runner_tracker_to_csv

Convert data exported from Runner Tracker Race Control to the same CSV format used by Bear100Win.exe

Video demonstration

This video demonstrates logging a bib number with Runner Tracker, selecting all records, transmitting the data, viewing the data that was sent, shared to clipboard. Then in the Python app, paste the data and retrieve the created CSV file. Watch the video demonstration

About

The point of this conversion script is to enable smartphone users (iPhone and Android) to use the Runner Tracker Race Control app to contribute to the Bear 100 data team. It aims to create a compatible CSV file that would be indistinguishable to the data team from CSV created by the current Bear100Win.exe software.

Installation Instructions

The main prerequisite is having Python3 installed. It will use modules sys, csv, datetime, and json. To use the runner_tracker_to_csv tool:

1. Clone this repository to your local machine.
2. Open a terminal or command prompt.
3. Navigate to the directory where you cloned the repository.
4. Run the script using one of the following methods:
   • From the Pydroid3 app, simply open rt2bear100.py and select the Run button.
   • From a command line, use the following commands:

     python3 rt2bear100.py
     

     or if you make it executable first:

     ./rt2bear100.py
     

   • It also supports data from a pipe, so you could do things like:

     cat data.txt | ./rt2bear100.py
     

   These commands assume your working directory is the same directory as rt2bear100.py.

Runner Tracker data

Native runner tracker data is very terse. It starts with a shortened version of the Unix epoch, which represents the time stamp of the earliest record in its dataset. That is then followed by data for each runner, where the first digit is the bib number, the second digit is the In Time expressed in the number of minutes since the epoch. The third number represents the Out Time in minutes since the epoch. Notice that the In and Out times are whole minutes, not capturing the number of seconds after the minute. If the optional fourth field is present, it signifies the runner did not finish (DNF) at the station and the field is used to capture the reason.

Example of Runner Tracker data:

{"epoch":28266707}
1,0,1
40,3,,Twisted ankle
200,1,
300,,2

The above example is equivalent to the following CSV from Bear100Win.exe:

"BEAR 100 Race - 2023","Aid Station #4 - Right Hand Fork","All times are based off of the system they were recorded on"
"Sequence","X","Runner#","In Time","Out Time","Notes"
"1","","1","09:47:00 29 Sep","09:48:00 29 Sep",""
"2","","40","09:50:00 29 Sep","DNF","Twisted ankle"
"3","","200","09:48:00 29 Sep","",""
"4","","300","","09:49:00 29 Sep",""

Epoch conversion

To get the real Unix epoch timestamp from Runner Tracker's shortened epoch, multiply it by 60,000. That's 60 for seconds and another 1000 for milliseconds. From the above example, 28266707 * 60 * 1000 = 1696002420000 = 09:47:00 29 Sep.

Initial setup

The rt2bear100.py script has some user-definable variables. Use those to set the name and number of your Aid Station.

Ways to run

1. Ideally, the Addilas software to which the data team submits the CSV files would simply accept native Runner Tracker data. If they aren't doing that by the time you read this, the next best way would be...
2. The data team runs the conversion themselves. That way, less technical app users could simply transmit Runner Tracker data in its native format to the data team. That won't happen, so...
3. The way I did it at the 2023 Bear 100, which is to install the Pydroid3 app on my phone along with rt2bear100.py and run the script on my own phone. It prompts for data then converts it to the properly named CSV file (e.g., AID04_01.csv, AID04_02.csv, ...AID04_99.csv).

Runner Tracker export steps

Go to the Records page, select All and Transmit. Then back on the Send / Receive page, you can click the More button next to the sent item and click View, then click the Copy icon.

The Copy icon isn't actually working for my device, so I use the Share icon to copy it to my clipboard instead, which does work.

My wish list

I would have liked to use the Share icon to select Pydroid3 to send it to rt2bear100.py directly, but I don't know how to make Pydroid3 appear as a choice in the Share menu yet.

Contact Information

For questions or inquiries, you can reach out to the project maintainer:

• Roger Brown AG7YV

License

This work uses the MIT License. See LICENSE in this repository for details.