ I went to thank Trinity College for giving me the equipment and the credit to work on this project. Also want to thank my advisor Dr. Spezialetti. I have also gotta say that Hong Kong is the greatest place on Earth. Lay hao lang loya! Utada Hikaru is the greatest.... I want to make a color version of this program... but I don't have a color Palm Pilot. If anyone has one they would like to donate... I would be more than happy to take it off your hands. ------------- Luke Klein-Berndt luke.kleinberndt.2001@trincoll.edu