Disctance - Finnish field practise measuremen app

[iloreplica]

Hi there!
I noticed some time ago that there weren't good GPS-based measuremet apps for disc golf available, and the ones I tried seemed a bit inresponsive, buggy or there was just something missing. So, I decided to learn something new and made an application that should tick majority of the boxes disc golfer would need from an distance measurement app for field practise.

Disctance was built.

In one phrase it's customisable measurement and logging app. You decide what to store and how. Just... uhh, check the video - that'll show you the idea.



So, basically you create and name these so-called discs. It can be general name, such as 'putter' or 'distance driver' to log and measure your general driving distance. It can be 'FH Drives', 'Roller' or 'Tomahawk' to specify the way you're throwing. It can be 'That one purple Champion Destroyer that I found and cannot replace' just because you decided so. It can be the combination of these. Anything YOU need. Just mark the tee, throw, and as you pick up a disc, save the distance. The app calculates the distance based on location data provided by your device, and unlike some apps I've tried, it watches the position actively instead of giving half-accurate one-time locations.

Your discs are easy to save throws into with a single push of a button, and easy to cancel if an error was made. The mapview provides a visual reference to see if the GPS (or GLONASS) is accurately providing location data.

Analyze-section gives you a graph of your throws alongside with throw counts, maximum distances and mean values.

The best part: The app saves your discs and throws! It's also completely free to use and always will be so.

The app is divided into two separate versions. One is native Android app, which is the original platform-of-choise. The other is a web-app (basically a website) for all the other operating systems. Web-app works with any somewhat new web browser. However, the web-app saves the throws into web browsers data storage and clearing the browser data clears also Disctance's data. Native Android app gets its own storage and some added hardware functionalities.

Ok, so far so good. The App is in constant development and currently in alpha stage. It has most of the functionalities I designed it for, but now it's your turn to test it and comment! The Finnish community has been quite enthusiastic about this, let's see how this goes on an international scale.

The app has it's own project page within my blog:
http://ikihongatkolajaa.blogspot.fi/p/disctance.html

There you'll find all the information you need, the changelogs, web-app's web address as well as the installation packages for the Android app. So yeah, go and test. Comment and be part of it's development!

 

[iloreplica]

...and a typo on the title, grrreat! That'll give good first impression about my skills with a keyboard! [emoji14]

 

[JC17393]

How accurate is the measurement? Within a meter? More? Less? (am I asking a stupid question that is answered on your website or in the changelog documentation?)

I would think that this app could double as a course measuring app. Mark the tee, mark the target, boom, hole is measured. I'm not overly concerned with my distance throwing, but I can definitely see a use in measuring courses. I'm going to download it and give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

 

[iloreplica]

How accurate is the measurement? Within a meter? More? Less? (am I asking a stupid question that is answered on your website or in the changelog documentation?)

I would think that this app could double as a course measuring app. Mark the tee, mark the target, boom, hole is measured. I'm not overly concerned with my distance throwing, but I can definitely see a use in measuring courses. I'm going to download it and give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

It's basically as accurate as your device is. GPS has an accuracy minimum of 5 meters, with GLONASS that accuracy gets a bit better but it is still around 4 meters. LOCATION accuracy that is.

Certainly not a stupid question! It'one of the hardest questions regarding the app (I've had this asked few times [emoji14])

Typically the error vector (direction and magnitude) is slanted into same direction when you are talking about two points 100m apart within few minutes. This makes it so that the errors of tee and disc compensate for each other and the DISTANCE error is quite small. When at local soccer field (length 100m) I constantly get distance readings of 99-101m, so I'd say within a meter can be achieved. Some testers have confirmed this.

I can't give any certain answers to the question. It depends on the location, device and weather. It certainly is more accurate than just the location accuracy that the device gives and is also shown on the app, though.

 

[DeLa-Loc654]

I have an iphone and I'd be for trying it in the browser for now...

 

[thatdirtykid]

Aside from simplicity what else appeals to this versus the Udisc App. Do you get stats for each category of disc you create? I would enjoy that, I don't often measure putter/mid work because I am worried it would effect my max D tracking (for fun more than anything)

 

[iloreplica]

Aside from simplicity what else appeals to this versus the Udisc App. Do you get stats for each category of disc you create? I would enjoy that, I don't often measure putter/mid work because I am worried it would effect my max D tracking (for fun more than anything)

The analysis is divided by the user created 'discs', yes. If you want, you can just create a 'Putter' disc and track your putter drives there, separate from your other discs.

It's all about flexibility. You can go as simple or complex as you want. Also, overlapping is of course possible. You can just push the same throw into multiple of these discs if so needed or desired.

What kind of data you would like to have per 'disc'? Is the current graph-max-mean-count sufficient or could there be need for more complex statistics like trends or deviations? Moving averages?

 

[thatdirtykid]

That would actually cover my uses well. I have not downloaded the app yet, because I have a new phone coming, and I will not be throwing for a few days anyway... I am excited to try it out!