PocketTimer (Palm OS) is the timing component of our Palm-based race-timing solution, which can be used by itself or in conjunction with the other components of PocketTimer Pro for a more complete solution. Here are the features of PocketTimer:
Logging of times is done on the main screen, shown at right. The person doing race timing simply taps on the large on-screen number buttons with a stylus to record the bib# (optional) of each racer, then taps the "Record" button to automatically record the current elapsed time. The screen features:
Continuous display of elapsed time
Continuous display of pace (if a distance has been entered for the event)
Display of the place of the upcoming racer.
A large "Start" button to start the timing, which then changes to "Record" to record each racer.
Large number buttons to enter the Bib# of the approaching racer prior to pressing Record-easily used by inexperienced users, without the need for "Graffiti" (Palm's handwriting recognition)
A way to indicate that the entered number is uncertain (if it can't be read clearly). Or, the user can just tap the Record button without entering a bib# beforehand, and PocketTimer will record the time and a "?" for the bib#.
Simple deletion of the last entry if the Record button is hit in error, or if the user quickly realizes the racer was a bandit.
Quick swap of the last two bib#'s if a sprint to the finish changes the order after the user had keyed in the bib #'s.
Captured times can be reviewed, even while the event is in progress, by tapping on the "Show" button.
With all these features, even an inexperienced operator can achieve >99% accuracy when capturing just times alone (without bib #'s), and 90-100% accuracy when recording bib #'s along with the times. The ability to capture every bib# obviously degrades as the event gets larger and clumps of racers finish together, but when numbers are missed, post-race editing of the results using the tear-off tags as a refereence easily turns this into 100% accuracy with just a few minutes effort. PocketTimer has been field tested on races with as many as 1000 entrants.
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Supported operating systems:
Palm OS 3.x, Palm OS 4.x, Palm OS 5.x
Other Software by developer «Stevens Creek Software»:
RaceBase RaceBase - There are a number of PC-based race scoring software packages available, and times recorded by PocketTimer can be imported into virtually all of them. But for the complete handheld solution, there's RaceBase. RaceBase combines the times from PocketTimer with information about the race entrants in order to completely score the race
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