 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey Guys'n'Gals, hope youre all doing well!
With the ski season finally upon me, im heading off to the Alps for the Xmas break. I was wondering if anyone can recommend any Iphone apps to improve my trip. Im kinda looking for something that can give me weather, run maps altitude, speed distance etc?
Cheers, B
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I would be extremely weary of apps that track speed and distance. I'm near the end of writing an app to do just this for the iPhone. I've already written one for Windows Mobile that uses an external GPS device. The difference is just staggering. The GPS information coming from the iPhone is just toilet. While testing it in the car if I'm just crawling along in traffic at a few MPH it will report speeds of several hundred MPH. While moving at anything over 20MPH it's fairly accurate.
In fact, it's so bad I'm thinking of pulling the plug on my app and going back to my Windows Mobile version.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Doesn't track anything but have a look at itrail map, not had chance to try it yet but looks ok
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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berzy, WELCOME to Snowheads. Have a look at www.mammut.ch - they have an avalanche app that looks quite good - a bit slow to acquire data on 3g, but useful info
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Motion X is OK for tracking and uses the compass with its map view. Its a running/biking app that works fine for ski/boarding. iTrailMap stores piste maps but does no more than show what's on the paper map in your pocket (which I would far rather drop from a lift than my phone). Be careful not to use anything that requires a data connection when abroad. The cost is eye watering if on a UK sim. Also, the tracking apps will kill your battery in a morning, especially on a cold mountain.
I've got Mammut and that's pretty useless. Its little more than a web link to Meteo.fr
There are some good iphone apps out there but skiing/boarding doesn't really lend itself to iPhones or any smart phone.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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bar shaker, the tests with my app show that the battery, from fully charged and with the screen locked, should last about 6-7hours. There is no question that apps like these kill the phone's battery.
I tested MotionX on the way in to work this morning, and no, I wasn't driving  It seems to lag behind what's actually happening by a few seconds. I guess that it's doing some sort of stats on the data to ensure there are no random spikes in the speed. However, I did notice that while it was trying to do this while we were stopped it would still display that we were doing 3MPH, and only after about 10 seconds of being stopped would it then register we weren't actually moving.
So, it would appear, the morale of the story is... ski as fast as you can, without stopping, and it'll be fine 
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m00958, I use Golfshot and have bought a plug in battery charger as its getting very low by the end of a game. 6-7 hours would be very good, although the cold will reduce this.
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The paid-for version of iTrailMap 3D does track your position on a 3D model of ski areas, and gives you some fairly basic stats about the route taken too. It's quite good to play around with, moving the 3D model of the ski area around seeing where you've been. Seemed to work pretty well last year when I used it in the Grand Massif, but the tracking stats aren't particularly detailed. The models / maps are pre-downloaded so no data connection is required.
I've used Trails quite extensively whilst walking, but not whilst skiing - but I think it would work pretty well. It doesn't pre-download maps but you can use it without mapping and without a data connection, and it does cache maps you have been to. The filtering for the GPS signal is fully customisable - presets exist for Jogging, Hiking, Biking and Driving, but these can be tailored.
m00958, I assume your battery tests are using an iPhone 3GS? The standard 3G's battery doesn't last as long unfortunately - you'd be lucky to get too much more than 4 hours out of it with the GPS chipset enabled. You could have a look at Trails as might give you some ideas (particularly in the GPS filtering department) which you could bring to bear on your app. Do keep us updated in your app - could be interesting!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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More to the point, any I-phone app developers out there ?
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david@mediacopy, m00958 as above.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I use motion x when out on my bike, it does seems a little slow to respond to big speed changes but the averages look about correct. On my 3gs a one hour ride listening to music uses about 20% of the battery
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| mfj197 wrote: |
| The paid-for version of iTrailMap 3D does track your position on a 3D model of ski areas, and gives you some fairly basic stats about the route taken too. It's quite good to play around with, moving the 3D model of the ski area around seeing where you've been. Seemed to work pretty well last year when I used it in the Grand Massif, but the tracking stats aren't particularly detailed. The models / maps are pre-downloaded so no data connection is required. |
This apps has one of the worst review ratings of anything in the app store.
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| bar shaker wrote: |
| mfj197 wrote: |
| The paid-for version of iTrailMap 3D does track your position on a 3D model of ski areas, and gives you some fairly basic stats about the route taken too. It's quite good to play around with, moving the 3D model of the ski area around seeing where you've been. Seemed to work pretty well last year when I used it in the Grand Massif, but the tracking stats aren't particularly detailed. The models / maps are pre-downloaded so no data connection is required. |
This apps has one of the worst review ratings of anything in the app store. |
... and at £2.99 (current price) I certainly wouldn't buy it if I was after detailed tracking statistics. But for reviewing your path on a moveable, rotatable, zoomable model of the mountains it's not bad, and can be done in the wild without a data connection. More of a toy though compared to Trails (which can export your route to Google Earth for example).
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You know it makes sense.
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This app that's launching next week for several US resorts looks like it will be good. http://www.rtp.com/info/realski.asp. It's an augmented reality ski app, which basically means you point your phone somewhere and it feeds in information about what points of interest are shown in the view. Handy for finding the nearest ski lift or mountain restaurant if you can't be bothered to unfold the map! Hopefully they'll increase the resort coverage soon.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Realski does indeed look good, and as you say, hopefully they'll increase the coverage soon. I've only got an iPhone 3G so wouldn't be able to use it at the moment, but maybe next season ...
All they need to do is interface it with the Head Up Display goggles recently featured here on snowHeads!
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Poster: A snowHead
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I did a test this morning, on my 3Gs. Turns out my initla 6-7 hours might have been over estimating a bit. 27 mins of tracking used up 10% battery. So, based on that usage, it'd be about 4-4.5 hours from fully charged.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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IS there a Tesco delivery slot app yet 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I paid for the iTrailMap and what a complete waste of money it is.
The Portes du Soleil map shows Les Gets and Morzine - that's it! Utter garbage.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| chaney wrote: |
I paid for the iTrailMap and what a complete waste of money it is.
The Portes du Soleil map shows Les Gets and Morzine - that's it! Utter garbage. |
The Portes du Soleil comes as two maps - one labelled Portes du Soleil (Morzine) and the other labelled Portes du Soleil (Chatel). Sounds like you haven't downloaded the second one.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| mfj197 wrote: |
| The Portes du Soleil comes as two maps - one labelled Portes du Soleil (Morzine) and the other labelled Portes du Soleil (Chatel). Sounds like you haven't downloaded the second one. |
That's not actually correct.
The one I accessed is via Europe, France, Portes du Soleil.
I never thought to look under Switzerland until I read your reply- yep, sure enough there is another Portes du Soleil map there.
Neither was labelled Morzine or Chatel. I now have two maps downloaded both with the same name.
However, the 'French' one has nothing left of Morzine and the Swiss version has the full Portes du Soleil, including Avoriaz which isn't in the French one.
So I now think it's a crap app for different reasons 
Why not use the same bloody map? Why arbitrarily truncate it and then not even on the border?
</rant>
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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chaney, quality rant
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I have downloaded one free application, here is how it looks while skiing in Peone France, with green color are showed the chair lifts, and blue color - the skiing part, it doesn't need to have any map for the specified ski resort before using it, it takes the map from Google.
http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/118306
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mangup, I am just going to have to learn to live without that.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I have Navioncs Ski - Not tried it on the slope yet.
I have also downloaded GPS tracker just incase I get lost. It uploads your possition to a website. (GPS Co-ords overlayed on google map)
(Both Iphone Apps)
Dave
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Swiss snow report is quite good - has trail maps and weather reports, and free
Only good for Switzerland though!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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mangup, does it need a 3GS for that?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| bar shaker wrote: |
| mangup, I am just going to have to learn to live without that. |
It's only a solution  cheers mate,
And for the 3GS, hmmm probably only when uploading the map to their website, or when the GPS reception is bad.
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I download the PeakLocation App which is £1.79 more out of curiosity than anything else - still undecided:
Pros:
Reading about random ski resorts on the train is really easy (Iran, India, Korea!)
Cons:
Not really sure things like top 50 highest resorts, 2 day weather forecasts or location maps rather than piste maps help much
It cost me money, albeit not a lot
Major update planned soon so i'll see what that brings.
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