We have been live for a couple of weeks with the new GPS Timing Splits capability in RaceJoy. This is the new feature that takes RaceJoy beyond just GPS Tracking, 
and delivers splits to runners and spectators as shown on the right. We had 320 runners using RaceJoy and there were 5,557 progress alerts to runners and spectators using RaceJoy across those 5 races.
There is a lot of software needed to make this happen, and with software there are always lessons learned and revisions that we like to make to meet runner’s needs even better. This past weekend we had 5 races using this feature and we have figured out a couple of updates based on our observations.
First, we are going to require that the “Start” button is clicked to figure out a good start time. We had an algorithm to try to figure out when people started, but the problem with larger races is that people back from the starting line are moving very slowly and getting an accurate GPS read on when they cross the start line is nearly impossible with today’s technology. Perhaps int he future when we integrate RaceJoy with The Race Director and other scoring and timing systems 
we will be able to correlate the chip recording of crossing the start mat and use that as the start for the GPS timing.
Second, we had a race that changed their course at the last minute due to flooding conditions along the course. So the timing splits stopped after mile 7 of the half marathon. Runners eventually got back on the course, so the finish was the same. We are going to be adding in extra logic and messaging to help spectators and runners interpret their timing splits better for this case.
We have 11 races using GPS Tracking and GPS Timing Splits this weekend and hope to learn more!
