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Introducing: BajaSAE Mobile

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mikez View Drop Down
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    Posted: Apr/12/2013 at 12:33am

Teams-
We have some exciting news: This year SAE is rolling out an all-new service called BajaSAE Mobile.  This service allows you (or spectators, guests, etc) to view your preliminary Static, Dynamic, and Endurance results in real-time by connecting to a local intranet website that we will make available on-site at each competition.  You can also easily report any problems with those results to the National Scoring group using the website.  The site also serves as an official place where we will post scoring-related announcements.

The ‘BajaSAE Mobile’ Website

The National Scoring group will deploy a temporary WiFi network at the competition Static and Dynamic event sites.  We will do our best to provide network coverage at the most common areas, such as the main tent/HQ area and the team paddocks.  There will be small banners advertising the service, the network SSID, password, and site address.  This network will NOT provide Internet access, but will provide access to the mobile.bajasae.net website (only) which will be the way the results information will be posted during competition.  The ‘Mobile’ in the name actually comes from the fact that the website moves around from site-to-site with the competition; it should always just be there for you.  However, the website itself is actually designed to work correctly in the most common browsers on both desktop and mobile platforms.

Because many competition sites do not have Internet access (and because hosting websites from the ones that do is complicated), you should NOT expect to be able to access the mobile.bajasae.net website from the regular Internet, such as an Internet-connected phone or back at your hotel.  However, all you will need to do is connect your phone, tablet, or laptop to the BajaSAE WiFi any time during competition and you should be able to access the site.  We might be able to make this site work from the Internet, but don’t count on that.  We also have ideas for a mobile app, push-notifications, etc, but that stuff will not be available this season.

When to Expect Your Results

Static Results will be posted at the end of Statics day, usually within an hour of when those events end (no real-time updates for those, yet)

Dynamic Results should trickle in near real-time as you complete each dynamic event; meaning, a minute or so after you complete your run, you will usually be able to hit the website and see your results posted.  Occasionally a dynamic event is too far away to be able to send the scores in via WiFi.  In those cases we will post an announcement on the website letting everyone know that those results will be delayed, usually by an hour or two.  All dynamic results will be posted before the National Scoring group leaves the site at the end of Dynamics Day.

** Problem Reports **
You REALLY need to make time to hit the mobile.bajasae.net website and verify your results sometime before the end of Dynamic Events Day.  The National Scoring group must verify ALL dynamic event results Saturday night (there is not sufficient time for this on Sunday).  Therefore, if you find a problem with your results from Static or Dynamic day, you MUST file a Problem Report using the mobile.bajasae.net website by 6 pm (competition local time) on Dynamic Day!  After that, the site will only accept problem reports related to Endurance results.

Note that a Problem Report is NOT an official scoring dispute; it’s simply a way for you to request that we look into a concern or problem with one of YOUR results.  (This is not the place to report other teams supposedly cheating, etc.)  We investigate and follow up on every case and we feel it is our responsibility to do that thoroughly, so we have to have the reports in ample time to actually look into them.  During the problem report we will take your email and mobile phone contact info.  We MIGHT contact to you to ask for more information; we WILL contact you once we have arrived at a resolution.  You can continue to check your results any time (overnight, etc.), but realize that updates made from the standard verifications and problem report investigations will not show up until the following morning once we are back on-site. 

Your Endurance lap data will be updated in real-time; if you cross the start/finish line and then hit refresh on the page, your new lap count should be reflected in those results!  Problem reports for Endurance results will be accepted up until 15 minutes AFTER the endurance race ends.  After that, you can continue to view all of the results but the system will no longer accept problem reports.  If, at that point, you still have a serious concern about the posted results, you can still file an official scoring dispute with SAE (in writing, with a point bond, etc.) and that will be handled as described in the BajaSAE Rules.  The endurance results verification and final overall score verification will take place between the time that the endurance race ends and the announcement of awards at the banquet.

Please make use of these new services; they are here for your benefit.  Please also give us your feedback on them in the post-competition surveys. 

We’re taking a big step--I also ask that you be patient with us as we learn how to best deploy and use this new technology at competition and work through any new challenges that might present.  Report any service outages to the registration table; report any bugs you encounter when using the website to mobile@bajasae.net (include screenshots and let us know what you were trying to do) and we’ll try to get them sorted out asap.

The DES Team has been hard at work designing and building this new platform.  We believe that this system will also open the door for many additional features that we feel will further the progression of the BajaSAE series!  It’s an exciting course ahead, we’ll keep you posted.

Please also take a moment to thank SAE for supporting this major advancement for you guys and for BajaSAE.  They have been "all-for" making it happen!

I’ll be glad to answer any questions, and I welcome any feedback or suggestions you might have.

Thanks,
-Mike

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Rich B View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rich B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/12/2013 at 2:06pm
Thanks for your hard work!  This is a continued big step up from previous years and im sure we all appreciate it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mikez Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/12/2013 at 3:29pm
You bet!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DomUL Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/12/2013 at 4:45pm
Thats great! It's good to see the serie growing! Keep up the good work!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JeremyB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/23/2013 at 10:53am
Any comments, suggestions on BajaSAE Mobile at TTU?
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cincinnati James Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/23/2013 at 11:08am
Having real-time feedback was great, especially in the endurance race. On dynamics day it would have been much more useful if there had been a comparative value assigned to the raw data. The numbers were not terribly useful, in terms of strategy, without knowing where everyone else stood for each event.

For example, until early this morning I had thought our maneuverability performance was not very good; in reality, it was 13th place. Had we known this we would have allocated our time differently and made more than one attempt on the S&T course.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JeremyB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/23/2013 at 4:55pm

Probably putting words in MikeZ's mouth...

The main improvement of the software for this year was to allow teams to see their time and minor/major penalties in real time in order to be able to catch errors quickly so they could be rectified. It was also quite a bit of work to create/integrate a system that is modular and fault tolerant (Ex: They built a custom UPS that could switch inputs from different sources (battery/solar/generator/site 110V, for the wireless access point). The system is meant to be used at events with no wifi capability (most sites). This event (2013 TTU) was somewhat unique as the TTU organizers made provisions for wifi.
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mikez Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Apr/24/2013 at 12:20am
Originally posted by Cincinnati James Cincinnati James wrote:

Having real-time feedback was great, especially in the endurance race.

Good deal.  That link was a pain, was recently completely redesigned (and retested), and has taken me nearly 4 races (over 9 years) to get working perfectly.

Originally posted by Cincinnati James Cincinnati James wrote:


The numbers were not terribly useful, in terms of strategy, without knowing where everyone else stood for each event.

Fair enough.  However, I want to reiterate that team strategy was not our goal in this step; instant, easy access to review and verify the live/updated results was.  To downplay the system's usefulness for another purpose at this stage seems a bit unfair.

Originally posted by Cincinnati James Cincinnati James wrote:

On dynamics day it would have been much more useful if there had been a comparative value assigned to the raw data. ... For example, until early this morning I had thought our maneuverability performance was not very good; in reality, it was 13th place. Had we known this we would have allocated our time differently and made more than one attempt on the S&T course.

Yes, that's a good point.  And we're headed there, but had to walk before we run.  That WAS the purpose of the system at Auburn in 06, 09, and 12.  I liked that concept too (I designed and wrote that system as well).  We've been hard at work trying to transform that solution into something portable and generic enough to serve similar purposes at all US Baja events, but that has not been an easy job, especially in "your spare time".

The integrity and accuracy of the results & scores has always been something teams stress about, and with good reason.  Many have been burned in the past (us included).  Given the opportunity to make that better, I wanted to first create a mechanism by which teams could verify their own results and notify scoring if there was a problem--early identification & feedback is the key.  I think we got there quickly and did a pretty good job so far.  Those teams who found scoring problems and used BajaSAE Mobile to help us fix them during the TN competition would likely agree that it was more valuable at this point than leader-boards.  Unfortunately one or two issues still made it through this time (and all it takes is one to cause a shuffle), but I believe we're well on the way to making those problems history, which is quite a feat. 

We're not "done", so expect it to continue to improve.  Also, while there isn't time or money to make everything a reality, we value your input, so (like you have done here) continue to tell us what you think would improve it and we'll shoot for that. 

Also, while we're on the subject, team members: don't "graduate and disappear"... it's easy to just hang out and say "they should have done this/that and it would have worked so much better."  Those of us making a difference say "WE should have done this/that", and we work to make it a reality.  I challenge you all to get involved and bring about those types of enhancements that you find are lacking.  Competition Organizers, Tech, BajaRules, etc. always need more people to help improve things, and they are all open to involvement.  Exactly how much effort/time people can devote to it is always the limiting factor.

Thanks for the feedback.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote blackgul Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/24/2013 at 8:37am
I had thought our maneuverability performance was not very good; in reality, it was 13th place. Had we known this we would have allocated our time differently and made more than one attempt on the S&T course......






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Edited by blackgul - Nov/21/2013 at 7:20am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JeremyB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/24/2013 at 6:18pm
Originally posted by blackgul blackgul wrote:

I had thought our maneuverability performance was not very good; in reality, it was 13th place. Had we known this we would have allocated our time differently and made more than one attempt on the S&T course......
 
Are you asking that BajaSE Mobile be able to give real-time event standings?
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