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parkrun thread

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DeeGee Apr 2019 3:13pm, 29 Apr 2019 18,593 posts	Quote Pin DeeGee Protocol is that the device gets put into flight mode while its being used, but then if it isn't...?
DeeGee Apr 2019 3:14pm, 29 Apr 2019 18,594 posts	Quote Pin DeeGee And then I'm asking my volunteers to use the data that they pay for to upload the files, which I need them to do before they leave the park, where 4G coverage isn't always perfect...?
Paul N Apr 2019 3:15pm, 29 Apr 2019 637 posts	Quote Pin Paul N I've these little tags on all (i.e. both) pairs of trainers. Always there when I need them (lesson learned after a couple of episodes of having to run home after a PR to retrieve). I very, very rarely would have the phone with me when running.
DeeGee Apr 2019 3:19pm, 29 Apr 2019 18,595 posts	Quote Pin DeeGee Yes, but the people who have their barcodes on their phones would. I'm contraried. I'd love to accept barcodes on phones as not everyone at the country's biggest static-caravan holiday park across the road has access to a printer when they need it, but I won't accept parkrun having to go all-app to facilitate this.
edison Apr 2019 3:19pm, 29 Apr 2019 923 posts	Quote Pin edison Ah, I wondered why flight mode - that makes sense
edison Apr 2019 3:24pm, 29 Apr 2019 924 posts	Quote Pin edison Some countries are app-only already
larkim Apr 2019 3:27pm, 29 Apr 2019 7,330 posts	Quote Pin larkim Most people are utterly ambivalent about data usage I'd say. I've not looked into how much data the app uses to send the results, but it will be very small I'd have thought. A small opening in the mantra of "not on phones" could be made if it was framed in terms of "Some of our events now use phones to scan barcodes" and if "decent sized" parkruns had one volunteer role who was using the app and was dedicated to scanning phones, that might work. Equally, anything that allows 1 parkrun to operate differently from another creates confusion, so perhaps that really isn't a pragmatic idea. But we've debated this before - and as all supermarkets continue to use bog standard barcodes, and have done for years with no sign of changing much, I doubt the humble physical barcode will cease to be fundamental identifier for a number of years yet. If they do ever change, it will be a huge upheaval as it would need to be universally implemented fairly quickly.
BexleyKev Apr 2019 3:31pm, 29 Apr 2019 362 posts	Quote Pin BexleyKev I have the app on my phone and willing to step in and scan a few if needed when there is a bit of a back up - or people are still rolling around on the astro turf yelling aaaargh while the other scanner remains at the end of the finish but, appreciate that not everyone would want to use their own resources. ICE - reason to have it printed is very laudable for the obvious reason but probably a red herring in terms of a reason why they wont allow scanning from a phone, more likely is that it would lead to issues if someone then went to an event that relied solely on the parkrun scanners. I sense that as more and more people become morphed into their phones, there might be a move towards local discretion if there was a way to manage that effectively without causing grief to others.
LindsD Apr 2019 3:38pm, 29 Apr 2019 27,486 posts	Quote Pin LindsD Germany is phone only but I'm not aware that that means they accept barcodes on phones, does it? I thought it was still paper only, even if events are using phones to scan.
Homer Apr 2019 3:48pm, 29 Apr 2019 12,566 posts	Quote Pin Homer I think people worry about data much less that folk think they do. They days of little data are drifting into memory, if you have a few volunteers I bet half of them would easily be willing to install an app and use their data