In the HDOR data submission system, we require participants to submit a public GPS activity link in case the data they are submitting is for a distance which exceeds a certain number of kms, as per rules. So what is it? Let us try to clarify this since for participants it is essential to know that, and avoid any heartburn and confusion later during the event.
We have the following definition of a “public GPS activity link”:
- It must have ‘pace’ information for the run
- It must have run ‘distance’
- Km/mile ‘splits’ must be available
- Activity link data should be publicly visible to everyone, i.e. it should not be private.
Example of a valid GPS public activity link:
See this Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/2099459999
If you click on the above link, all the required information is visible publicly, as shown in the below image provide you are logged in to your Strava account. You can also see all the required info like pace, distance, time and km or mile splits:
What’s not a public GPS public activity link?
- Screenshots from your mobile phone of your app data
- Links to Facebook posts or images which show your run data
- Links to Google Drive images showing your run data
- Strava links which do not have your activity details but where you have just placed a photo of your run recorded using some app as a screenshot
- Links to Gmail, other random websites
What if you have a valid public GPS activity link but HDOR system calls it invalid?
Email us the details on support@hdor.com and we will review it, and if we find it ok, enable it in our system for all similar links from all participants. There are so many fitness and running apps and we do not have details about all of them. This will be a review & learn process for us as well.
What will the organizing team do when notified of any invalid data submission:
The team will take suitable action as it deems necessary. For participants who are on the top of leaderboards for their respective city, group, company, etc, the action may include removing those runs, or even removing the user from the leaderboard or the event. For participants who do not have similar high profile visibility and may have only infrequent violations, the actions may be lighter in nature. The organizing team will reserve the right on deciding the suitable action.
To know more read our review article on the popular GPS running apps. Do note that the article might be outdated if something is changed at the back-end by the app publishers, so it is participant’s own responsibility to verify that the link they are submitting has the required details and which are visible when you are logged out of your app account for the same link.
