Nokia Sports Tracker Beta - New Online Service
UPDATED below the fold
Wow - I am very, very impressed! I have just taken Nokia Sports Tracker Beta for a quick spin and this new service, functionality and strategic direction has left me speechless.
Let's start with a recap. Nokia Sports Tracker was released in March this year. It was released as stand alone application to be used with a Nokia device with built in GPS or with an external GPS receiver. I covered this excellent application many times on the blog.
The application tracks a variety of sports activities and measures the distance, speed, time etc and present the data in form of a workout sunnary. The data could be exported and used with a map application to track your activities. From the very start I was impressed by the application and the passion and dedication displayed by the team of people behind the application.
They were quick to listen to feedback and released new versions and new features with an impressive speed. However, for the past few months it's been rather quiet from the Nokia Sports Tracker team.
Now I understand. They have been hard at work perfecting the next logical step - exactly aligned with Nokia's Ovi annoucement - services!
Nokia Sports Tracker Beta is the name of the online service (graciously free of charge- thanks for that Nokia) for the Nokia Sports Tracker application.
Some of the highlights of the service:
- Store and display your activities online
- View detailed data such as speed, distance etc
- Integrated with Google Maps: "satellite" or "map" view.
- Upload geotagged photos of your activities
- "Live Sharing" of activities
- BEAUTIFUL web design UI & functionality
- Absolutely free (no subscription)
You start with creating a free user account either from Nokia Sports Tracker Beta or directly from the application which can be dowloaded from here.
The set up procedure worked like a charm. I first created the online account and then paired the application with my online account. Not a single glitch!
When you have paired your device with your online account you can set it up so that you can share the progress of your activities live!, yes live!
"Live Sharing" and all other aspects of data display can be set up to match your privacy concerns; available to all, to friends or not shared.
Another really cool new feature is the ability to upload geotagged photos taking during your activity. Say that you are on a nice hike and take some photos. Those photos will be time stamped, matched with your GPS location and displayed with your activity. Photos can also be positioned manually on map by using a manual "photo placement function.
So what does the web service look like? a great example is the below Workout summary complete with photos of a bike ride around Helsinki. (of course, taking photos while working out might slow you down 
but it is a great way of sharing the experience)
Yet another great feature is that the map of your workout is automatically tagged with key information points such as "fastest point", "slowest point" "highest altitude" etc.
The workout summaries can be viewed as a plain map or in satellite mode.
What makes me so excited about this, is of course all the obvious reasons - great product, intuitive, simple but powerful, delightful user experience, free and really, really useful.
But more than that, when I extrapolate and look into the future it is not hard to image many, many more powerful location based services coming from Nokia.
Imagine in a near future when many millions of Nokia devices will ship with GPS built in. Add Nokia's intention to acquire Navteq and Nokia's emphasis on services through Ovi and you have the recipe for products and services with amazing potential!
If the manager of the Nokia Sports Tracker team happens to read this, give them all a nice raise or at least take them out for one earth shattering Christmas party - they deserve it for creating such a great product.
One more thing, extra credit goes out to the web designers! The look and feel is beautiful. As functional as it is esthetically pleasing!
Once again, I am impressed!
Now download Nokia Sports Tracker add me as a friend "eseries" and let's share some maps.
UPDATE:
Nokia has just released Nokia Sports Tracker 1.63. This version should fix many of the initial issues:
November 20th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
[...] Hat Tip to Eseries [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
don’t know whats wrong, but i’m gettting “unable to install” message with my e61
;(
November 21st, 2007 at 12:46 am
Great article! I am really looking forward to get this to work on my E61, however, I get: “Unable to install” message right at the end of the installation (when progress bar reaches the right side) …
November 21st, 2007 at 1:10 am
simply great!!! i was waiting for these features
November 21st, 2007 at 2:05 am
Momchil:
e61 is an antiquated phone. Try with e61i.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:02 am
Sports Tracker is relay cool and als the Developer Team
See here:
http://research.nokia.com/research/projects/SportsTracker/userofthemonth_Oct07/index.html
November 21st, 2007 at 3:04 am
It’s great, just what I was about to try to do myself.
One problem; all the data I uploaded is now corrupt on the phone. The workouts I didn’t upload are still ok. Anyone else seeing this problem? These were workouts recorded with the previous version of Sports Tracker, but they were displaying fine before being uploaded. The data looks ok on the website.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:18 am
@ED: Thanks for the review, will for sure test it on my own today and have a review up later then. Got a good dozens of Biking-trials i recorded with the Sports Tracker.
@Mr. Prasad: You´re outdated too. Tell your parents to get new son..
But honestly: How stupid could you be? That phone is about 1.5 yrs old, working like a charm and has just the same amount of RAM-memory the original N95 had. So? Wanna tell me that N95 V1 is outdated too?
It´s supposed to work on any 3rd Edition device, which means that also the E61 is counting in. Better do not post anything before you start to confuse people.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:26 am
This looks like a really great piece of software. Looking forward to using it with my E61i and Bluetooth GPS. Thanks for a comprehensive review.
November 21st, 2007 at 3:42 am
Nokia Sports Tracker е вече в Web 2.0 ерата…
Любимото ми приложение току що ми стана още по-любимо : направили му са и сайт, където се казват автоматично workout-ите.
Според това има и geo-tagg…
November 21st, 2007 at 3:43 am
How does it tag photos? Is it an external tag, or is it in exif data?
November 21st, 2007 at 5:19 am
This looks really cool… Eager to try this out. I personally think they made a mistake with the name. Ok it started as a sport tracker but is really a geo-tracking tool. Personally I see a lot of potential in travelling tracking. I was using something similar during my last holiday in June using shozu and sport tracker but it was very impractical and now we have this fantastic converged solution! Way to go Nokia! It would be nice to see how the upload tools and this nokia sport tracker converge in one simple to use tool…
-Reda
November 21st, 2007 at 6:13 am
I am also getting an “Unable to install” error. I have tried both before and after removing the previous version and also tried both internal memory and SD card. I hope this gets addressed soon.
November 21st, 2007 at 6:36 am
Same problem here on my E61.
So I hope there’s a working version coming for E61 as well.
it’s beta software but still, looking at the price we paid for our E61, we should be taken care off when testing new releases of software.
Nice review, please continue doing these.
November 21st, 2007 at 6:58 am
[...] saber mais visite o site http://www.e-series.org/archives/450 e veja um interessante [...]
November 21st, 2007 at 6:59 am
On my e61 I get a “cannot install” message. Tried to install in phone memory and on card — both have plenty of space. The download page of the Nokia site says S60 v3.0 but download says S60 v3.2. I am selecting the correct download for e61. Any suggestions?
November 21st, 2007 at 7:09 am
Hi all,
I’m also getting the message “unable to install” with my e61. It is disapointing as I love this piece of software (I enjoy the long walks with my kid). Any ideas?
Wirtanen
@ED: Congrats for the site!!
November 21st, 2007 at 7:34 am
How do you get it to install on the E61? I had the same problem… And do you need GPS to make it work? What GPS do people recommend?
November 21st, 2007 at 7:50 am
Installed, registered and is now working flawlessly! Thank you Nokia
November 21st, 2007 at 7:56 am
I installed it on my E61 and it works, no problem. To Coolmitch, I used it with a Nokia GPS but you can probably use it with any bluetooth GPS receiver.
November 21st, 2007 at 8:06 am
Me too, having problems with installation on E61. I’ll try later from a PC using PCsuite.
November 21st, 2007 at 8:06 am
Coolmitch, like me, cannot get it to install on an e61. Zack had no problem…. Weird. Zack, did you do anything special? Did you happen to notice the version number that you downloaded? Does GPS need to be active when installing?
November 21st, 2007 at 8:14 am
I can’t install this programm on my E61 too - “Unable to intall”. Anybody know how solve this trouble?
November 21st, 2007 at 9:04 am
Successfully installed on a Nokia E65!
November 21st, 2007 at 9:10 am
Perhaps, there is an issue with Nokia E61, I installed it on my Nokia E61i, worked fine.
November 21st, 2007 at 9:16 am
To all having problems with installing on an e61: According to the Nokia site, a new version is coming tomorrow (22/11/07). I’ll try installing that on my e61 and report back
November 21st, 2007 at 9:53 am
The new version is to fix the problem I mentioned above; no mention of installation problems, but perhaps it will fix those too:
“Version 1.60/1.62 caused some problems with old data. It is highly recommended not to use v1.60/v1.62 to upload workouts recoded with previous versions (v1.35, v1.49) of NST to the service. Uploading workouts recorded with new version is OK. New fixed version coming 22-11-2007, sorry for the inconvenience.”
November 21st, 2007 at 10:01 am
@Mr Prasad: Quite shameful to say E61 is outdated!! It is hardly 18 months old and there is no other phone out there to match it!
November 21st, 2007 at 12:33 pm
[...] review can be found here: Nokia Sports Tracker [...]
November 21st, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Updated version 1.63 has now been uploaded/added to the site, so it is available for Download again now.
*********************************************
Can I use the opportunity to flag some things up though…
There is a time difference issue with the application.
Back in Summer, during UK Daylight Saving time, I started a trip at 12:48pm once, when testing it out (I don’t use it that much, so this was about the only one I tried to use along with Geo-tagging images). My phone clock was correct, as was time zone and BST/DST settings.
But when the track was uplaoded, it said it had started at 13:48.
Consequently, all my photos that I was Geotagging, with the clock set correct on the camera, were all mis-located - as clearly the gps track was the thing that was out of timing.
So tonight, not long ago, now that we are OUT of DST/BST, I ran a mini-track at home.
SportsTracker on the PHONE clearly said the time was 21:24. As did the recorded track on the phone when viewed in the activity diary.
HOWEVER, when uploaded to the SportsTracker website, the site said my track started at 20:24.
Not sure where I go to get this fixed, but bear it in mind folks - Nokia, please sort this out too…
November 21st, 2007 at 3:30 pm
There is a new version of NST available (1.63) this version should fix many of the problems discussed above.
November 21st, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I have installed the latest version (1.63). This time it installs on my E61, but it won’t run. When I click on the NST icon, the phone does not seem to launch the application. I tried it twice (uninstall, reboot, reinstall) with similar results.
Has anyone had any luck running the latest version on an E61?
November 21st, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Same problem on the e61 here. It installs fine but the application won’t run.
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:00 am
Damn! Later I can’t install NST, now I can’t launch this application on my E61.
Nokia, please, fix this troubles with E61 in 1.64 as soon as possible.
Ну, ей богу пидарасы какие-то.
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:58 am
Same problem here. 1.64 installed OK on my e61, but I am unbale to lauch the application. Looking forward for an update
November 22nd, 2007 at 2:01 am
Same problem with my E61 as for example kokketiel has. Firmware version 3.0633.09.04.
November 22nd, 2007 at 2:55 am
Does eneyone else have the problem i am having - When running, cycling etc, where do you put the phone - For the GPS to work correctly you need to keep it open, and ven if it is open, in a backpack, or even in my pocket the GPS doesn’t seem to work very well - Looses signal many many times? Can anyone give feedback on the best way to keep a GPS signal on the phone while actually taking part in any activity. It’s all good if your walking, and you dont mind holding the phone open in front of you, but how do you practically use it when you need two hands to hold onto your bikes handlbars?!? Application is amazing though! Also, is there any chance that the camera application will be updated so it will automatically geotag photos? Instead of going through the mission of using ShoZu? If Nokia has the GPS function, and the ability to trach your position, when will they take the next logical step and incorporate it into the camera so that we can just take a GeoTagged picture automatically!? As often find that with NST and the camera open and ShuZu running in teh background, the phone runs out of memory? Am i the only one? or does someone have a simple solution?
November 22nd, 2007 at 5:03 am
Does anyone have problems with icons? I installed it to my E61i, it installed fine and works OK, but no icons in the program anywhere.
I can see the cool icons in your screenshots, but they are totally lacking from my install.
Btw, there’s no E61i in the download options, which is the right one? I installed the N82, N95 8Gb version. It works though, excluding the problem I just described. Thanks guys.
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 am
v1.63 installs on my e61, but won’t launch. tried uninstalling and reinstalling, turned the e61 off and on, but still no luck. Has anyone out there successfully installed AND RUN Sports Tracker on an e61?
November 22nd, 2007 at 7:48 am
[...] Nokia Sports Tracker Beta: Servicio online para la aplicación de Nokia que permite almacenar las actividades deportivas con todos sus datos de velocidad, distancia… e integrarlas con Google Maps. Descarga | Nokia [...]
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:43 am
@ Bozo: I had one version prior to upgrading to 1.49 which worked perfectly.
When I upgraded to 1.49, NST would crash when I tried to input a new user.
And now with 1.63 (both upgrade and clean install) doesn’t function, period.
And people say the e61 doesn’t need a lil firmware love !
November 22nd, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Same issue here. E61 app. installs but won’t run. At least I’m not the only one…
November 22nd, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Me, too, I’m waiting 1.64!!
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:12 am
I received the upgrade last night as well (1.60 to 1.63) on my N95. After this, the application failed to start. No errors, just not starting. Restarted my phone, but that didn’t help.
Removed my previous workouts to see if that helped. On a previous upgrade prior to 1.6x this helped. But no results.
Finally I uninstalled the application and removed the sportstracker folder. Next I installed the application again. And it worked!
Hopefully Nokia will add a heartbeat sensor to the product. That would make this the best app ever.
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:18 am
Worked flawlessly on N95 , didn;t tried on E61 yet , planning to use it on my upcoming Hajj trip
November 23rd, 2007 at 4:24 am
Awesome, Ed!
Can’t wait to try it out on my N95. It might even start making working out fun :p
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:04 am
[...] [Via: Eseries] [...]
November 23rd, 2007 at 5:41 am
[...] Eseries] —Related Articles at IntoMobile:Nokia Sports Tracker Software - Another Way To Track How Much [...]
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:52 am
Amazing Application and Webservice! Updated my Nokia to V1.63 and uploaded my workouts. Can’t get my mouth shut…
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:16 am
Just to add to my further comments about a potential bug…
Nokia, I can now say that having viewed multiple profiles and uplaods from UK based users, it seems ALL Uk users have an issue of time being wrong.
The TITLE of their workout has and shows, the CORRECT time (for example 07:02am).
However, in the WORKOUT SUMMARY section, it will then state that their workout started at 06:02am.
This seems to be the case for ALL UK users that I have looked at so far.
So possibly a European CET/GMT time-zone difference issue?
November 23rd, 2007 at 10:51 am
I am thinking another use which is to use this software when i am traveling. I can share my travel path,pictures along the way and experiences. Just another use for this software.
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:00 pm
Same issue here. E60 app. installs but won’t run.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:46 pm
[...] [Via: Eseries] [...]
November 25th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Same for me. Problems with e61.
It installs but the application doesn’t run.
November 25th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Great software. Really. I used the new community-version (1.63) on my E65 and it works like a charm with BT gps, while listening to music and make some call. I did some photo, running near Rome, Italy:
http://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/workoutdetail/index.do?id=7252
I think that now on the market we need a bluetooth cardio-sensor. I see that on new models (N82, N95) Sports Tracker includes a step-counter. How did it work? counting the “vibration” of the phone??
@Dav01
November 26th, 2007 at 2:57 am
dear ed,
Plz help me with ip passthrough connection for nokia e61 ?
for internet ascess.
With regards
satiesh
November 26th, 2007 at 4:01 am
Works fine for me, on the E61i. Great application with fantastic potential. Used it to track a 300km drive. New version (1.63) solves the problem of the missing icon on the E61i, Tommy.
November 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
[...] zainteresował Was serwis Nokia Sports Tracker Beta, zajrzyjcie na stronę http://www.e-series.org, gdzie znajduje się dokładny opis, krok po kroku, jak korzystać z [...]
November 27th, 2007 at 2:02 am
[...] I missed the scoop, as Eseries.org and All About Symbian broke the news already. Yeah, it’s true: significantly improved Nokia [...]
November 27th, 2007 at 9:18 am
pretty nice, but where are the posts and info on e90…is this blog hanging in time???
November 28th, 2007 at 2:07 am
Very nice program, fine working on a E50 with Q-starz-BT-818.
There is only one problem. The altitude (Geoid-correction) does not work correct.
November 28th, 2007 at 8:05 am
@erick: NST works very nicely with E90. I’ve used the earlier version of it since July and am just installing the newest version to make use of the new web service. A beautiful app that will hopefully be developed into not just a sports tracker but an all-in-one route & location tracker service.
Does anyone else have problems in registering to the web service?
My problem is that I haven’t received the confirmation email that “has just been sent” to my email … an hour ago when I registered. Maybe the system has hick-ups?
November 28th, 2007 at 11:40 am
[...] There’s more on the Nokia Sports Tracker software and website on the Eseries blog here: Nokia Sports Tracker Beta - New Online Service [...]
November 28th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
WEB 3.0!
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:48 am
How to export to Google earth?
I don’t know how , please give me the right instructions.
December 3rd, 2007 at 11:33 am
Version 1.64 is up now. Hopefuly it will work with the e61 now.
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:26 pm
Have just tried v164 on my e61. It seems to install OK, but will not launch - same problem as v163. How frustrating!
Anyone out there having better luck with an e61 using v164?
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Same issue again
… 1.64 installs OK on my E61 but does not run.
December 4th, 2007 at 9:47 pm
Same problem on my e61, can’t run 1.64 version.
December 5th, 2007 at 12:33 am
no problems installing it on e60 but the app will not start….damn it
December 5th, 2007 at 6:33 am
Yup - same problem with 1.64. I was excited to see the new version and disappointed that it didn’t run. Is there a way to communicate with the development team?
I think for now I will reinstall 1.49 - at least that worked on the device, if not with the web service.
December 5th, 2007 at 9:11 am
saw this ont he nokia research page
“NOTE to E60 and E61 users:
We’re currently investigating why NST v1.6 or later fails to install to E60 and E61 devices.
Fix to this really annoying problem is underway, and we estimate to have this available on week 50.
Until then, please do not install Sports Tracker v1.6x to your E60 or E61, the installation just fails.
We’re really sorry for the inconvenience.”
what is week 50?
http://research.nokia.com/research/projects/SportsTracker/index.html
December 5th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Week 50 is the week starting with Monday, December 10. So: next week.
(It’s a European habit to count the calendar weeks of a year, so week 50 is the 50th week of the year (this year, I hope
… I’m owner of an E61 and had to downgrade again in order to keep using the software).
December 5th, 2007 at 9:59 am
According to my calendar, week 50 runs 10-16 December. So, next week - assuming week 50 of 2007. I wait with bated breath!
December 5th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Date/time test - 5/12/07 22:24
December 5th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Date/time test: 5/12/07 - 21:25
December 16th, 2007 at 8:56 am
Well, week 50 is drawing to a close and still no sign of an updated version that runs on an e61. Perhaps week 51?
December 18th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Well guys. V1.66 is out. I was very exited about it, but unfortunately it is again impossible to launch it in e61. It installs OK, but nothing happens when you try to run it. Maybe on V1.68?
December 18th, 2007 at 9:17 am
I got same problem, V1.63, V1.64, V1.66 whatsoever..all not able to RUN!!
December 18th, 2007 at 10:04 am
It must be really difficult to develop for S60, if even Nokia can’t write software that works.
Back to 1.49 again, v1.66 won’t work for me on e61.
December 18th, 2007 at 10:23 am
And I have problem with my E61.
Won’t run..
December 18th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
The Nokia site http://research.nokia.com/research/projects/SportsTracker/index.html
makes mention of v1.66 — the list of latest fixes makes no mention of an e61 fix.
THe site still says:
“NOTE to E60 and E61 users:
We’re currently investigating why NST v1.6 or later fails to install to E60 and E61 devices.
Fix to this really annoying problem is underway, and we estimate to have this available on week 50.
Until then, please do not install Sports Tracker v1.6x to your E60 or E61, the installation just fails.
We’re really sorry for the inconvenience.”
Still says week 50 — since we are now in week 51, do we have to wait until the end of next year?
Seriously, though, it seems that v1.7x may fix the problem.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Can someone post BT GPS models other than Nokia that work?
Thanks.
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Great post, and great application.
Works fine on my 6110 navigator.
December 25th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Works 100% on my N73. Dead easy. Needs an external Bluetooth GPS.
December 30th, 2007 at 11:29 am
FYI, V1.67 has been released, and (as expected from the post above) the E61 issue is still unsolved. Can’t wait for V1.70!
PS: All the best for 2008!!
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Hi all. It eventually happened. Nokia released V1.70 together with a E61 version!. Installed *and* tested OK on my E61. I will try it next weekend on the mountains with my kids.
PS: Many, many thanks to Nokia!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:50 am
Yeah finally 1.70 is out. But if you have an E60 like me, make sure you install the E61-version because the standard version doesn’t work. Even though the E60 is on the compatibility list of the standard version you actually need the other one.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:56 am
http://betalabs.nokia.com/blog/2008/01/23/nokia-sports-tracker-for-e61/
January 26th, 2008 at 9:41 am
v1.70 installed and runs fine on my e61 using the same GPS unit that I purchased for Wayfinder Navi software. Will take it for a walk tomorrow. Many thanks, Nokia.
March 20th, 2008 at 5:53 am
The prograna is very good in many features, but to be truly effective in walking mode, would have the option to select the time between captures. Neither the filter incorporated can avoid the major problems of those who suffer GPS low speed. I have used many programs and several GPS and the best way to minimize errors in walking mode is scheduling a capture of the position every 5, 7 or 10 seconds. I use a N E50 with two different GPS.
There are other many programs wiyh better features for walking, but they are not as cheap as Nokia Sports Tracking
April 29th, 2008 at 7:01 am
fyi, for v1.71 on e61 make sure you use
http://research.nokia.com/files/SportsTracker_E61_30_v171.sisx
e61 download link on “http://sportstracker.nokia.com/nts/download.do” is misleading - SportsTracker_ADIS_30_v171.SIS will not work on e61 (installs fine, but won’t run!)
July 12th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Great piece of software!! looking forward and hoping for the Share on Ovi integration and heartbeat sensor feature! well done…
August 20th, 2008 at 1:22 am
I’m running v1.78 on e61i. The application gps data (tracks, speed, position etc) freeze randomly a few seconds to minutes after it’s started. Apparently it’s a known problem:
http://www.womworld.com/nokia/3731/sportstracker-freeze-fix/