TackTracker Release Notes
Release 3.32 - 20 August 2010
Auto mode (unattended replay) tuning:
- Start auto-play zoomed out to give a perspective of the course
- Fix possible jitter at finish when current boat is changed
- Zoom out further at the finish line to show more of the course
Other enhancements:
- Add a option for a 20 second tracking interval - suitable for long races
- Prevent unwanted zooming/panning when laying marks
- Make it possible to configure the My Tracks location (Contact TackTracker support for instructions)
Release 3.31 - 16 August 2010
3.31 fixes a crash that could occur when navigating a track when there is no course defined.
Release 3.30 - 8 August 2010
3.30 is a major release that brings great new value to Club License holders.
Unattended Replay:
- Auto replay mode now adjusts speed between two configurable values - normal speed during a leg, and slow speed around marks and at the start and finish.
- Auto mode replay is now smoother and better to watch than ever.
- You may add events to an "AutoPlay list" for unattended replay. Each event in the list is played in turn. (Requires Club Tools).
Handicap Events (Requires Club Tools
- You may enter a Time Correction or Handicap value for each competitor. TackTracker provides both scratch and handicap placings at each point along the course.
- The "Sort Place" leaderboard feature in the Select tab may be used to automatically sort by either scratch or handicap place.
- A new "Percent to Win" column indicates the amount of overall gain required for each boat to catch the leader. Percent to Win is computed at each point along the course.
- A new report is provided, giving handicap placings at each leg rounding.
- A Competitor Schedule is added to the Library. Use the schedule to maintain a database of competitors and handicap scores. TackTracker will automatically read from the schedule when loading tracks for new events. You may also update an existing event from the schedule, or update the schedule from an event.
- A Schedule Editor dialog is provided for manually updating the schedule. You may also import the schedule from other systems using CSV format.
Wind Data
- You may import wind data (in CSV format) from an external source into a TackTracker event.
- TackTracker can now display Wind Speed as well as direction at each point in time.
- A new Wind Speed Chart is provided so you can watch how boat speeds correlate with wind speeds.
Navigation Rally
- Rally events may now be defined using the default units, such as meter, in preference to Nautical Miles.
General Usability
- The Library has been improved with new graphics and icons to illustrate the menu choices.
- The Library now displays faster
- The Wind direction controls have been widened to avoid truncating the values.
- The ruler no longer displays "NaN" when no tracks are present.
- The bottom Tab Group - such as Select Tab, Charts, can now be optionally displayed whilst in Full Screen mode.
- The Landmark path matching algorithm has been improved.
Web Player
The Select tab of the TackTracker Web player has also been upgraded, and is now present as a table similar to the main player. As with the main player, users can sort competitors by place, name or details by clicking on column headings. You may also check "Sort Place" list competitors in leaderboard sequence.
If handicap data is present, the web player is also capable of displaying adjusted scores and percent to win.
Error Reporting
TackTracker now includes an automated error reporting system. If a problem occurs in the software, you can report the error to TackTracker at the click of a button. This is both convenient for users and helps us improve the quality the software.
Release 3.21 - 26 June 2010
Fixes for working with empty events:
- Fix exception when selecting edit leg notes on an empty event
- Fix exception when applying boat lengths on an empty event
- Apply a minimum zoom level when there is no track data
- Allow setting the wind direction in an empty event
Landmark Enhancements:
- Remember last used folder (for the current session) for the import fixed marks link
- Keep the current landmark selected when making changes
- Provide more colors (orange and white) for paths and shorelines
Race Editor Enhancements and Fixes:
- New zooming controls: click on the + or - symbols to zoom in and out as far as you like.
- Improve formatting for Lat/Lon coordinates
- Cancel the Lay Mark mode on clicking the Lat/Lon Apply button
- Fix a problem where cancelling an edit GateMark caused the mark to shift.
- Allow editing the Lat/Lon coordinate of each end of a Gate Mark
Release 3.19 - 16 June 2010
Fix min/max speed columns in Tack Tab
Release 3.18 - 11 June 2010
Add support for the new QStarz BT-Q1000XT Tracker.
Release 3.17 - 5 June 2010
The Auto track feature has been improved, with a new algorithm that delivers smoother panning for a more watchable presentation.
Release 3.16 - 9 May 2010
The event editor now lets you adjust the trim minutes prior to the start (and after the finish). This is needed for back-back training races with an interval less than 5 minutes between races.
Release 3.15 - 26 April 2010
This release fixes a problem with the upload next tracker dialog failing to connect.
Release 3.14 - 18 April 2010
Enhancements
- Use a prior event from the same day as a template when creating a new event.
- New settings option to allow background color to be set to white for printing screenshots.
Nav Rally
- Select the start crossing closest to the nominated start time to avoid picking up early starts.
- Fix gate crossing calculation when gate runs due N-S.
Release 3.12 - 30 March 2010
TackTracker introduces support for custom statistics - fully integrated with the built in statistics. Custom statistics are integrated into TackTracker's charts, tables and reports.
Some examples of custom statistics are:
- Speed through the water
- Angle of heel
- Mainsheet position
- Competitor heartrate
- Wind speed
Any timestamped floating point numeric data is suitable, from any data source. The data may be imported into TackTracker in CSV, GPX or NMEA formats. TackTracker can merge and integrate your custom stats data with matching tracks in your library. These tracks can be shared with others, and the custom statistics will show correctly in any other TackTracker player - including the web player.
Other Enhancements:
- Charts 1 and 2 may now be selected separately
- TackTracker can now export tracks to NMEA format
Nav Rally Fixes:
- Do not terminate the course for a track if a turn is not recorded - just skip to the next turn.
- Avoid crash when Auto mode clicked
Release 3.11 - 14 March 2010
This major release gives the Library a facelift and introduces a new Auto play mode for unattended play-back. Users of BT-Q1000X trackers will notice a host of improvements and refinements to the track upload process.
Auto Tracking:
- Allow panning whilst autotracking, with elastic return
- Intelligent tracking before start, around marks and after finish
- New Auto mode intelligently tracks the whole fleet with auto-zooming around marks, and elastic manual zoom override.
- Add a scale indicator to the track plot.
Track Library:
- Move Library tab to front
- New Library tree icons for a fresh new look.
- TackTracker now remembers which folders you had opened
- Store track unsplit in the unprocessed tracks
- Filter unprocessed tracks by today's date or show all
- Show the file size in unprocessed tracks.
Edit Track Tab
- Allow trackee to be renamed without duplicating the track.
Track Upload Dialog
- Redesign the upload dialog for a cleaner, more ergonomic layout.
- Track name field is "name". Other field is "details".
- Added option to stop recording when memory full (RHKYC)
- Auto-save changes to trackee data whenever uploading or resetting.
- Streamline process of bulk clearing GPS units (fewer mouse clicks)
- Streamline process of bulk loading GPS units (fewer mouse clicks)
Navigation Rally
- Fix heading error in Rally Schedule report.
- Fix Navigation Rally mapping of GPS to boat names when using custom start times.
- Allow Rally course to be re-used by saving to a new date.
Fixes:
- Fix crash if non-standard event folder found in "My Tracks"
- Fix crash if invalid characters in GPS trackee data (new trackers)
- Fix freeze when adding training marks
- Draw rhumb line for final leg to finish
- Avoid flash of current track tail at start gun
Release 3.09 - 12 February 2010
Parse dates in a culture neutral format to prevent errors for non-English languages.
Release 3.07 - 9 February 2010Fixes:
- Fix premature truncation of BT-Q1000X track upload when a bad record is encountered.
- Increase prominence of upload button vs. reset button in Upload from GPS dialog.
- Fix crash that might occur when selecting "Compare" and some tracks don't qualify for the start.
- Fix mark lat/lon displayed in wrong units after laying a mark.
- Handle GPX files generated by GPSAR which have an incorrectly formatted date.
- Add support for the Feb 8 batch of BT-Q1000X trackers.
- Improve the Find Mark algorithm to detect boats that are not completing the course.
Release 3.06 - 31 January 2010
TackTracker adds support for Locosys GT-31 users. Plus some fine tuning to the BT-Q1000X drivers to avoid a number of upload issues.
Fixes:
- Improve reliability of BT-Q1000X upload: Identify last block when memory used is reached by records loaded.
- Avoid overwriting existing landmarks when loading a TTZ file
- Support file import of SBP files from the SD card of Locosys GT-31/BGT-31 GPS devices.
- Fix access to Publish menu for Navigation Rally license
Release 3.05 - 24 January 2010
Another big release with new stats, presentation improvements and support for background images!
Race Player Enhancements.
- Increase the length of the tail in Short Tail mode.
- In Long Tail mode, show a short tail for the previous leg lines in color - instead of the entire previous leg in gray.
- Show POI waypoints on the track to assist training. These points are generated by pressing the red button on the QStarz GPS.
- Leg and Tacks tables have new columns showing Min and Max speeds for the leg or tack.
- Improve Google Earth presentation by removing track icons - you can now see the colored tracks.
TackTracker introduces two new LandMark types: Paths and Images, both of which may be imported from Google Earth.
- You may import Paths from Google Earth. Use the Google Earth Path tool to freehand draw a shoreline, then import into TackTracker.
- You may Import Images from Google Earth. Use the Google Earth Image Overlay tool to accurately position your aerial image or map over the terrain. Then import the image into TackTracker as a background image for your race area.
- LandMarks and Paths are now saved with your TTZ file for sharing with others and in races published to the Web. To avoid possible copyright issues, background images are not published to the web.
Race Editor
- TackTracker now matches events to tracks from last to first, to ensure that tracks are split correctly even if the competitor doesn't finish a race.
Reports (For Club License holders)
- New Legs Report - reports same information as the Legs tab.
Fixes
- Fix Delete Landmark button - which was not working in certain circumstances.
- Tune tack detection when using a 1 second logging interval.
Release 3.03 - 5 January 2010
One important Race Editor fix - to avoid premature trimming of the track.
- Do not trim track prematurely whilst editing an event.
- Prevent invalid file name characters being supplied in boat name.
- Close "Manage GPS" dialog after clearing the log.
Release 3.02 - 31 December 2009
This release has two great new features:
- Leader Board: TackTracker now gives you the current place for all competitors during the race, and can automatically sort the competitors by place to make a running leader board.
- Training Session: We now have a training session mode, which takes into account the differences between a training session and a race. When training, boats don't always follow a fixed mark rounding sequence - even though marks are still used. Use the new training session course to have TackTracker automatically detect the mark rounding sequence for each boat.
Other Race Editor Enhancements:
- Show course in full path mode until all marks are laid
- Filter out bad points from an incoming GPS log. Always use Tacktracker calculated distances to avoid erroneous values calculated by the GPS due to bad points.
- Use correct leg sequence for a track that starts late.
Fixes:
- Hide publish menu for users without a Club Tools or NavRally license.
- Avoid truncating the timer clock before the race start.
- Fix hang when laying gate marks
We've given TackTracker an updated new layout, with an improved timeline bar and new controls. The controls take less space, enlarging your plot viewing area. Many improvements across the board make this a significant new release.
Highlights:
- New timeline matches the updated look found in web viewer.
- New Throttle Control
lets you drive boats forward and backward, using your mouse to control the speed. - Fullscreen mode has been improved, eliminating the left sidebar completely.
- The Select Tab has been re-written for better look and usability. You can now sort the competitor list by boat or name. Its easier to check the checkboxes than before.
Race Editor Improvements:
- TackTracker guides you through the process of defining a course, with red highlighting of incomplete steps, such as setting the start time or laying a mark.
- It's now easier to type user defined course text, without TackTracker interfering.
- Timeline and legs are updated as you make changes, so you can see the effect straight away.
- Support for trackers placed on marks and start/finish boats. Simply name the track to match the mark name.
Track Loading:
- Allow user to interrupt track upload and still get data
- Warn user to wait until GPS reset is complete.
- Allow track boat length to be entered without also entering the speed
- Allow an unprocessed track to be saved to a new event.
- You can now modify a track to back-date its start time. Use this to match a track to an event where the tracker was turned on after the event start.
Fixes:
- Improve zoom slider behavior.
- Speed up loading of large events.
- Prevent accidental opening of "Unprocessed Tracks" dialog when right clicking before selecting an event in the Library tab.
- Fix tickmarks on stretch charts - apply correct spacing and scroll with chart.
Release 2.29 - 24 October 2009
"Movie Mode" with the "Track" checkbox checked is now much smoother to watch. This is now the best way to view all replays, so the Movie checkbox has been removed.
Fixes:
- Nav Rally "Free Start" line crossing time is now round down to the nearest second.
- Correct the Nav Rally gate distance calculation for a precisely N-S or S-N leg.
- Fix a system specific crash during GPS upload
Release 2.28 - 11 October 2009
Race Reports:
The first of a library of Race Reports to provide insightful analysis of the race data. These reports are accessible from a new Reports tab and are available only to club license holders.
- Race Summary report. This report gives a summary of placings at each mark and at the finish. It also provides a timing summary providing relative times for each leg of the course.
Navigation Rally Enhancements:
- Show GPS lat/lon in degrees minutes format according to settings preferences.
- Provide a print button to create a Rally Schedule report.
- Retain custom times entries for rally schedule rows even when no boat is defined.
- Warn user if custom times are to be lost when changing start interval.
- Enhance schedule parser to allow different separator characters than colon ':'.
- Rally course report showing all gate distances.
- Rally Results report.
Release 2.27 - 25 September 2009
Fixes the Nav Rally editor, and adds support for the new batch of BT-Q1000X trackers.
Fixes:
- Fix log rally editor - broken by 2.26
- Fix crash when changing from "Finish at Start" then clicking Schedule.
- Fix crash when saving an event with no tracks.
- Add support for BT-Q1000X rev 4.
Release 2.26 - 22 September 2009
BT-Q1000X users are urged to upgraded immediately from 2.25 due to a serious upload problem in that release.
Urgent Fixes:
- Fix track upload data corruption introduced in 2.25.
Nav Rally Usability:
- Show gate distances in Rally event editor.
- Display ETA in results even when a gate is missed.
Fixes:
- Fix scaling problem when creating a new event from the Edit Event tab.
- Support loading .CSV files generated by QStarz Travel Recorder 4
Release 2.25 - 18 September 2009
Usability Tuning:
- Change "Full Path" mode to show complete path to current point - and full track when at first point.
- Remind user to save event changes before exiting or changing events.
- In the Nav Rally Editor tab, display distance to gate to 3 decimal places.
Fixes:
- Correct wrong name for wind bearings between 350 and 0 degrees.
- Fix wind editor bearing - which was the reversed.
- Prevent ruler mode turning on when exiting the wind indicator.
- Fix restore of multiple wind values.
- Improve wind estimation algorithm.
- Update leg and tack tables whenever wind data is changed.
- Show VMG by course equal to speed when there is no course defined, or the current point is before the start or after the finish.
- Ensure that the saved distance for the first track record is zero.
- Fix upload dialog crash for PC's with an empty removable drive (e.g. diskette drive).
Release 2.24 - 11 September 2009
Fixes:
- Fix crashes when working with very large scale tracks
Release 2.23 - 6 September 2009
TackTracker 2.23 has a new fullscreen mode to maximise your screen area. It's also a big release for Navigation Rally with a new Schedule tab for entering competitor information and showing run times.
Enhancements:
- New Fullscreen mode
- New Rally Schedule dialog lets users define custom start times and view running sheet.
- Rally Penalties dialog moved to the Rally Event tab
Fixes:
- Fix freeze when loading certain GPX files
- Check name-data save to GPS for truncation if the GPS memory is exceeded
Release 2.22 - 23 August 2009
We're always looking for ways to make TackTracker easier to use, and this release brings a bag of usability refinements. Thanks to Chris Dance for some great suggestions!
Track Plot:
- You can now pan with the left mouse button - which is more natural for many people. To get the ruler, just click once.
- Double click to center the image from the mouse location.
- Hover mouse over any boat to see its current stats.
- Highlight the current track with a thicker line.
Current Statistics:
- More options for on-screen statistics shown with each boat. New options are: "Bearing" and "All".
- Show VMG relative to wind in on-screen display as this stat is more relevant for boat-boat tuning.
- Highlight in yellow the best performing stats in compare mode.
Navigation Rally:
- Don't display entire track at start.
- Hide Compare checkbox as not relevant for Nav. Rally.
- Settings option to display Lat/Lon in decimal degrees or decimal plus decimal minutes.
General Usability:
- Lots more tool tips to guide novice users.
- Install new version over the top without requiring uninstall of old version first.
Fixes:
- Fix crash when de-selecting all items in compare mode.
- Fix truncation of stretch chart.
Release 2.21 - 13 August 2009
Some important enhancements for Navigation Rallys:
- Compensate correctly for a gate miss
- Calculate expected times based on course distance, not distance travelled
- Show current stats relevant to a navigation rally, such as distances and time for the current leg and for the course.
- Plot ruler shows distances in NM
Release 2.20.1 - 3 August 2009
Just minor enhancements and fixes this time.
- Implement support for trial license system
- Update splash screen to match new web design
- Show race title above Track Plot
- Allow GPS coordinates to be input in decimal minute form
- Allow an empty course to be saved to TTZ
- Prevent error that would occur if "View Race" is clicked multiple times
- Fix upload problem for system with a diskette drive
Release 2.19 - 8 July 2009
TackTracker Race Editor license holders can now publish their own tracks and photos to the Races Tab in TackTracker. The Publisher license introduced in 2.18 has been replaced by a system of publishing credits - making it easy and affordable for anyone to publish their racing, using the same tools that TackTracker uses in-house. To access the publishing tools - simply tick the Publishing Tools checkbox on the races tab.
Other enhancements:
- Added support for reading NMEA data generated by many devices.
- Added direct upload support for the AMOD AGL 3080 GPS logger (an example of an NMEA device).
- Landmark enhancements:
- Landmarks are more clearly presented in a table in the Settings dialog
- You may now specify a landmark color
- Course marks laid near a landmark will snap precisely to the landmark position
- TackTracker now remembers the last folder you opened when loading files, and the expanded year and month in the Local tab.
- Navigation Rally gates may now be defined by specifying the distance from the last turn.
Bug Fixes:
- Fix problem loading a TTZ file containing wind data.
- Fix a crash a some people have seen when connecting to their GPS.
Release 2.18 - 18 June 2009
This release contains the first of a set of enhancements designed to streamline and improve the race and regatta management tools in TackTracker.
- Backup track management: TackTracker saves all tracks loaded via the GPS to a backup area. Now a new backup management dialog accessible from the Local Tab makes it easy to manage and load these tracks. This feature makes it much easier to recover from mistakes when loading many trackers at a large event.
- Introduce the Publisher license. TackTracker's race publishing tools will soon allow anyone with a Publisher license to publish their own events to TackTracker's Races tab.
- Cosmetic improvements to Splash Screen and icons.
Bug fix for 2.17: User defined course text box would not appear when "User Defined" course selected.
Release 2.17 - 11 June 2009Bug fixes for 2.16:
- TackTracker was not creating legs when playing yacht races
- Correct the display of Timeline leg markers when playing a navigation rally
- Fix restore of saved wind settings
- Fix uninstall link
TackTracker is now even easier on the eyes, with smooth flicker free graphics. Try "Movie Mode" for a more dynamic playback experience. Major new features include computation of VMG relative to the wind, a cool new wind direction control, fixed marks and landmarks and a whole new module for running Navigation Rallies.
Race Player Enhancements:
- Double buffered graphics for zero flicker!
- Define fixed landmarks in the settings dialog. Import Placemarks directly from Google Earth
- New measurement: VMG relative to the wind direction complements the existing VMG to the course.
- VMG and Speed measurements are now in selected units (knots or Km/h) in Settings dialog.
- TackTracker's estimated wind direction can be overridden by the user. The new wind direction control lets you input wind direction with the mouse or type in a bearing. TackTracker maintains a history of wind changes over time and uses the current direction in all analysis.
Race Editor Enhancements:
- A new checkbox Finish at Start makes it simpler to define courses where boats finish through the start line.
- Provide a predefined course using a gate mark.
Navigation Rally:
TackTracker's Navigation Rally manager lets you easily and accurately run a navigation rally with a fraction of the effort required by traditional methods. There is no need for any spotters - they can now participate in the rally! Collation and computation of all results is completely automatic. Watch a replay after the event. Note that a separate "Navigation Rally" license is required to access these features.
- New Nav Rally Editor tab to define the course and all scoring gates or checkpoints.
- Added ability to store boat speed in GPS and in Trackee data. Update Edit Track tab to edit boat speed.
- Draw the course and remove sails and wind indicator from Navigation Rally events.
- New Nav Rally Results tab displays cumulative and total results for each competitor.
Bug Fixes:
- Course totals (distances and speeds) are now shown in the Legs table.
- Table sorting by column is fixed. Previously the sorted order was occassionally incorrect.
- Fixed a problem whereby a gate mark would move from its laid position when selecting the next mark.
- Fix labelling of Latitude and Longitude (which were interchanged) in Edit Event tab.
Release 2.14 - 3 May 2009
Release 2.14 brings a number of important enhancements, including Gate Marks, an upwind guide line, and numerous usability enhancements.
Race Player Enhancements:
- On upwind legs, draw a guide line across the current boat, perpendicular to wind direction. This can be used to assess who is in front and behind the current boat.
- Allow the user to change the current wind direction, as computed by TackTracker. Click on the Wind indicator and rotate with the mouse.
- Tune the race player to play until all boats have finished, by changing the current boat once the current boat reaches the end of its track.
- Use color fill to improve the look of marks and committee boats.
- Display short tails before the start, to reduce clutter.
- Default units are now remembered between TackTracker sessions.
- The installer now correctly sets the TTX and TTZ file associations. You can now double click on a TTX or TTZ file to view it.
Race Editor Enhancements
- Add support for Gate Marks. A Gate Mark is actually two marks that boats must sail between. Specify a Gate Mark by using a dash in the mark name. E.g. "2a-2b". This will be represented by two marks, "2a" and "2b", which may be positioned independently and have a dashed line separating them. The Rhumb line is drawn to the center of the gate.
- Allow events to be locked by right clicking on them in the Local browser. A locked event will not have tracks automatically added to it. This is very useful when loading tracks from multiple events (e.g. different classes) held simultaneously. The Settings dialog now provides a tool for updating the length of all boats in an event.
- Events are now correctly sorted by day in the Local Event browser.
Release 2.13 - 18 April 2009
- Mouse cursor changes when clicking and dragging in plot window and timeline to assist usability.
- Remove extraneous slash when retrieving boat and name ID from BT-Q1000X GPS.
Release 2.12 - 8 April 2009
This release brings several features requested at the Etchell 2009 Worlds:
- New "Stretch" mode for charts, which gives an enlarged and clearer display. When playing the tracks using Stretch mode, the chart automatically scrolls.
- Can now display speed or VMG beside each boats in the plot window. A new Settings dialog lets you select your preferred units for Speed and VMG.
- Can now display the boats to scale, making it easier to visualise what really happened at mark roundings. Specify a default boat length in the new Settings dialog, or specify a length individually for each boat.
- In compare mode it is now possible to select the comparing boat - the table automatically updates according to your choices in the Selection tab.
Bug fixes:
- Fix the current stats: deviation, speed and VMG were reporting average for the tack, not the current value.
- Selection tab: Fix a problem with Select All checkbox not working after using the color selection box.
- Fix a crash loading a GPX file from a PC configured for a European language.
- Upload from GPS Dialog: Fix the time interval radio button to recognise a 1 second interval
Release 2.11 - 15 March 2009 A small maintenance release:
- Compare feature now shows two rows of current statistics, making it easy to compare the speeds of two boats during playback.
- Improve connection reliability of the upload from GPS button
- Solve a problem with re-installing a license file - fix cannot archive error
- Fix a possible crash when adding a track that does not match any event.
- Fix auto-splitting of tracks when spanning a long period without any points.
This release replaces release 2.10.
Release 2.9 - 4 March 2009
- A new "Compare" checkbox on the select tab lets you compare with one click the current boat with the best and worst performers for the leg.
- Add the Notes tab to the free version (in read-only mode).
Release 2.8 - 1 March 2009
- Introduces a new "Races" tab displaying regattas and races published online by TackTracker.com. Some regattas and races may be available for free, others may be available for purchase using PayPal buttons provided.
- The "Library" tab is renamed "Local".
- A new combo-box in the status bar lets you select the type and length of "tail" you want to see on each boat.
- Now saves races to compressed TTZ files rather than the uncompressed TTX files, which could get very large.
- "Auto Zoom" has been renamed "Auto Track" and centers the current boat. It does not change the zoom.
- The number of clicks required for installation have been reduced to a minimum.
The mix of features available in the free and licensed version is changed. The free version is now a read only race player for viewing online tracks. As a result, the free version gain all the analysis features (legs table and charts) and multi-track view, but will lose the ability to load and edit your own tracks. The Expansion Pack license gives you the tools you load and save your own tracks to a local track library, and to share tracks with others.
Release 2.6 - 10 February 2009
Enhancements:
- New time-line slider bar navigation control makes TackTracker even easier to use.
- New VMG statistic. VMG, or Velocity Made Good, is your speed relative to the rhumb line to the next mark. Use on the reach or run to find which boat has the optimum sailing angle vs. heading. VMG is provided in the current, tack and legs tables, as well as a new chart.
- The legs table has been re-vamped to be more useful. Only the current boat is shown, and you can select the current boat from a drop down.
Fixes
- Problems with zooming and laying marks when the view is rotated have been resolved.
Release 2.5 - 15 January 2009
- Track player now has a compass rose and wind direction indicator. You can rotate the track view to any angle by clicking on the compass rose.
- Fix occassional issues that occurred when loading tracks from the GPS.
- Event tab now lets you explicitly specify "No Course" - for tracks not associated with a yacht race.
Release 2.4 - 9 January 2009
This release brings two exciting new features to make it easy to share your tracks and insights.
The new Share button uploads your track and automatically finds and downloads other people's tracks for the same race. If you're connected to the internet, you can swap tracks at the press of a button. TackTracker can even send you an email to let you know when other people have added their tracks for a particular race. This feature makes it practical and fun to share tracks even for weekend races.
Note that shared tracks are not available from the www.tacktracker.com website: to access shared tracks you must share your own track for the same race.
Annotate!
The new Notes tab lets you write comments pertaining either to the entire race, or to a particular leg. When you share tracks, you can see notes that others have written and add your own. As you play the race, the notes for each leg appear as the leg is played.
Start Sharing Now!
Other enhancements and fixes in 2.4:
- A "Current Leg Only" checkbox on the legs tab makes it easier to find information for the current leg.
- The GPS Upload dialog has some improvements to connect to your GPS more readily.
- Fixes to the Events tab when applying a user defined course.
- Automatically save all tracks to the library after loading a TTX file.
Release 2.2 - 20 December 2008
A major new release aimed at making TackTracker easier and more fun to use. Many small and large changes across the board add up to a big improvement! The new release has an upgraded look and feel too. Many of the changes are in response to beta feedback - thank you, and keep it coming.
Loading Tracks
- Now easier to import tracks, with improved and easier to follow Edit Track and Event dialogs. TackTracker will help guide you through the steps, and automate where possible. For example, TackTracker will automatically save tracks into any matching events already defined, and tell you what it has done.
- New support for defining back-back races. TackTracker will increment the event name (e.g. from "Race 1" to "Race 2") and re-use the existing course and marks.
- TackTracker can now read Velocitek's VCC files.
Track Player
- The Track player now looks better, is more accurate and performs better too.
- A new "movie mode" moves the boats smoothly round the track, rather than in larger steps.
- Shows current time even if no event defined.
- New "Show Paths" mode, optionally shows the entire leg in grey.
- Stop the player when click "Start" or "Finish".
- Add on screen instructions for how to zoom and pan.
About/News Window
- Re-designed for a better look!
- Provide Access from inside application.
GPS Import
- Re-designed for a better look! Now shows an image of the GPS model when connected.
- Able to record your Boat and Name details in the GPS memory (BT-Q1000X only).
- Re-worded "Reset" to "Clear", and added confirmation of intent to clear before proceding.
Selection Tab
- You can now change the track color from the Selection tab. Just click on a color line, and a selection box will appear!
- Fixed minor selection bugs.
Track Editor
- Re-designed for a cleaner, better look.
- Automatically saves loaded tracks to existing events and displays which tracks are saved and where.
- Replaced split/join buttons with separate "join prev", "join next" and "split" buttons.
- Added a slider bar to make it easy to navigate a track, and to split and join.
Event Editor
- Re-designed for a cleaner, better look.
- Added a slider bar to make it easy to navigate to the start and set the time.
- Added pre-defined courses, plus and option to define your own.
- Improved the mark laying usability, eliminating the "Lay" button.
- After saving event, if there is still track left over, prompt for a back-back race, and if yes, apply the same course to the left over track and increment the event name.
Installation
- Add help shortcut to Start->Programs->TackTracker
- Fix install issue causing duplicate copies of tacktracker in add/remove programs. Will now overwrite an older version.
- Provide an uninstall program.
- For Windows Vista, install licenses in My Tracks\licenses rather than Program Files.
Bug Fixes
- Fix saving TTX file. Previously it sometimes created an empty file.
- Don't crash on loading empty TTX file.
Release 1.5 - 29 November 2008
- Turn on anti-aliasing for the track plot and charts - looks 100% better!
- Start full screen and center dialogs
- Show the complete current leg in gray for better context
- Add some more tool-tips and field annotation
- Fixed speed calculation. Previously speed was erroneously reported as half its actual value.
- Correctly fit squat shaped tracks into the plot window.
- Tested with QStarz BT-Q1000P model GPS
- Distinguish the BT-Q1000 and BTQ1000P models
- Make splash screen a proper child of the main window.
- Fix a problem reading a CSV file created by the QStarz V4 utility.
- Avoid trimming a track that has only the start time but no course set.
- Fix error loading a track with a single point
- Beta 1