Katy Trail Home  The Katy Trail and Rock Island Trail Rock Island Trail Home

Reply to GPS real-time tracking?


Cancel and Return to Forum
Scroll down to see the discussion
All submissions are reviewed for appropriateness. We reserve the right to remove or edit any comment that we consider incorrect, misleading, or inappropriate, at our sole discretion. Please remember that this is a family-friendly website.
Subject:
Reply to GPS real-time tracking?
Your Name:

This does not have to be your real name. It could be a "screen name", your initials, or just leave blank.
Your Hometown:

Optional - it's just interesting to know where people are from
Email Address
Comment:
So we know you are a human, please answer this easy math quiz:
5 + 4 =
Bill S. from Camden, MO on 8/20/2013 3:50:19 PM:
I am planning on doing another full Katy ride in late September, however this will be my first one alone. I would like my "less fortunate" friends to be able to track my progress on a website of some kind, without having to develop my own page. Does anyone have a suggestion for an Android app and corresponding website on which they can check my progress? Thx.

 
Ray (webmaster) on 8/20/2013 4:28:55 PM:
To share your distances and locations, I'd recommend an app called MapMyRide. It's GPS enabled, so it tracks location, speed, distance, and displays your day's travel on a map. At the end of your daily ride, when you save your trip, it gives you options to post the info on social media sites like Facebook. If you save your trip as "public", other people can see the details (location, distance, map image) at the MapMyRide website.

However, be aware that there might be some sections of the trail where your smartphone cannot get a data signal. In those locations (mostly remote), your app will not be able to save the trip info.

 
Bill S. from Camden, MO on 8/20/2013 5:02:28 PM:
Thanks, Ray, I use MapMyRide all the time, but I forgot about the Public option. I had been using Instamapper, but that shut down late last year. It was simple but worked.

 
Billy from Mokane on 8/21/2013 11:05:15 AM:
Ray.. You are the best...

 
kevin from Jeff City on 8/21/2013 1:48:14 PM:
You can also set up a journal on Crazy Guy On A Bike if you want to keep a narrative of your adventures. You can update it from a phone.

 
BikerBoy from Edwardsville, IL on 8/21/2013 2:48:14 PM:
I have used the free "Real Time GPS" Android app from greenalp.com. It works pretty well and I can set the update interval which is nice. You just add "friends" on the greenalp webpage and they can track your progress. It's amazing how far the technology has come in the last few years. Like Ray said, though, I have found some spots on the Katy where there is little or no data service on Verizon. I actually kind of like that. It's nice to get away from the instant work email updates once in a while!