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 mailto:mobile@bajasae.net" rel="nofollow - 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
|