There are some important aspects to observe to get good GPS data with GoPro's. However, they are simple and once you learn them and put it to practice you'll get good quality data everytime
Make sure your GoPro is capable of acquiring GPS data and has the GPS enabled
Having the GPS enabled is necessary, but not sufficient to acquire telemetry data. The camera also needs to browse for satellites and acquire a GPS lock before you start recording
The GPS antenna of the GoPro is on the top of the camera. If the antenna doesn't have a clear view of the sky, the satellite signal will be poor and so the quality of the telemetry data
If you are having a failure before you get to download the .vbo file, begin by determining if the error happens while extracting data from the video (before the blue bar gets to 100%) or while your computer is communicating with the server (in this case, you'll get an error message on top of the page)
If your error is while extracting the data from the file, first make sure you saved the videos to your computers hard drive before extracting (processing the video from the memory card is prone to cause errors)
Another reason that can make the extraction to fail, is if your computer doesn't have enough memory for the task. In this case, try closing all other applications before processing the videos
If you are getting server errors, first make sure that the amount of data you are sending in is reasonable. The servers were tested to process sessions as long as 1h, and certanly sessions with over 3h of data, if processed at once, will cause errors that will prevent processing. In this case, process your data in batches of less than 1h each
Follow the installation steps according to your OS.
Save the .vbo file downloaded from the website in the same folder where the GoPro videos are. Remember that is necessary to save the videos in your computer's hard drive, opening videos with the analysis software straight from the memory card may cause issues
Beware that is necessary to rename the video files as demonstrated in the video, otherwise, the analysis program will fail to open the video files
Open the .vbo file with the analysis software. If you named all the files correctly, it should show a preview of the video, fastest lap and number of laps on the pane to the right
If necessary, mark the start line and partials. Sugestions: Use partials by max speed.
All set! Now watch your videos and compare different laps and sectors to figure out where there is time to be gained.
If you still have difficulties to use the analysis software, consult the next issue
Find below some tips and an instruction video about how to use the analysis software
The analysis software works basically doing comparsions between laps. Being so, try to get access to laps of an instructor or of a faster pilot to enrich the comparison
The trace of the time difference (delta t) is the most valuable tool in the analysis software. With it, you can see along the lap where time is being lost (graph climbs) or gained (graph drops)
Use the video along with the delta t graph, specially to find the differences in breaking point and turning in
It is possible to use the analysis program even if it doesn't recognize the track you are on
In this case however, you need to manually setup the start/finish line so that the software can identify your laps. You can do so in the menu File --> Start/Finish wizard and clicking with the left mouse button over your track as close as possible to the start/finish line. After marking, watch in the videos if the start/finish line shows up correctly. If it doesn't, then repeat the process until get it in the right position
If you have the .CIR file with the track coordinates, then go to the menu File --> Load Circuit Overlay and load the file. If you don't, you can generate a .CIR fileclicking here
After loading the .CIR file, you still have to mark the start/finish line. Note that the track drawing will not show in the start/finish wizard window
Please make sure you have the right version of the app
There are two different versions of the MLaptimer app. Go to apple store and make sure you download the one called 'The BMW Mlaptimer'
After recording your session with the app, open the session in your smartphone and, in the upper right corner, click the share icon. Then go to the export tab and click in the share button.
You can share the .mpower file by e-mail or any other means, however, you must save the file to your computers hard drive for then processing it in the website.
Download Dashware (windows only) and templates clicking here
Install Dashware and save the templates and personalized gauges in the proper folder
Save the .csv file you just downloaded in the same folder as the session video!
Open Dashware and start a new project using the template that matches your car (@BMW F-MLaptimer or @BMW M-MLaptimer) and the data type (GoPro only or GoPro + MLaptimer).
Include the video and the data file (ignore the data automatically generated by Dashware) to your project. When adding the data file, make sure you pick up the correct data profile, matching the template.
If you used only the MLaptimer app, manually synchronize the data to the video, mark the start line, adjust the start/finish distance threshold and assign the track partials
Select the desired clip and export your video with overlaid gauges!