BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
MotionBased is similar to Endless Pursuits, a GPS-to-web training performance tracking service described on BikeBiz.com in September 2003.
MotionBased also translates data collected from GPS devices and provides web-based performance analysis, mapping, and route sharing.
Yesterday, the website went live with support for heart rate data.
"For the first time ever, users can synchronize heart rate with geographic location and view their performance on interactive maps and meaningful reports," said Mike Maxson of MotionBased Technologies of Sausalito.
Following a workout tracked with a GPS unit, customers connect their device to PC and upload the data to motionbased.com.
The data is sent to the user’s personal inbox on the site where it’s possible to name, classify, and add comments to the activity. MotionBased then crunches the numbers with complex algorithms to calculate time, distance, speed, elevation, and heart rate. To make sense of this data, the site displays this information through charts, illustrations, reports, and maps.
Customers may choose from a variety of maps including street, photo, topographic, and elevation maps to better visualise their activity and gather more knowledge of the route make-up. Users can replay the experience using media controls as they watch themselves move along the mapped route coupled with an elevation profile. As each activity is stored in a personal online digest, it is also added to the TrailNetwork — a growing database of routes created by the MotionBased community. Members use the TrailNetwork to seek out new activities in their region, to find popular routes while traveling, or to engage in ‘virtual races’ with other MotionBased users.
MotionBased.com works with most current GPS devices but has exclusive communication with the recently introduced Forerunner 301 from Garmin. The Forerunner 301 has a digitally coded heart rate monitor.
"We chose to work with MotionBased because of their absolute determination to push the limits of GPS and heart rate data collected by the Forerunner 301," said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s director ofsales.
"MotionBased is one of the finest web applications on the market and reveals the power of GPS-enabled training for the individual and community."
Use of MotionBased is free but yesterday also saw the launch of the company’s paid-subscription service for ‘power users’.
