RouteGadget
Reprinted from RouteGadget UK with the permission of the author, Paul Frost.
What is RouteGadget?
Described by its developer, Jarkko Ryyppö as a "Web utility for drawing and comparing orienteering routes".
This allows competitors to draw and compare their routes. RouteGadget not only shows the routes, it allows the race
to be replayed, even simulating a mass start. You will actually see little squares move across the map. It really
adds another dimension to post-race analysis.
Jarkko is a Finnish orienteer, and developed the Gadget as a hobby and offers it for free for non-commercial use.
Individual clubs or associations are free to use the software to setup their own databases to enable competitors
to view and plot routes at club events.
What can you do with it?
- Compare up to 10 competitors on screen at any one time.
- View a replay of the race, with coloured squares moving across the map simulating a mass start
in line with the actual splits.
- View maps and courses from all over the world (good preparation before visiting a new area/country).
- If you have a GPS, you can upload its recorded track to RouteGadget.
What are the benefits?
- Analyzing other people's route choice is a good training aid.
- Analyzing your own route is a good training aid.
- Planners get feedback on how legs that they had visualised in their head, actually materialised.
- It provides added value to an event.
How can I view routes?
RouteGadget is quite intuitive and easy to use. It has its own set of instructions, but here's a short
summary to give you a quick start:
- First you need to select an event from the clubs menu.
- You can move the map around by pressing and holding down the left mouse button somewhere on the map while
moving the mouse in the desired direction. You can change the scale by clicking on the + or - buttons.
- To view a race animation, you need to "Choose class/course" select the course you want to view.
- Next, "Choose competitors" whose routes you would like to view. Select up to 10 people who have drawn their
route (those with a * at the start of the name).
- To start the animation, press "View animation" button, select "Mass start" option (on by default), and
press "Start" button. Small squares representing the different competitors should start from the triangle.
- During the animation you can move and zoom the map. You can also increase/decrease the animation speed
with "Speed+/Speed-" buttons.
- You can also view the competitors" routes, splits, and comments by clicking on "Show route". "Smooth scaling"
improves the quality of the image when you zoom out.
How can I draw my route?
A quick guide on how to add your own route for an event you competed in.
- Check the box "Draw your route", which is located in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Choose your class and name from the lists that appear when you check the box.
- Locate the starting point (the triangle) on the map. You can move the map around by pressing and
holding down the left mouse button somewhere on the map while moving the mouse in the desired direction.
- Draw your route from the starting point to the first control by clicking the left mouse button in
places where you changed direction. (The program will create a continuous route between these points
that you plot.) Your route is drawn in red. The blue line shows the direction to your next control and
there is a halo round the circle. When you have created a point close to the center of the ring marking
the control, the Blue line switches to the next control. If you make a mistake while plotting the points,
you can go back one or more points at any time by pressing "undo".
- Score events may only have the start & finish controls in RG, so you just draw one continuous line
through all the controls you visited. The blue line mentioned above will always connect from where you
are to the finish.
- Snap on/off, turn it off if you want to plot points near the centre of the control circle, otherwise
it automatically snaps it to the centre.
- You can also move the map while drawing your route: Press and hold the left mouse button and move the
mouse in the desired direction.
- Draw your entire route from start to finish.
- When you have reached the finish, and you are satisfied with the result, type some short comments in
the comment field and press "Save route".
- If you make a mistake before you save it you can use the UNDO button to go back.
- If you realize that you made a drawing mistake after having saved it you need to contact the club
webmaster who can delete it from the server.
Additional suggestions:
- The Gadget spreads your time out evenly along the route that you draw for each leg. This may not be
accurate, particularly if you had trouble with any part of the leg. If you wandered around in some location
make sure to include a lot of fine detail in your drawing, even if you don't know exactly where you were.
This will appear to slow the animation in that area (and not on the part of the leg where you did well).
You can also artificially introduce a pause if, for example, you stood for a minute relocating. You can
show this by creating a small tick mark across your route and oscillated back and forth in place on the
tick mark for awhile when you are drawing the route. Then the animation will also appear to pause at the
same location. You can press the +3sec button once or more to add your thinking time at a particular point.
- In some cases the routes will speak for themselves, but there is also a comment field for you to use.
You can write to the comment field when you think of things while you are drawing your route. This can be
particularly helpful for beginners looking at the animations and wondering what was going on. Was the route
planned or accidental? If it was planned, what was the thinking? Make sure to include the leg number in the
comment since the comment is associated with the entire course. For example:
- 1-2: Aimed for the fence corner to use it as an attack point.
- 4-5: Accidentally drifted much lower than planned. Saw the road and turned.
- 5-6: The undergrowth seemed much slower than mapped. So I switched to the stream bed for a faster route.
- 9-10: Was planning to use the trail bend to attack, but found the boulder and used that instead.
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