parkrun thread

11 lurkers | 504 watchers
Apr 2019
3:13pm, 29 Apr 2019
18,593 posts
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DeeGee
Protocol is that the device gets put into flight mode while its being used, but then if it isn't...?
Apr 2019
3:14pm, 29 Apr 2019
18,594 posts
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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...?
Apr 2019
3:15pm, 29 Apr 2019
637 posts
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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.

Apr 2019
3:19pm, 29 Apr 2019
18,595 posts
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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.
Apr 2019
3:19pm, 29 Apr 2019
923 posts
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edison
Ah, I wondered why flight mode - that makes sense
Apr 2019
3:24pm, 29 Apr 2019
924 posts
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edison
Some countries are app-only already
Apr 2019
3:27pm, 29 Apr 2019
7,330 posts
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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.
Apr 2019
3:31pm, 29 Apr 2019
362 posts
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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.
Apr 2019
3:38pm, 29 Apr 2019
27,486 posts
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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.
Apr 2019
3:48pm, 29 Apr 2019
12,566 posts
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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

About This Thread

Maintained by Hendo
A discussion of all things parkrun.

Here's a wiki giving brief reviews of parkruns up and down the land:

fetcheveryone.com/article-view.php?id=545

parkruns with restart permission: google.com

Note: Hendo is a boy.

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