Davis' scoring program (version 1.60)
Getting started.
1. Extract the folder/files in this zip file into a subfolder of your "Documents" folder,
say a sub folder named, for example, "competitions." The zip
file containing the competition is found
here.
2. Rename the extracted folder (which now contains all the files) to a short
version of your competition name, for example, "2014ECC." This would be a short
version of the 2014 East Coast Championship.
3. Rename the file: "Rename_this_file_to_your_contest_name.cuc" to a short name for your competition, say, for example,
"2014ecc.cuc." (I'm assuming that you have configured your Windows operating
system to display file extensions.)
4. I assume that you have already installed SeeYou and the vector map files that allow you to display a vector map
of your locale. You'll need to be familiar with how to use SeeYou, and how to set up tasks.
If not, learn how using their documentation at
http://www.naviter.si/. You
will also need to know how to download GPSes using SeeYou (unless you use another download
program). I describe that a bit below.
5. You can find out more about SeeYou competition
here and the manual
here.
Setup up your competition
1. Open the competition file (the one you renamed in step 3 with the cuc
extension), i.e. click (or is it double-click in your case? Depends on how you
have figured your Windows operating system) it in your Windows Explorer.
This should start up SeeYou and open up your competition file. If not, start SeeYou, click "File, Open" in the SeeYou menu and browse to your competition file.
2. Click Edit (in the SeeYou menu) and then click "Contest Properties," in the
drop down menu (or click the far right icon on the Toolbar).
Change the name of the contest to your contest name, for example, "2014 East Coast Championship."
Click on the logo and browse for one of your own, if you have one.
Put in your Contest site, for example, "Francisco Grande, Casa Grande, AZ."
Change the dates to match your contest dates (it is very important to get these right and to be sure that the date and time is set
correctly on your computer).
Use the down arrow to open up calendar which you can use to choose dates.
Choose your Class for this competition from the list. You can have multiple classes in one
competition, but you will have to have separate competition files for each of them.
After you configure this competition file, you can just make a copy of it to create
another one for another class. Give it a different name, for example,
2014eccrigid.cuc.
Set your normal takeoff altitude (you can have multiple takeoff sites, and
change the takeoff altitude assigned to each task/day.
Notice that all your competition flights (IGC track log files from the competitors) are to be stored in the "flights" subfolder.
(You might want to create subfolders of the flights subfolder for
each day/task, ie. flights/Task1, flights/Task2, etc. You could download the flights into each of
these subfolders at the end of the day. Each day when you download the first
track log for the day, you'll have to tell SeeYou to download to that day's sub folder,
if you are using SeeYou to download. If pilots are uploading their flights to an
email address that IGCMail is addressed to, you'll probably not want to use
subfolders.)
3. Click the Scoring Scripts tab. The scoring script is my program that does the
scoring inside of SeeYou for you. Click any where on the script. There are some values for you to set. For
example, the GAP parameters, seen below:
The statute (Imperial) versions are commented ("//") out. You have to uncomment them if you want to use statute values and comment out the metric values. You can change the actual values to what you want (look over the
comments in the script). You can find discussions of GAP parameters in the
documents folder.
You can also find an explanation of OzGap2005 in the documents folder. You'll
also find additional documents there and links to web based documents that
discuss GAP parameters.
To change these values you need to click on the script and then use your arrow
keys to move your cursor down to the lines that you wish to change. The down
arrow key on your keyboard is also used to scroll the text of the script up as the cursor goes to
the last line. You can't you your mouse wheel to scroll the text in the script
window.
After making any changes in the GAP Parameters scroll down using the down arrow
on your keyboard to display the next four values that can be set by the meet
director:
The default configuration of the scoring script is to run a Race to Goal
competition using Oz GAP 2005 formulas. If that's what you are doing, then you
don't have to change anything. But you can change these values based on your
circumstances.
DifficultyTurnedOff = 0.
You can read about how this value is used in the GAP documents in the documents
folder. If it is set to 0 the GAP procedures for determining the value of
distance flown are used (uses the distance distribution of the pilots). If it is set to 1, the
distance value is just your distance and is not weighed by the distribution of
where the other pilots landed. You might want to set this to 1 if you are doing
an open distance competition (which I discuss later), but even in that case I suggest using the GAP
method and leaving this variable at its default value of 0.
GAP = 1; //OzGAP2005 = 1, GAP 2000 = 0, "Open" distance = 2.
The default is the OzGAP2005 scoring formulas. If you want to use the GAP 2000
scoring formulas set GAP = 0.
The program works just fine for open distance competitions also. I discuss them
in a later section
You'll need to change the name of the program if you choose a different scoring
program. Currently the first four lines of the program are:
Program Davis_OzGAP_160;
// Change the program name above to the actual scoring system used (see next
line)
//Davis_OzGap_160, Davis_GAP2000_1_60 or, Davis_OD_160
// OzGAP2005, GAP2000, and Open Distance script
If you change to open distance scoring, for example, you'll want to make them:
Program Davis_OD_160;
// Change the program name above to the actual scoring system used (see next
line)
//Davis_OzGap_160, Davis_GAP2000_1_60 or, Davis_OD_160
// OzGAP2005, GAP2000, and Open Distance script
It is important to make these changes as they indentify the scoring formulas
used and the program version used in the output. Also the program name is used
by the Soaring Spot when
outputting your results and it is looking for these names.
Handicap = 0
It is set to 0 if you don't use handicapping. If you wish to use handicapping
set it equal to 1. You can give a handicap value to each pilot in the Pilot
Editor:
The Index field above is used for handicapping. 100 is the default value.
Handicap other pilots/gliders with respect to the default glider type. See the
file handicap.xls in the documents folder for more information on handicapping.
There is a further discussion of handicapping at the end of this document.
You might notice that I have put the pilot's CIVL ID in the ID: field, and their
FAI Sporting License number in the Pilot Tag field.
Timetogoal = 0
The default at 0 is the correct way for the script to make the calculation
according to the GAP procedures (the day is devalued if everyone lands before
the nominal start time). If you want to make the day fully valid even if no one makes goal and everyone goes down before the nominal time
set it to 1. (Of course, with an open distance task no one will make goal.)
4. Click the Option tabs:
The Registration key will be blank unless you have registered your competition
with the Soaring Spot. Once
you have done that you can copy and paste the registration key that they send
you in an email into this field. If you do that you will be able to upload your
task results and totals and flight longs to the Soaring Spot web site by
clicking one button in SeeYou (and you can even automate that).
Click OK.
Waypoints
Have you got any waypoints for your competition in the CUP format? You'll need those. I've
put an example CUP file in your folder, "Create_a_waypoint_file_for_your_competiton_to_replace_this_one.cup." You can click "File, Open," and browse to this CUP file and load it into SeeYou.
What you really want is a set of waypoints for your own locale. You can create one in SeeYou. Check out how to do that in the SeeYou help file. If you have a waypoint file in another format you can use
GPSDump or GPSBabel to convert the file to the CUP format (CUP = See You Points).
1)
If you've got a waypoints file setup for your locale then you'll be able to create tasks. You can use SeeYou to create tasks that the pilots will fly later in the day. SeeYou is handy that way. (Click "Edit, Waypoints" to see the waypoints and "Edit, Tasks" to create Tasks. See the SeeYou documentation to see how to do that.)
2) You can use SeeYou to download the waypoints to the pilots' GPSes. Press F9. You can see the SeeYou help file for more info. I
often use GPSDump to download waypoints, but SeeYou works well also.
3) The Task that you create at the beginning of the day will be used to score
the task at the end of the day. Be sure to configure the turnpoints, start and
finish points as cylinders in SeeYou as the default. In SeeYou click Tools,
Options, Observation Zone. Save the configuration that you create as a new
Scheme.
4) Once you have a waypoints file of CUP formatted waypoints, you'll want to
make it the default set of waypoints. In SeeYou, Click File, Open, and browse to
your waypoint file. Open it up and don't append it to the existing waypoints.
Add Pilots
1. Add your pilots to your pilot list by clicking Edit, Add pilot. Also, notice the pilot looking icons in the SeeYou toolbar,
which does the same thing. First make sure that you are displaying the Pilot List.
Click the pull down arrow in the box almost all the way to the right on the Toolbar and click on Pilot List. You can
delete me as I'm just there to illustrate how to use the pilot list. Double click on a pilot name to edit that pilot's information.
2. You can enter pilots' information en masse if you like. You'll need to look
at your competition file in a plain text editor and see the section headed by
[Pilots]. Copy and paste this line that starts with "Davis", and ends with
"H41166" to a new blank text file. Change the extension of that file to csv from
txt. Open it with A spread program that reads csv files, like Microsoft Excel.
Copy in pilot information from wherever into the fields that match the first
line. Save the file as a csv file. Copy and paste it back into the competition
file in the Pilots section.
Do it right or it will screw things up. Don't do this if this sounds too
difficult.
3. Each pilot has a unique ID. I use their CIVL ID which is a unique ID (but
often they are too long for the field box, so they are truncated). If
you have a competition in which pilots don't have CIVL ID's give the first pilot
101, the next 102, and so on. This is key. (You can edit the cuc competition
text file to use longer unique ID's that correspond to the pilot's CIVL ID.)
Type in the hang glider (or paraglider) type. Choose the class.
The Index field. If you don't use handicaps set it to 100. It changes as you type in the glider name.
4. The Flight Recorder code is important.
This is the way that SeeYou automatically tracks the IGC file that you download and creates a copy of that IGC file into a
separate folder that it creates for each task. The new file is named using the
pilot's unique ID (which is why it needs to be unique).
SeeYou will automatically score these flights.
I have pilots download their own flights and change the filename for their IGC
formatted track logs to the IGC date format in the first three characters plus
their last name. For example, 452straub.igc. Or 2014, May 2nd. See here for the
codes:
http://www.aviationbanter.com/showthread.php?t=31310
YMDSTRAUB.IGC
||+-------- D=Day of month (see note below)
|+--------- M=Month of year (see note below)
+---------- Y=Last digit of year
Month of year
-------------
1 = January
2 = February
3 = March
4 = April
5 = May
6 = June
7 = July
8 = August
9 = September
A = October
B = November
C = December
Day of Month
------------
1 = 1
2 = 2
3 = 3
4 = 4
5 = 5
6 = 6
7 = 7
8 = 8
9 = 9
A = 10
B = 11
C = 12
D = 13
E = 14
F = 15
G = 16
H = 17
I = 18
J = 19
K = 20
L = 21
M = 22
N = 23
O = 24
P = 25
Q = 26
R = 27
S = 28
T = 29
U = 30
V = 31
Check "Pure glider" (means no motor).
You can put the pilot's USHPA number in the Registration field.
I put the pilots' FAI Sporting License number in the Pilot Tag field.
Don't worry about the "Not competing" box unless you have folks who are flying but not being scored and you want to download their flights, but not have them involved in the score.
Click OK.
Add more pilots.
I have put their CIVL number in Registration field and their FAI Sporting License in the Pilot Tag. This makes it easy to report the results to the FAI (copying the Pilot information from the CUC file and saving it to a
plain text file with a csv extension and then opening that in Excel).
Now you are all set to run the competition. You'll want to be familiar with how
to create tasks, which will be your set task, as that happens before the first
task on the first day.
Adding a task/day
1. Once pilots have the flown the task (or before or while they are flying the task), you'll need to "Add A Day" to your contest to allow the task to be scored. You can click "Edit, Add Day,"
(or click the Add Day icon in the Toolbar). I have already set up the first day for you. Just click the pull down arrow in the right hand box in the Toolbar in SeeYou and click Day 1.
2. Click "Edit, Day Properties" in the SeeYou menu (the toolbar icon is
the second one from the right). Change the Contest day date to the date of your first
competition/task day.
3. In the Tag field you'll notice: "StartTime=13.75,Interval=15,Number_of_intervals=3". This tells the script that will do your scoring the start time (in decimal hours), the
start interval length in minutes and the number of start intervals.
For example, 13.75 is 45 minutes after 1 PM. You'll have to copy this text from this first day to the other days later as it doesn't show up automatically.
Notice this is decimal hours, not 13:45, but 13.75. I know various
countries use different notations.
If the number of intervals is -1, the pilot's actual start time is used.
You'll need to fill this field each time you create a new day/task in your
competition. I copy and paste this day Tag from one day to the next. If your
first day starts off blank, copy it from here, paste it into the Tag field and
edit it there. You will also find it in the script, just scroll down with the
down arrow on your keyboard to "Procedure ParseDayTag," and copy it from
there.
4. Click the Task Options tab:
Notice that the Task is defaulted in the Type Field to a Racing Task. You will
change this for Open Distance competitions. You will not change this for a day
or two that tasks are called that are longer than could be made. You can have
"open distance" tasks during a Race to Goal meet, but they are not pure open
distance competitions and the "open distance" tasks are scored along a course
line.
Click OK.
5. You now want to assign a Task for the day. Click Edit, Assign Task, assuming
that you have already created a task for the day including sizing all the
turnpoints, start and finish cylinders or lines. Click the task that you have
created and click OK. If you haven't done this, here are a few hints on how to
create a task:
6. Click Edit, Tasks. Click View, Map. Click Edit, Add Task. Click on the start
point, then the turnpoints, and finally the goal.
Be sure to set the cylinder sizes. Click Edit, Task Properties, Observation
Zone.
Use the drop down arrow in the top field to go from point to point.
If you are doing cylinders, be sure that Angle 1 is 180 degrees, Radius 2 and Angle2 are zero, Radius 1 is 400 meters (.4km) for turnpoints, and whatever size for the start circle
and goal.
You can set up defaults in SeeYou with "Tools, Options, Observation Zone."
Click OK when you have set all the radii.
The distances that will be used for scoring will be the
point to point distances unless you check the Reduce Leg distance check box for
each turnpoint, something that you'll want to do if you put in a large radius
turnpoint. It doesn't really matter with 400 meter turnpoints.
If you want the task distance to start at the edge of the start circle, check
Move Origin at the start point.
There a SeeYou bug with this. If you run into the bug with incorrect calculation
of a pilot's distance you'll need to correct it manually. You can use Move
Origin instead of Reduce Leg distance which is more accurate, but there is
another bug that again may require manual calculation of some of the pilots'
distances.
You can make the goal a line by checking the Line Only check box. (You can also
define the goal as a line in Tools, Options, Observation Zone.)
You can change units in SeeYou in the menu "Tools, Options, General."
7. The default is for exit start circles but it is possible to do entry start cylinders. To make start on observation zone entry work
you have to:
Prepare a task in Edit, Tasks. Check Start on zone entry in Edit, Task properties, Options.
You'll want to click the Move Origin check box for the start circle. The task
distance will not start at the launch point, but at the edge of the entry start
circle.
Change the Distance Tolerance to 0.00 km. It defaults each day to 0.5 km, fine
for sailplanes, but way too much for us. So you have to set this value every
day. You can make it 0.02 if you like, to give a twenty meter "error" band.
(You may want to increase this to .5% of the radius of a large cylinder if you
use large cylinders in a task.)
Once you are done creating your task click Edit, Assign Task and double click on
the task you have prepared for this day/task.
Downloading tracks at the end of the day
1. Now that you've got a contest and a task (day) setup, you are ready to download pilot's track logs to IGC files
after the task is completed.
You can download flights from flight instruments in SeeYou, GPSDump, FlyChart,
G7toWin, etc. You'll need to have the proper drivers installed no matter what
you use. See the drivers in the drivers folder. Install the Garmin USB drivers
and the appropriate (for your operating system) PL 2303 USB to serial port
converter driver if you have the hardware for that.
You can ignore this whole section if pilots are downloading their own tasks.
2. In SeeYou press F9 to open up the Connection Wizard (download dialog box). See the SeeYou help file for any questions about this.
You can download only one GPS at a time with SeeYou.
If you want to download multiple GPSes, use GPSDump, which can have multiple
instances, or also start FlyChart. Have them all download files to the
task subfolder for the day in the "flights" subfolder (see your Contest Setup).
It is possible if you have multiple USB ports and USB to serial converters to
download multiple flight instruments at once, each instance of whatever download
programs you are using assigned (hopefully) to different COM ports. You just
have to keep track of what you are doing, whose instrument you are downloading,
and when you need to rename the downloaded file and where it is going.
It is possible to download GPSes with GPSDump or SeeYou and save the files in
the daily flight folder. With GPSDump download, then
click Ctrl+A save the file in IGC format (Ctrl+I). Change the tracklog name to
the IGC date format in the first three characters and then the pilot's lastname.
If downloading with SeeYou be sure you see the GPS's serial number in the lower left hand corner of the SeeYou download wizard dialog box before you hit the Next button. You
will have to choose which GPS in the Device type field before you can get a
serial number displayed. You may have to choose the Interface (COM port). Be sure to check the "Download flights from device" check box.
Auto in the Interface box lets SeeYou search for the right COM port (including
USB), but you want to assign the value of the COM port if you are using multiple download
programs.
2. Be sure that the files are downloading to the "flights" folder. If you use
IGCMail and have set it up correctly this will happen automatically. See
here.
When you score with SeeYou and have set it up properly as above it associates a downloaded IGC file with a pilot for
a given task/day. A copy of the pilot's tracklog is made by SeeYou using the
pilot's unique last name in the file name and stored in a folder number for the
day. So there end up being two copies of each pilot's track log. One stored in a
subfolder of the flights folder, and another stored in a folder number for the
day.,
3. You'll have to choose which flight on the GPS is the right flight and download it. This can be a bit of an issue with Garmins which have lot of junk "flights" recorded.
You look at the dates and the size of the file to determine which one represents
the actual flight.
When you download Garmin's, MLR's with SeeYou they'll ask you for all this IGC info (pilot name, etc.) in a dialog box.
Ignore this.
If you are downloading Garmins with USB connector be sure to have installed the USB drivers from Garmin off the internet (at the Garmin web site).
I have included links to these in the drivers folder. After you download the flight, be sure that your task (day) is displayed in SeeYou (check above if you forgot how to do this).
4. Double click on the pilot who's GPS you just downloaded. Click Browse and browse to the flights (or daily flight) folder (it will be there after the first time you do this), and click on the last flight file that you just downloaded. If you are like me you have your computer setup show that it shows details view in the browse dialog box in reverse date order (with the youngest on top) then the file on top is the file for your pilot (if you remember the code that it displayed when it created the file it should match this one,
or if you renamed it to the pilot's last name). Double click and then it should automatically be scored. Click Ok.
If you are downloading and scoring you might want to do this. Or you can just
download and wait to score later. If someone else is downloading then, have them
save the files under the last name and numeral corresponding to the task and you
can then score them later.
If you don't use the last name trick you will have to go through this scoring
procedure every time for Garmins and MLR's.
I have downloading take place on one computer and then I do the scoring on
another computer. Lately the downloading has been done on a Mac running Windows.
5. Some times things don't work out, you may have to do a manual evaluation of a track log.
Check the Flight evaluated manually check box. Check the Take off box and put in
some time. If the pilot went beyond the exit start circle, check the start box
and put in some time. Put the distance in in the Distance field.
Don't check the Finish box unless they made goal and don't check the Points
check box.
Clicking the View Flight button you should be able to grab the times and distances (remember, along the course line) from the flight.
If they made goal check to see what time they crossed the cylinder or line. Put
the distance to goal in the distance field.
If there are penalty points, you input the points for each pilot when you edit
their performance for a given day in the obvious field as seen above.
Click Ok.
DNF and ABS
1.
If a pilot goes to launch but doesn't launch you'll need to manually score him with a DNF in the Pilot, Day, Tag field. Click on the pilot for the task day and you'll see the "Tag:" field for that pilot for that day.
2. If a pilot is absent for a given task, i.e. he doesn't show up to launch, put ABS in this field for this task.
Again be sure that every pilot has a unique ID number (I use CIVL ID's). SeeYou creates a new folder for each task and copies the pilot's IGC file renamed with this unique ID (you'll find the ID field on the Pilot Edit dialog box) into that folder. You
can copy the whole folder and your HTML output files onto your web site so that people can view the results and look at the flights.
You can also just upload the competition results to the Soaring Spot by clicking one button in SeeYou (after you have registered the competition).
Results
The tasks, results of the tasks and the totals are displayed inside SeeYou and
also in HTML files that are automatically created and updated by SeeYou. You'll
find them in the same folder as your competition file. You can view the results
in your browser, print them from your browser and unload them to your own web
site to be displayed on the internet.
The daily tasks and task results are named using the IGC file name format. (You
can find that format defined on the internet). Totals up to the selected day and
the totals for all the tasks are also stored in HTML files.
Outputs
1. SeeYou will create HTML files in your competition folder that you can display in
your browser and put up manually on your web site (FTP). You can also output the result in XML format ("File, Save As, XML document or Complete Contest XML document").
2.
SeeYou and this GAP scoring system also works with Leonardo Competition to display individual flights.
You need to output the daily task files in XML to do that. You can see how to
use Leonardo Competition in Appendix D.
3.
Also you can post the flights to the internet from inside SeeYou, with the "Publish to Internet" button.
Do the scoring in SeeYou just as above, when you have some or all of the pilot's
track logs downloaded, hit the "Edit, Publish to Internet" button and bam - the
score is online (there is a button in the Toolbar for this also). You can do
this as often as you like.
Go to the Soaring Spot website,
login and write news from the contest. Upload picture galleries, publish
competitions specific files. Collaborate with other publishers for your contest.
4. You'll want to send your results to Brian at CIVL if your competitions is
CIVL category 2 sanctioned. To send out the results to Brian at CIVL, you'll
want to pull them out of the RUC file. At the end of the meet just open the RUC
with a plain text edit (Notepad). Delete everything above [Pilots] and including
[Pilots], and from [Script0] to the end. Then save this Pilots sections (just
the data) into a plain text file with a csv extension. This allows it to be read
by Excel.
You can edit the CSV file after you create it to get rid of the columns that you
don't need to send to CIVL.
You can also keep a copy of the original CSV file, zero out the points column
and then use it for the next competition. Just copy it into the obvious location
in the RUC file.
Adjusting Outputs
1.
The XSL files that come with this program have been extensively modified from the standard ones that come with SeeYou. They are the scoring output template files. You can edit them if you like
(I wouldn't suggest it) if you understand HTML (and maybe a little XML). Knowing XSLT really helps if you want to do a lot, but these files should help you figure out XSLT.
The output it set for km and km/h. Even if you are using miles and mph in your script and displayed in SeeYou. You can change the output easily enough. Just edit the daily.xsl file. Change
"scored_speed*$ms2kmh" to "scored_speed*$ms2mph" and "scored_distance*$m2km" to
"scored_distance*$m2mi" and Speed "km/h" to Speed "mph" and Distance "km" to Distance
"mi".
2.
If you use this program/script please don't remove the references to SeeYou, Davis Straub, or the Oz Report, and display the SeeYou and Oz Report graphics in your scoring output. After all, I'm not charging you for this script, although I welcome donations to the Oz Report (https://OzReport.com).
3. SeeYou Competition is provided at no additional cost over the basic SeeYou program
(it is automatically included in the basic program), as long as you display the
SeeYou logo in your output.
4.
I have included team scoring, but not by default. It is commented out in the XSL
files. If you want team scoring you can easily eliminate the comment characters from the XSL
output file template files. Open them up in a plain text editor.
Miscellaneous
1. The script doesn't automatically handle flights that begin before the
prescribed launch time (I've never run into this case), landing after goal
closing time (we never use a goal closing time). You can manually
evaluate flights for a closing time, if you like.
2. If the pilot starts before the start window opens the program automatically shifts
the pilot's time interval to the time past the first start time an amount equal to how soon before the first start time
the pilot started. No other penalty is applied. For example if the pilot
started one minute before the first start time, his start time is shifted to one
minute after the first start time and two minutes are added to his finish time.
Therefore the length of the flight interval is unchanged and it is just shifted
to two minutes later. It is then scored as though he actually did start one
minute after the first start time.
3.
I have set the contest file to automatically save a new result every minute. You can change that if you like.
4. You can find the SeeYou Competition documentation (such as it is)
here.
Send me any questions at davis@davisstraub.com
Appendix A.
Handicapping:
A handicap is just a factor, a number which you multiple the pilot's overall score for the day by. The handicap is the pilot's Index value in the pilot edit dialog box divided by 100. So an index value of 100 is equal to a handicap of 1.
You can set kingposted pilots at an index value of 100 and topless pilots at 80. Or whatever you like.
I have included an Excel spread sheet which gives you a technical background for handicaps based not on pilot skill but hand glider types.
You can decide to use handicap values or not (be sure to check over all the Hcap values (index values) in the pilot list before you start using handicapping). You set whether to use handicapping or not in the meet director value setting portion at the start of the GAP scoring script.
The program output tells you whether you are using handicapping or not.
The total points without handicapping is not displayed, just the total with the handicap applied. The values for distance points, speed points, arrival/departure points are displayed in their full values without the handicap applied, but only the total (with the handicap applied) is used in the scoring.
The handicap.xls file gives you some guidance about what handicap values to choose if you are only handicapping gliders.
Appendix B.
Open distance:
It is easy to score a pure open distance contest, that is a contest where a
pilot's score is based on the distance that he flies each day from the start or
launch point.
1) Setup up your competition, the GAP value is set to 2. GAP = 2. This is not
really GAP scoring although we often use aspects of GAP when scoring open
distance.
2) Set the GAP parameters as pure the examples in the GAP.txt document in the
documents folder.
Nominal Distance: 40 - 200 km
Nominal Time: 2 hours
Minimum Distance: 5-10 km
Percentage at goal: 20%
Set the nominal distance at about what you would expect the average distance
that would be flown by the average pilot on an average day at your site. If it
is a short distance set the minimal distance low. These values are to remain
unchanged after they are set at the start of the first day.
3) I suggest leaving
DifficultyTurnedOff = 0 and
Timetogoal = 0. You can see from the previous discussion how setting these
values to their other value changes things.
4) When you are Adding a task/day, you can set the "StartTime=10,Interval=15,Number_of_intervals=-1,"
setting the Start time to some time before pilot's launch, and
Number_of_Intervals to -1, so their start time is their actual start time. You
might want to set a 1 KM circle around the the start/launch point just to give
everyone a reference for their start time.
5) You'll want to define a task like this:
This is a task with just a start point and the finish point is irrelevant. You
can do this by clicking Edit, Day Properties, Task. You don't have to go to the
Task window (Edit, Task), to create such a task. Click the Observation Zone tab,
and put a one kilometer circle around the start point.
6) Click the Task Options tab. In the Type field, click the down arrow and
choose "Pilot selected task." This will force SeeYou to calculate your distance
from your start point to your furthest distance away from the start point. Your
longest open distance.
Click OK.
7) My scoring program will still determine the value of the day based on a
number of criteria. First the number of pilots who flew divided by the number of
pilots in the competition. All those who didn't fly on a given day but are still
in the competition are given a DNF for the day they didn't fly. This devalues
the day. Those who have left the competition are given an ABS, and don't affect
the value of the competition.
If you don't want the ratio of pilot who flew divided by the number of pilots
still in the competition to affect the day quality, give all the pilots who
didn't fly an ABS for the day.
8) The day quality is also affected by how long pilots flew both in distance and
in time. Days with short distance or times are supposed to be devalued
(according to the GAP approach). If you don't want days/tasks devalued when they
are short, set your original Nominal distance and Nominal time to small values.
But the Nominal distance needs to be larger than the minimum distance.
Set you minimum distance to small value as pilots will get credit for that
distance even though they didn't fly that far.
Appendix C.
Open Distance along a course line
1) You can score open distance but require that pilots go to certain turnpoints
(or through or to large cylinders around turnpoints) or along a course line.
Their distance is then measured along the course line.
2) You create a task in the Edit, Task window with all the appropriate
Observation Zones, including a start zone around the start point or launch. You
can put in a number of waypoints and make the cylinders around them whatever
size makes sense.
3) Make the last waypoint (which will be a goal) so far away that no one will
get to it during the task. Be sure the course line from the previous point to
the "goal" point is a task leg that you do want pilots to fly along.
It is fine if pilot do make "goal" though. They will be scored for their
distance, not for their time to "goal."
4) Click the Task Options tab on the Day Properties dialog box. In the Type
filed click the down arrow and choose: "Assigned Areas task." Set the Distance
tolerance to 0.0 km. Click OK.
5) Click Edit, assign Task, and choose this Task. Click the Assign button.
6) Basically follow the rest of the guidelines found in Appendix B. You can mix
and match these two types of open distance tasks in an open distance
competition.
Appendix D.
It is easiest to setup a competition for free on
SoaringSpot.
1) You'll want to sign up and create an account at
http://hgcomps.net or
http://pgcomps.net. This is a
service that charges for its use if you have a competition of over twenty five
pilots:
2) After you create a new account, and purchase any credits you might need for
your competition. You add a new competition to your account, under "Admin
Comps:"
3) In the Outputs section above I tell you how to output an XML formatted file
of the daily results. You can upload a slighted edited version of that file to
the Leonardo Competition server and a zipped file with all the IGC track logs
for the task to have it displayed on the server. Leonardo Competition will
display pilot flights. You can find an example
here.
Click "Add Task:"
4) The XML file output by SeeYou needs to be slightly edited to make it work
with Leonardo Competition. Before you upload it to Leonardo Competition open it
up in a plain text editor like Notebook. Make this change:
add a line <gmtoffset>-7</gmtoffset> after the <contest_day day_status="1"> tag
like in this example:
<contest_day day_status="1">
<gmtoffset>-7</gmtoffset>
<contest_name>2007 Santa Cruz Flats (Flex Wing)</contest_name>
It is very important to know the difference between local and GMT time.
Of course, use the offset from UTC or GMT that is appropriate for your contest.