2 Workflow

In this chapter, we will demonstrate the tools available for a user to interact with the trackeRapp.

2.1 Upload data

The user can select both a path to a processed file and a raw file. The trackeRapp then automatically merges all the sessions after processing the raw files. The trackeRapp removes any duplicated sessions that might occur. This allows the user to constantly add new raw sessions and merge those with previous already processed sessions without any repeated calculations.

2.1.1 Upload raw data

Raw data is defined as data from a GPS-enabled tracking device saved in a common format. The trackeRapp package supports reading files in the following formats: TCX, GPX, JSON and DB3.

2.1.2 Upload processed data

Processed data is a file in an rds format, which is a trackeRdata object generated using the R programming language. It is also the file that is generated if a user downloads the processed data through the trackeRapp. The user can upload the downloaded processed file to the trackeRapp allowing to save processing time.

2.2 Download data

In order for the user to avoid re-processing the same raw data file each time they use the interface, the trackeRapp enables downloading the processed data by clicking on the Download processed data button. The downloaded file is in an rds format and named using the current date (e.g., “trackeRapp_data-2018-02-18.RData”). The user can upload the downloaded file next time they use the trackeRapp, as well as for analysis in R using the trackeR package (Frick and Kosmidis (2017)).

2.3 Session selection

The workout timeline, the session summaries plots, the map, the sport identification and the summary table of selected sessions all enable the selection of sessions. The user is able to select sessions in the plots in two ways - a box and lasso selection. The box selection selects sessions using a rectangular box of any size and all the sessions within the box will be selected. Lasso selection is very useful when the user wants to select specific sessions. These methods allow comparison and analysis of any sessions of interest. Session selection can be reset by clicking the Clear selection button at the top of the page. The session selection methods are demonstrated in the video below.

2.4 Select variables to plot

The trackeRapp lets the user adjust the interface by selecting which variables to plot. The user is able to change the selection at any point and the interface automatically updates.

2.5 Change units

The user is often interested in displaying their data in various units of measurement and so the trackeRapp was designed for the user to be able to display and change the units of measurement of any of the variables at any point whilst using trackeRapp. All the plots and summaries are automatically updated once the Apply button is clicked. The modal dialog interface with radio buttons was designed to clearly display which units of measurement are currently selected, as well as all the other units of measurement available for each variable.

2.6 Changepoint detection

As explained in Section 1.10, the user is able to detect changes within a session for the available variables.

References

Frick, Hannah, and Ioannis Kosmidis. 2017. “trackeR: Infrastructure for Running and Cycling Data from Gps-Enabled Tracking Devices in R.” Journal of Statistical Software 82 (7): 1–29. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v082.i07.