Her er dingsen som gjør at du kan følge kjørerne også når de er ute i villmarka, i år er den blitt bedre.
Skrevet av: Trond Anton Andersen/AM Bjøru (transl.)
Dato: 23.02.2011 19:46
Here's the gadget that allows you to follow the mushers when they are way out in the wilderness - an improved version from previous years.
Telespor Ltd. provides GPS-tracking to Finnmarksløpet. For those of you who do not understand anything neither of the concept «sofamusher» nor GPS-tracking, here is a brief explanation.
«Sofamusher» is a humorous nickname for those who sit in front of the computer and follow the race there.We are pretty sure that many do exactly that. A service that we made available a few years ago is the so-called GPS-tracking. Some of the mushers, normally those who are in front, are equipped with the grey box that you see on the photo. It contains a GPS which gives the correct geographical location and it is linked to a watch and our maps. Updates tick in every 15 minutes. Data is sent via a GSM-transmitter to out web-site. During the race you will find a link on finnmarkslopet.no to the map, where you may zoom in and see where the different mushers are.
Please keep in mind that some stretches of the tracks have no GSM coverage - they are racing in the wilderness after all! For instance between Neiden and Varangerbotn the signals are bad. No more antennas have been established in the areas where the race passes through, but many transmitters are upgraded which may give better signals, says Telenor's Head of dept. Bjørn Amundsen.
Quicker frequeces and better placements
New technology enables the box to send out signals every five minutes. This way the chance of receiving data increases by three. Hopefully this leads to more updates on the mushers' positions. Another change-to-the-better is the placement of the GPS-box on the sled. From 2011 the GPS will no longer jump around and mingle with boilers and food inside the sled. Bjørg Greiner has sown a clever pack which allows the 40 units, that are to follow our best male and female mushers around Finnmark, to be placed in front of- and on top of the sled.
Martin Vahl works with advanced technology for the oil company North Energy. Him and his wife are going to be responsible for the GPS tracking this yesr. We believe that we will receive fewer negative messages about slow GPS-updates in our online guestbook - at least we hope so.