It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Velocomp
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It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Velocomp »

We are delighted to announce Newton Tracker--a very cool, very low-cost way to add GPS to your Newton.

You'll need your Newton :D and also an iPhone or Android smartphone.

Newton Tracker app

iPhone: the Newton Tracker app is free. Newton Tracker is available at the App Store--search for "ibike" or "Newton Tracker"

Android: the Newton Tracker app is free. As of July 30 the Android app is in beta; we expect to release it in the next few weeks. If you want to be a beta tester please email us

Software and Firmware

Make sure your Newton FW is version 4.07 or higher, and Isaac software 2.2.0 or higher

Newton Tracker Key

You'll need to purchase a Newton Tracker key for your Newton. They're available at the iBike Store:

http://store.ibikesports.com/trade-ins- ... on-tracker

As a forum member, use this coupon code to obtain a $20 discount:

NTFR1320

Once we receive your order you'll send us your Newton serial number and we will email the Newton Tracker key to you. Install the key with Isaac

Newton Tracker account

You'll create a Newton Tracker account from Isaac. The account is free; once created, your Tracker data will be stored in the cloud.

Using Newton Tracker

It's brain-dead easy! Just start the app, and put your smartphone in your jersey (or wherever). At the end of your ride, tap the Done button--your Newton Tracker data will be sent to the cloud.

Download your ride file as usual with Isaac; your GPS data will be merged (magically) into your ride file. Then, view your data in Google Earth, or export for Strava et.al.

Detailed instructions are here:

http://www.ibikeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2889
John Hamann
hawkesworthm
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by hawkesworthm »

Great news! A couple questions:
1. What's the battery life experience on the iPhone when using the GPS app? Most GPS apps on the iPhone will kill a battery in less than two hours, which isn't long enough for many people.

2. Does the app need cellular reception to record? A lot of rides in the mountains cause phones to lose signal which creates gaps in some recording apps.

Thanks,
Matt
Velocomp
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Velocomp »

hawkesworthm wrote:Great news! A couple questions:
1. What's the battery life experience on the iPhone when using the GPS app? Most GPS apps on the iPhone will kill a battery in less than two hours, which isn't long enough for many people.

2. Does the app need cellular reception to record? A lot of rides in the mountains cause phones to lose signal which creates gaps in some recording apps.

Thanks,
Matt
1. The app runs in the background. In our testing, we see about a 7% decrease per hour (iPhone 5), with cell phone turned on.

2. No, the app does not require cell phone signal. It's recording GPS coordinates even when there is no cell phone signal.
John Hamann
jayt
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by jayt »

John, this is good news. Looking forward to it. It would be nice to integrate a simple map view within Isaac too. I know that Strava has gotten pesky these days, but if you can work with them so it is a one button export to Strava from Isaac that would be nice (TrainingPeaks import would be nice too). I know that the files can be uploaded from within Strava (or TrainingPeaks) but having one simple place to do it all would be a real plus.
donnybike
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by donnybike »

jayt wrote:John, this is good news. Looking forward to it. It would be nice to integrate a simple map view within Isaac too. I know that Strava has gotten pesky these days, but if you can work with them so it is a one button export to Strava from Isaac that would be nice (TrainingPeaks import would be nice too). I know that the files can be uploaded from within Strava (or TrainingPeaks) but having one simple place to do it all would be a real plus.


I just read the Newton Tracker instruction.
It is a very genius twist to merge gps data.
One thing that would be highly requested by iBike users
will be one click upload to Strava, TraingPeaks and others
directly from Issac!
velobob
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by velobob »

John, congratulations to all at iBike for the new Tracker feature. Very creative, works great.

One question - is there a way to get Google Earth to "fly" the route once you open the exported file in that application? I couldn't figure out how to do that.

Thanks again for keeping the iBike continuously improving. I noticed that Saris just cut their prices; wonder if they are feeling competition?

Bob :D
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Russ
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Russ »

Hello Velocomp,

This looks great, but I have no smart phone. I do have a Garmin etrix gps. I have been able to merge the etrix gps file with my iBike file in Isaac just fine. It is especially cool that you also include the Android app but only my wife and son have those, not me :-)

While I am not a Luddite I do have my limits to types of gadgetry I am willing/able to shell out for :-)
If I do ever purchase an android device, it probably won't be a phone - WiFi and blue tooth only. My (relatively) dumb type of cell phone is actually more phone than I really want but apparently need these days :-)

So is there any provision planned (or present but not elucidated) for folk with a regular gps?
I would certainly buy the key in that case where by I could use my current Garmin.

Thanks,
Russ
Zoltan
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Zoltan »

My general thoughts, Russ.

Either you send some sort of ID from Newton to the phone app, or vice versa, to prepare a potential auto merge, or at least you should fully synchronize the time stamps of Newton and the phone app. Phone has the GPS, so has an accurate time when GPS is ON.

You cant do the same with Newton and a Garmin Etrix (Etrex?) as a pair. An old fashioned Garmin is not able to receive any data other than pre-defined ones like sat almanach, instantaneous sat data, data from sensors. If I remember well newest Edges behave like phones, they have eg. Activity Upload.

But you cant get the data from Etrex to Newton automatically. And you cant get the data from Newton to Etrex either. Finally you cant upload automatically none of the data to the web. So only manual merge in some software like Newton is the only option for you
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racerfern
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by racerfern »

I've been using manual merge for years and it works very well. It is "labor intensive" and that's why I like the Newton Tracker option. Just like all the other add-ons for a Newton, the Tracker is not an absolute necessity. For many people it will make the entire process substantially easier; for a few there is little to gain. You have to decide how important it is for you and your "needs/wants".
Fernando
Osman Isvan
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Osman Isvan »

I tried it for the first time and I LOVE it!!
Viewing the track with wind speed on Google Earth is great! Viewing wind speed on any map is great!
I recorded the same ride simultaneously in Garmin Edge 800 paired to the Newton, and compared duplicate activities in Strava. I found that elevation and power data are smoother in the Newton version. Newton elevation appears to have better resolution than Garmin Edge. I am surprised with power because I thought Strava would not modify the power data stream coming from an ANT+ power meter.
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racerfern
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by racerfern »

I am surprised with power because I thought Strava would not modify the power data stream coming from an ANT+ power meter.
Hmm, I uploaded my csv file and Strava did not modify it. It's certainly not the big easy graph that Isaac has but it appears to be the same data.

Do you have a link to your ride and can you upload the original ibr file?

Here's a link to mine and the original ibr file.

http://www.strava.com/activities/73691291#

One more thing, when you have Google Earth display wind do you use colors or height? It seems I don't see the effect I would expect when I have a significant headwind in one direction and the same significant tailwind in the other.
Attachments
FM_08_10_2013_0751_48_Miles_NT.ibr
(1.15 MiB) Downloaded 528 times
Fernando
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Russ
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Russ »

Racefern and Zoltan,
Thanks for the replies!

However racefern said:
I've been using manual merge for years and it works very well. It is "labor intensive" and that's why I like the Newton Tracker option. Just like all the other add-ons for a Newton, the Tracker is not an absolute necessity.

Yes, I have too but I have not been uploading to Google Earth and my impression of the purchase key for Newton is that it somehow enables a better 'merge' that then displays the power and wind in what otherwise would be a cookie trail as it was called in many gps maping products.

So my question is really what does the key do for me in itself (the product descriptions include the key update to Newton and the free app as a package working together) without the app but with a common gps merge?

Thanks,
Russ
Osman Isvan
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Osman Isvan »

[/quote]
racerfern wrote:Do you have a link to your ride and can you upload the original ibr file?
Here is the link to the Strava activity uploaded from the FIT file (Garmin): http://www.strava.com/activities/73738798
And the same ride uploaded from the csv file (Isaac): http://www.strava.com/activities/73743233
Average power is almost the same and the curves look only slightly different, but I am curious why they are not identical since both of them are coming from the Newton. It may be a sampling mismatch or sync issue. The difference in elevation profiles is disturbing.
racerfern wrote:One more thing, when you have Google Earth display wind do you use colors or height? It seems I don't see the effect I would expect when I have a significant headwind in one direction and the same significant tailwind in the other.
I use height for wind speed and colors for bike speed. I wasn't sure what effect I should expect, but I noticed that wind is displayed with respect to the bike. In other words by riding faster I can make the wind change on Google Earth. It would be nice if the exported KML data followed the selected display options control in Isaac. I am uploading a short upwind / downwind segment at the very beginning of the attached ride. I ride first upwind then downwind. But I see what you mean. The relative height ratio between upwind and downwind graphs on Google Earth doesn't scale with the Isaac display. When I use colors for wind speed and height for bike speed, then both the color depth and height ratio match the Isaac display.
Osman
Attachments
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Osman Isvan
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Osman Isvan »

Osman Isvan wrote:The relative height ratio between upwind and downwind graphs on Google Earth doesn't scale with the Isaac display.
Actually this is not entirely true. The graphs do scale correctly when the "wind relative to bike" display option is selected in Isaac prior to sending data to Google Earth. But with the "wind relative to ground" option, in order to prevent the graph from dipping below the ground plane for negative wind speeds, the vertical axis of the graph is offset upwards by adding the "most negative" wind value to all wind data. This puts the upwind / downwind wind ratio visually out of scale with the Isaac display, but the graph represents the same data. For example in the picture I attached in my original posting, when the graph touches the ground, it represents an 8 mph tailwind relative to ground, not "zero wind". The only improvement I can think of would be to include a scale for the height dimension of the graph, similar to the scale that is provided for the color dimension. Note: the amount of smoothing (seconds) also follows the value selected in Isaac.
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racerfern
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by racerfern »

Hmm, I never show wind speed relative to ground but I just tried it and the displayed graph is much easier to visualize when using Speed for Color and Wind for Vertical Axis. Thanks for the additional info.
Fernando
Lorraine
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Lorraine »

I find the new GPS feature works really well when out on the road, however not so impressed if using the bike on the rollers. When I download the ride to Isaac software it automatically searches for a GPS file, it doesn't find one to match the current date and time, so it grabs the one from my last ride - eg Friday which is totally inappropriate. You aren't given a choice not to have it upload - it not only changes the date and time for the current ride but is attaching GPS data which is incorrect. Have I missed something or has this fallen through the cracks, short of having to make sure you are not logged on when downloading an indoor ride? I can't see how to stop it? The app doesn't seem to like recording the GPS data when you are in one place and inside, even though it appears to start initially its obviously not saving any data otherwise my last 2 roller intervals would have correct GPS data. I can live without the GPS data and not post the intervals to strava, but I don't want the ride being corrupted each time I download it to Issac or have to remember to log out to ensure it doesn't look for any GPS information.

Thanks
Lorraine
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racerfern
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by racerfern »

Somewhere between making sure rides that could apply get checked and not checking for every possibility is the answer. I suppose if you're on a trainer then Isaac should not look for the Newton Tracker GPS data.

I'll pass this on to the powers that be. There's always some possibility that hasn't been covered :shock:
Fernando
MikeL5267
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by MikeL5267 »

I have tried the Newton Tracker twice--and both times there was a rapid battery usage on my Iphone . What do I have to do to keep the power use down to the 7%/hour that was suggested by John H.?
Velocomp
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Velocomp »

1) Make sure your phone is fully charged prior to starting your ride

2) After starting the app, make sure to put the app in the background. After a few seconds, your screen should go dark.

3) Turn WiFi off

4) Make sure that you're not Fetching email notifications onto your phone manually. If done automatically it eats the battery.

Note that if your iPhone battery is old, then it may have lost some of its oomph, and not have as much capacity as you think.
John Hamann
Osman Isvan
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Osman Isvan »

I am running the Android version, and I didn't notice a strong effect on battery life. Is the 7%/h figure specific to the iPhone? And does it refer to the additional drain due to the Tracker app or the total drain including the app? Yesterday I ran it for 4.5 hours starting late in the afternoon without a full charge, and at the end of the ride the battery was still healthy (I forgot what percentage it was but it lead me to think that battery life was still dominated by talk time and touch screen usage). At the beginning of a ride I manually close the Tracker app while the timer is running. My phone settings are WiFi ON, Bluetooth ON, "power saver" OFF (!) and mobile data OFF. I turn mobile data off for bike rides to avoid needless network searching in remote areas.
Osman
Velocomp
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Velocomp »

Osman Isvan wrote:I am running the Android version, and I didn't notice a strong effect on battery life. Is the 7%/h figure specific to the iPhone? And does it refer to the additional drain due to the Tracker app or the total drain including the app? Yesterday I ran it for 4.5 hours starting late in the afternoon without a full charge, and at the end of the ride the battery was still healthy (I forgot what percentage it was but it lead me to think that battery life was still dominated by talk time and touch screen usage). At the beginning of a ride I manually close the Tracker app while the timer is running. My phone settings are WiFi ON, Bluetooth ON, "power saver" OFF (!) and mobile data OFF. I turn mobile data off for bike rides to avoid needless network searching in remote areas.
Osman
iPhone; total drain including app. Mobile data off is something that will save a lot of battery life!

For the iPhone you can turn off cellular data and wifi. This will leave GPS data turned on. Note that if "Airplane Mode" is used, GPS data will be turned off.
John Hamann
Velocomp
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Velocomp »

Lorraine wrote:I find the new GPS feature works really well when out on the road, however not so impressed if using the bike on the rollers. When I download the ride to Isaac software it automatically searches for a GPS file, it doesn't find one to match the current date and time, so it grabs the one from my last ride - eg Friday which is totally inappropriate. You aren't given a choice not to have it upload - it not only changes the date and time for the current ride but is attaching GPS data which is incorrect. Have I missed something or has this fallen through the cracks, short of having to make sure you are not logged on when downloading an indoor ride? I can't see how to stop it? The app doesn't seem to like recording the GPS data when you are in one place and inside, even though it appears to start initially its obviously not saving any data otherwise my last 2 roller intervals would have correct GPS data. I can live without the GPS data and not post the intervals to strava, but I don't want the ride being corrupted each time I download it to Issac or have to remember to log out to ensure it doesn't look for any GPS information.

Thanks
Lorraine
We have corrected this problem in Isaac 2.2.3, just released.
John Hamann
Lorraine
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Lorraine »

Velocomp wrote:
Lorraine wrote:I find the new GPS feature works really well when out on the road, however not so impressed if using the bike on the rollers. When I download the ride to Isaac software it automatically searches for a GPS file, it doesn't find one to match the current date and time, so it grabs the one from my last ride - eg Friday which is totally inappropriate. You aren't given a choice not to have it upload - it not only changes the date and time for the current ride but is attaching GPS data which is incorrect. Have I missed something or has this fallen through the cracks, short of having to make sure you are not logged on when downloading an indoor ride? I can't see how to stop it? The app doesn't seem to like recording the GPS data when you are in one place and inside, even though it appears to start initially its obviously not saving any data otherwise my last 2 roller intervals would have correct GPS data. I can live without the GPS data and not post the intervals to strava, but I don't want the ride being corrupted each time I download it to Issac or have to remember to log out to ensure it doesn't look for any GPS information.

Thanks
Lorraine
We have corrected this problem in Isaac 2.2.3, just released.
Thanks John. Good to hear. I am downloading the latest version of Isaac now.
Lorraine
Guidob
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Guidob »

Any issues with running iBike Tracker and Strava on an Android phone simultaneously? I would assume that it should work, but wanted to check.
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racerfern
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by racerfern »

No issues at all. I've also run Newton Tracker with Glympse and My Tracks without issues.
Fernando
hiroad
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by hiroad »

Hi iBike guys,
One of my friend is still using Gen3. Does your Tracker work with Gen3 iBike?
Velocomp
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Velocomp »

hiroad wrote:Hi iBike guys,
One of my friend is still using Gen3. Does your Tracker work with Gen3 iBike?
Tracker does not work with a Gen 3. Have him upgrade to a Newton--it's much better, and it's a good deal, too!
John Hamann
hiroad
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by hiroad »

Thanks, John. I'll tell him.
speedyvelo
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by speedyvelo »

John,

THANK YOU!.
I got the two unlock keys for the PP's.
Q: If I do not like it or decided not to use it, is there a way to remove the key from the firmware or any switch to turn off in such a way that disable the feature.
It seems obvious that if I do not turn on the app that should do it but..you may have some background process that may use battery or memory etc.
For example with the PowerStroke I check out the sampling rate and it care of it, is there something similar?

Again thxs again John. Love this gadget.

-=teruel=-
Velocomp
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Re: It's here: GPS for your Newton!

Post by Velocomp »

The key has ZERO effect on battery life, even if you're not using the GPS Tracker app.
John Hamann
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