Saturday, February 17, 2018

Electronic Proof of Passage; What Works for Me

Randonneurs USA has provided for Electronic Proof of Passage, acceptable forms to be agreed upon by the rider and the permanent owner.

The following works for me:

I am a total fan of Timestamp Camera, a free phone app which imprints the timestamp AND location on the picture as it is being taken.  It even has a cool feature to superimpose a translucent overlay of the MAP with location dot in the upper right corner.

As the pictures are timestamped, I will also accept them for timed controls.  You and/or your bike need to be in the picture (SR-600 type of documentation), and the picture should be of something which is clearly the control location.

Like so:

Michal and Lesli, approaching the Hoffmann Bridge

Finish at the Fred Meyer Starbucks in Beaverton

(before I discovered the text formatting options, but it is an unambiguous pic of the control!)

Sweetpea at Vernonia Lake.  Pretty picture as well as photo verification.

Settings changes for best readability:
Position - select "One line to the edge" and "Time in below"
Format - yyyy/mm/dd, lat/long, City/State; optionally select Display Map
Font - default?  I  use ArialMT
Input - if you wanted, you could put your name and route name/number.
Opacity - move the background opacity to about 1/3 of the slider.

For total fancyness, in the menu (upper row of icons), if appears that you can set it up to send email to someone as each pic is taken.  It creates the email, but you still need to tap Send.  Still Very  Cool.

1 comment:

Graham Ross said...

For one perm owner, readability is an issue. Upon his suggestion I had been texting Timestamp Camera pics to him at controls. After the finish pic was texted he replied that he would complete the "paperwork" immediately. He used the time of the text message as the finish time instead of the time imprinted. When I pointed out the discrepancy he said he would try to get it corrected. It has not been corrected yet. The difference was 6 minutes and nowhere near the cutoff, so I feel a bit silly even asking. But the point of the app is that the time is sure to be accurate. If he had used the text time of the Ripplebrook control I would have DNF'd because Ripplebrook has no cell service (AT&T must be destroyed) and I texted that pic to him after arriving back in Estacada, well past Ripplebrook's closing time.

For him to use the imprinted time, he said he wanted it to be more readable. I do think that is a reasonable request, and I therefore recommend the "large" font and a black background. I think the large font option requires paying the $5 for the premium version of the app. He also didn't see any value in the location info. I can agree with him when the picture really does show the location, as all your examples do, Lynne. There could be a situation where there is nothing distinctive, such as the random locations where a team might find itself at the 24 hour mark on a fleche.