Logged Track Time Datasets Needed for my Web Project! :)

[Zamyatin]

Hey everyone!

So hey, check this out. I’m doing a Ruby on Rails Developer’s bootcamp now, and am currently in my final phase. We are considering final projects for development, and I pitched an idea to the group that some people seem to be interested in.

Basically the idea is this:

I’d like to make Twitch.tv style website that allows people who do Track Days to live stream their track time, or at least have an upload device where a user can upload both the video of their track time, plus certain engine and car dynamics data parsed from the car’s computer (temperature measurements, throttle/brake input, steering input, traction control information… stuff like that).

The idea was inspired by this Ars article:

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2014/11/...the-sportscar/

I was asked if any of this data is available now, so I started scouring the FT86 forums.

I am wondering if anyone here had any idea where I could find some good sets of (preferably parseable) data. Ideally, I’m looking for data logged from a car on a road course, not just loggings from a dyno. I have no idea what you’ve logged, or if you’re even willing to share some of that data, but honestly, anything would help. Doing Google searches for this very specific kind of data is proving pretty difficult at the moment - hence the forums.

Again, any suggestions would be hugely helpful, as I’m really interested in this project - I want to make car racing cool and accessible to a broader public, you know? I kind of see it as being a game changer that tracks might take an interest in getting behind. GoPro, etc already include tools and APIs that I can utilize, and I’ve found tools and gems for broadcasting live or saved video streams. I have toolsets for building some pretty sweet UI, but being winter, I can’t just get out on the track and start logging my own data right now. Alas!

Anywhoo… let me know if anyone has a chance get a chance to respond ASAP...

The project is an 8 day final, and we start later this week, so the sooner I could get some ideas on what actual data looks like, the better!

[2SeeKU]

There's a handful of tools that do the overlay of OBD II data (or simply GPS data) with a video stream:

racerender.com
gps-laptimer.de

But none to my knowledge can stream.

Most users upload their final product to youtube, but l can see some appeal to a twitch.tv style website. The only "hurdle" you have in my opinion is that GoPro's already provide live streaming, as long as the user has a phone within wifi range of the camera with a 4G signal.

Is the end goal to build a mobile app? Or simply a site to present the data? Or both?

[Zamyatin]

Well, the general idea is to get a nice, JSON-y data feed of more data coming from the computer... ideally we'd be pulling engine temp, oil, water, when and how the traction control is kicking in, when and how anti-lock brakes are kicking in, accelerometer, and whatever I could find that measures suspension load, roll, and whatever else I could find.

The end goal is to make it a website where someone can watch someone else run... currently I'm working on gems for uploading, so the 'live-streaming' part is iceboxed.

That said, I have noticed that a number of the tracks around my area (Chicago/Great Lakes) have been getting Wifi coverage around the track area. I'd be using GoPro streaming *if* I could find a nice Ruby gem...

The layout would be very Twitch-like - with or without chat, but I'd like some nice JQuery and AJAXy goodness, allowing a viewer to flip around meters and gauges... not unlike a GT-R's interface...

I'm gonna take a look at those datasets though. Maybe I can find something sweet. Thank you so much. If anyone thinks of anything else, or has some logged data *on track* (pref with video... that'd be the BOMB!), I promise when this project gets off the ground you'll get credits for the help, and be the first to get test accounts!

[2SeeKU]

Bigpond/Telstra in Australia have had a similar service for the V8 supercars since (believe it or not), 2006!



Telemetry data could be viewed per racer e.c.t.

Since the types of data your after can only be pulled from the OBD II (or third party tool/software), your first step would be to look into how you're going to obtain this data. Easiest would be from existing tools/software that output flat files.
One caveat here is that its a MANUAL process to sync the data stream with the video stream. The following site also show's another possible issue:

http://racerender.com/RR3/docs/Dataloggers.html

There just isn't a standard in outputted data. Obviously this isn't something that can't be overcome, just something to keep in mind.

This brings me to the BEST method of obtaining the data/video, and that's to produce a mobile app that can either use the inbuilt camera on phones or using a wifi connection to a GoPro/Sony Action cam. Sync this with the phones sensors (accelerometer, GPS ect) and the possibility of using a OBDII bluetooth device for capturing all the nitty gritty data. Unfortunately for you, this isn't something that can be done in Ruby (I'm a C# and objective-C dev).

[mav1178]

My AIM Solo DL logs from Laguna Seca 12.27.2014
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xztxrrn153...0laps.csv?dl=0

Corresponding video:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnEnPtpIUms"]Laguna Seca Raceway - 27 December 2014 Subaru BRZ - YouTube[/ame]

-alex

[Zamyatin]

Hey man, thanks. I'm looking over these formats now. It's nuts how many I'm seeing here. I've got some high hopes on some of these data loggers at least feeding clean-ish standardized data, or, I guess, I'll have to pick one logger model to start with and figure out importing there.

Just for demo purposes and proof-of-concept, I'm pretty fine with having to manually time video and data logs... I just want to go straight out to the tracks this spring and start logging my own data.

I'm pretty sure that once I'm out of here I'll be looking into Swift as the next programming language, but just out of curiosity, why do you say a mobile app pulling data from the car's CPU and the GoPro stream can't be done in Ruby? Is it an issue of speed, or because there are no good ways to wrap Ruby code for iOS?

I ask because I've been looking into wrapping some Ruby code in something like Apache Cordova, which apparently has some tools and plugins that expose native APIs (I'm hoping: bluetooth, accelerometer, camera at least).

http://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/4.....html#Overview

I have concerns of course that so much interpreted code may produce a sucky app, but this is only trial one... I kind of feel like building a for-mobile wrapped app to log data and pictures could *actually* be a viable solution to this project - given that I need *data* more than anything...

I know my 86 puts out very clean data feeds, basically because I've seen the apps parsing that data into tablets sitting on other 86 drivers' dashboards. I just don't know if these things are surmountable using Ruby and wrappers.

[Campo]

Harry's Lap Timer

So many people already use it that you'll have a wide audience. Or the AIM Solo as was posted above.

I also use a simple phone app called DashCommand to log greater detail than Harry's does. Unfortunately I have no logs on my person at the moment, but can share a few from each app later.

[Zamyatin]

MAV!!! OMG!

DUDE This is *Exactly* what I needed!!! I can pitch the idea now!

Hey not to overstep or anything, but I don't suppose you have the original non-overlay video data? You guys have already been so much help I hate to ask, but it would be effective for a clean presentation.

If not that's fine, THANK YOU AGAIN! Anyone else with data, please feel free to post. This app is going to kick ass.