ITC weirdness

[dilli]

Anybody have a clue what's going on with ITC and why no info has been released to the general public about the GPS tracking or confirmation who they contracted with to produce/broadcast official Irod race content?
9 days until race start and still no info or announcements? Geesh.

From II subscription promo page ..

Be pre-registered for the Iditarod Tracker race data and get an inside look at this year's GPS Musher Tracking test

From ITC board meeting minutes ..

October 10, 2007

http://www.iditarod.com/pdfs/calendar/b ... 101007.pdf

Executive Director Hooley provided the Board with an update of various ITC activities: current financial projections; status of the Navigate Marketing Study; ongoing coordination with Cabela’s; activities associated with Original Productions for the 2008 race coverage; possible GPS tracking for the 2008 race; and the Iditarod "Insider".

Representatives of IonEarth made a presentation to the Board concerning the tracking of the Musher’s during the 2008 race. Additional information should be provided to the Board for their consideration at a future Board meeting.

November 30, 2007

http://www.iditarod.com/pdfs/calendar/I ... ummary.pdf

Executive Director Hooley provided the Board with an update on various ITC financial statements; the Iditarod Insider; proposed tracking devices; pending licensing agreements for the 2008 race; and general activities associated with the race.

Executive Director Hooley was authorized to proceed with a potential agreement with I on Earth for tracking devices for the 2008 race.

[SuldalsXpressen]

ITC lives a life of its own

As to GPS tracking, I don't want it! A big part of following the race for me is the hours and hours of not knowing, only being able to discuss possible scenarios with my fellow forum-buddies. Also it takes away some of the tactics for the mushers. Imagine if Jeff King always knew where Doug Swingley was, for example that he rested just outside of Takotna instead of pushing on to Oh-fir. He could then just sit and wait and then get going whenever Doug's dot on Google Earth started moving again.

As a safety precaution, sure - as a cool and new tracking devise on Google Earth or something, no thanks!!


Eskil

[dilli]

Well, I also posted about this in the Iditarod insider thread on the official site forums and got a reply from II .. they apparently are using GPS with some mushers this year as an experiment ..
link to thread
http://www.iditarodforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=75&sid=00c09c54c23f908776a57121126a992c

I've also been trying to find (without success) an article I read about the GPS devices used during this year's Quest .. they were a part of a Uni of AK Fairbanks student's research .. devices were used to collect temps and other info along the trail .. then data later uploaded into student's computer for analysis ... wish I could find the article again. Argh. Too much info overload from too many sources .. my old brain is fried.

[Di*]

I've also been trying to find (without success) an article I read about the GPS devices used during this year's Quest .. they were a part of a Uni of AK Fairbanks student's research .. devices were used to collect temps and other info along the trail .. then data later uploaded into student's computer for analysis ... wish I could find the article again. Argh. Too much info overload from too many sources .. my old brain is fried.

Here is the link I think you were talking about Dilli;

"One of the more enjoyable aspects of this trip has been getting to know Kate, an undergraduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. As an experimental research project, she put a temperature reader and GPS unit in one of Lance’s bags for this Yukon Quest race. The purpose was to hopefully be able to track the constant temperature he was traveling through, as well as his speed, altitude and elevation."

It is on the Northerlightmedia journal page Dilli! Hope this helps buddy, I know you've helped me out a lot of times!

[dilli]

Thanks sooo much (((((Di)))) I was going nuts trying to locate that article . *incoming brownies*

Eskil, I agree with you .. I don't have a problem with very few race officials using GPS tracking for safety and emergency purposes as long as mushers are ok with it too.
More to be revealed by the ITC .. maybe.

[mithious]

dilli you ROCK!!!!! yes...more on ITC Hmmmm strange things going on for sure....

[mrwolfesmum]

testing for ems..

tangles here, i agree with you eskil, it would take the whole fun out of the wondering where they are and with mushers being able to find out whos where would take a big element out of the race for the guys in the lead playing the guessing game and head games with the chasing pack...bad idea itc!

[bourgeois_rage]

One more for no GPS. As cool as it would be to "watch" the mushers moving along, it would totally change the dynamics of the race. As soon as anybody else knows where everybody else is, we won't see any more mushers making good or bad decisions. It'll become all about strength of the dogs and mushers will become nothing more than ballast. The musher is part of the team.

Just my opinion...

[tilstede]

Agree for no GPS.

But I really hope the Race updates have had priority to this GPS-game and that they have put a lot of effort to providing reliable and updated data . This year we will not have two sources of race updates since Cabela's will be gone.

Remember last year, when ITC stats was in complete mess. A long thread about that at the old forum. Found something I wrote then:

But what I expect and hope for is possible, is that the information sources are consistent and show us data which are harmonized. Following the race is hard work, and figuring out the strategies is even harder. Given the situation, I prefer not to do this roundabout constantly to all available sources to figure out what is really going on out there.

But, the lag provides us time to do our speculations. That said, there is a limit for how long time it is fun to wait for existing information to be published.

[dilli]

This is ridiculous. Am I doing something wrong?

On the official Iditarod site .. let's say you are on dial up and you want to access past race archives to find out where mushers took their mandatory 24's in any given race year.

Your first obstacle course challenge .. try to find where the content you want to check is located. Good luck. Even the site map isn't much help anymore.

Here's the dance that follows ..

1, After you get rid of the II promo video du jour pop-up window ( ), quickly click Learn About before the II promo pop-up pops up again ... and wait for the Learn About page to load

2. Then read the next list and click on Past Race Archives ... and wait for that page to load

3. Then click a race year .. let's say 2006

4. Click the musher list. Guess what .. it's in alphabetical order by the musher's FIRST name. How stupid is that?

5. In order to find out where a musher did his/her 24 hour mandatory, you have to go back and forth to the list to click on each and every musher's name to pull up their specific stats sheet.

Why can't you find this information out more easily in the checkpoint stats, you ask? Read on ..

6. Ok, let's move on to the checkpoints feature ..during even years, the majority of mushers take their 24 at McGrath, Takotna, Oh-Fir or Cripple .. go ahead and click on each checkpoink and check the rest time stats in all of these checkpoints .. do you see what I see?
Guess what .. you won't one find one musher who has a listed rest time of 24 hours. You won't find one because AM and PM arrivals and departures weren't factored into the stats archives.

In order to find out where each musher took their 24 mandatory in any given race year, you are forced to go thru the nightmare steps 4 and 5, check each musher's race sheet and find the checkmarks where they did their mandatory 8s and 24s.

I don't understand what Gere or the ITC are thinking .. I don't understand why the ITC doesn't demonstratively value or respect its fan base. Makes me sad.

*bangs head on computer desk*