Remote Timing

[John1]

I wish to build an App to record the Location [ longitude / Latitude ], Car number and the time [ HH:MM:SS ], to remotely time a Classic Car rally I have a spreadsheet, but I am a novice to the system

[EIG]

Hi John,
Welcome. Will the users be able to use their app during the rally? If so, they can create a new entry (row in the spreadsheet) every time they need to record their location. Then you can set the location and time to be the initial value and they just select their car number from a drop down.

I would really suggest that you watch a few of the AppSheet YouTube videos. They are very helpful. They have their own channel.

YouTube

AppSheet

AppSheet is an intuitive, no-code app development platform that empowers anyone in the organization to build powerful mobile & web-apps for collecting, updat...

[John1]

EIG Thank you. The idea is for the Course Opening Car to mark timing points with a code letter at the roadside, then send in the data to the spreadsheet - Car # 0, the code letter, the Lat / Long and Time [ HH:MM:SS - preferabley atomic Satellite time, not device time ]. Then up to 12 cars will follow the same route at minute intervals, each with the same App. They will send in their Car #, the code letter, the lat / long and the time that they press ’ enter ’ at the required locations. The data will be validated against the Master Record of the Course Car and collated in the spreadsheet to create the Results of penalties for being late or early. At the moment, we need about six pairs of people to do the timing and the Results have to be entered manually, causing delay and the risk of errors.
The Lat / Long needs to be captured automatically from the 'phone [ with GPS ]. The time should be exactly when the Enter is pressed. The car # will be in the range of 1 - 12 from a drop down box, preferably adjusted manually at the beginnig of the event and being held for the duration of the raly… I hope that it makes sense. John B

[EIG · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can build that app with AppSheet.

[John1]

Great is there anyone who could help me, as it seems a bit daunting. I have tried but I just get error messages.

[John1]

is UTCNow() device time or atomic time ?

[EIG]

All of the other date and time functions appear to be device time but UTCNOW() does not list where it is getting it from but I would assume it is from the device.

I think you could check this with your app. Create two fields. One for UTCNOW() and one for NOW(). The documentation lists NOW() as coming from the device. Then change your device time and see if both items come back as the same time.

I am sure there is probably some way of recording some hidden fields to be able to check to see if they have changed their device time.

[Steve]

I can’t say for sure, but given AppSheet works offline, I’d have to assume UTCNOW() does not use an external clock source; i.e. it’s device time.

Further, internal to your app, all times are probably stored in a single timezone and converted for display according to the device settings. Not being privy to the internals, I’d guess all internal times are UTC anyway, so using UTCNOW() just gives you the raw time, whereas NOW() gives you the localized equivalent.

[EIG]

What is the back end that you are using to store the data? You could just not record time from the device and then record the time that it reaches your sheet. There will be a slight delay for syncing but the times will be all from the same source.

Maybe something like this:
https://support.google.com/docs/forum/AAAABuH1jm0KXSWYc7j1yU/?hl=en&gpf=%23!topic%2Fdocs%2FKXSWYc7j1...

I know SmartSheet also has a feature for autogenerating the times that they were saved to the sheet.

[John1]

Thank you. As the event needs to be timed to the previous whole second, any delay in the App or the mobile phone system could be a problem. I could work with Device time, but I would need to get the Competitor to take a photo of the Rally Time [ Satellite ] at the Start and send it to the Scorer. I could then compare the EXIF time data of the photo with the time shown on the photo to work out the offset for the times provided during the rest of the event. It is a work-agound, but I would prefer GPS NMEA time, as the standard, bearing in mind I will be using GPS location data for the App.

[John1]

Steve Thank you for your comments. I plan to obtain the Location from the 'phone with the GPS switched on. In theory, the NMEA data for the Latitude and Longitude should also include atomic time. I just need to make the Appsheet harvest that data at the moment that the ’ Enter ’ key is pressed to send it to the spreadsheet, as a date / time stamp.

[John1]

I shall try the comparison between Now () and UTCNOW (), in due course, when I get a working App. Thank you.

[Steve]

EIG:

I am sure there is probably some way of recording some hidden fields to be able to check to see if they have changed their device time.

Nope.

[John1]

When I try to create the App with my spreadsheet I get Error message - https://www.appsheet.com/Template/AppDef?appName=Remotely-1051306&provider=google&channel=gsheets&do....
It would appear that it may be something to do with the Location [ Lat / Long ]. I will try a spreadsheet without the Lat / Long and see if it will work then.

[John1]

Hi I have wasted many hours going around in circles. I am told that my Google sheet isn’t linked to the App. I have tried changing the Column headings, but no joy. It is driving me MAD.
I want to go from the sample starter spreadsheet to the App - Remote. Where am I going wrong ? ?
I want to capture Car # [ to be set manually and retained ], Code letter [ to validate the location ], Time [ as the Enter Key is pressed from the Mobile ], The Latitude and Longitude from the Mobile GPS [ extracted from the NMEA code, at the moment the Enter key is pressed ]. I don’t think that is too complicated, but it has beaten me. Is it possible that you could get me off first base ??

[Steve]

John:

The Latitude and Longitude from the Mobile GPS [ extracted from the NMEA code, at the moment the Enter key is pressed ].

I’m curious how you intend to do this given you seem so confident it’s available and I’m not aware of a way to access this data from AppSheet.

[John1]

Steve Thank you for your advice. I have now found out the problem that I had. The Spreadsheet was under one Gmail account and the App being prepared in another account.
I can see that four Column headings and sample data can create an Appsheet. I have now moved on.
As I am familiar with Excel, I have produced the Results spreadsheet in Excel, which will work with data put into the Front End.
I then tried to transfer it to Google Sheets and it still appears to work, but when I call up the Addon - Appsheet, It won’t give me the ’ Go ’ button.