PositionTracker turns your run or cycling race into a TV broadcast: the fastest, most accurate and most beautiful you can imagine. Spectators open a link, the organizer sees everything, and a runner installs nothing but one free app.
Finish!
The demo runs in your browser (made-up riders and course) but shows the same as the real application. The organizer view sees everything instantly, including alarms and battery level. The spectator view is delayed by 15 s, has no alarms and hides the names of those who did not agree. Select a rider and try "Stops".
PositionTracker is a web service for tracking the position of participants in running and cycling races in real time on a map. The organizer creates an event, uploads the course as a GPX file and invites participants by email. Participants send their position from the phone with the OwnTracks app (Android, iPhone). Spectators follow the standings, gaps and the expected finish time through a public link, without an account and without installing anything.
Your family finally knows exactly where you are and does not have to ask at the finish "are you there yet?". You just pedal.
Pace per kilometre, the gap to the runner ahead and an ETA to the minute. Just like at the big championships, only on your loop.
A control room like in Formula 1: map, standings, coloured sectors and alarms for stopped riders, riders who left the course, lost signal and low battery. Nobody is left in the forest unnoticed.
No installation, no account. You open the link, find your favourite and watch them approach the finish.
Every picture below is a screenshot of the running application with sample riders and a sample course.
Pick who you are. Every procedure has exactly the steps you will see in the app.
Send participants a direct link to their guide:
Enter your name and email. There is no password: you sign in with a one-time link sent by email. Open the link and press "Confirm email". Only then can you upload a course and invite participants (abuse protection).
You need to know nothing about GPS. The free tool gpx.studio is enough: it runs in the browser, needs no account, and you draw the course by clicking on the map. If you already have the route in Strava, Komoot, Garmin Connect or on Mapy.com, just download it from there as GPX and skip this step.
.gpx is downloaded.
Want to try the procedure? Download the sample GPX file made exactly from this example (a loop through Žilina, 5.67 km, 162 points) and upload it in the application when you create an event.
What the application requires of the file: at least 50 m per lap, up to 1 MB, and for several laps a loop whose end is at most 100 m from the start. That is why you use "Back to start" for a loop. You do not mark a start line: the start is the first point of the course.
Name, place, start date and time, sport. Then a GPX file, the number of laps (1 to 10), checkpoints and the spectator delay (5 to 300 seconds). A course with several laps must be closed.
Tip: a delay of 15 to 30 seconds keeps the broadcast smooth and still fair to the riders.
Name, email, gender, email language, category, wave. The bib is assigned automatically, or you enter it. The invitation goes out immediately. The list shows Invited, Confirmed, Declined and Email failed, and you can send a reminder, resend, or issue a new link.
Spectators see a participant's name only with consent. For minors only the bib is shown publicly.
Press "Mark as ready" and on race day "Go live". The app shows the public link for spectators: post it and put it on posters as a QR code. Once live, the course can no longer be changed.
The "Race control" tab shows the map, standings, sectors and messages. Press "Acknowledge" to handle an alarm, find the rider on the map, and mark a rider who has withdrawn as DNF. Unhandled messages stay on top, handled ones are dimmed.
Press "Finish event". Positions are deleted after 30 days by themselves. If a participant asks, you delete their data immediately (only the bib remains). You issue the official results: read the spectator standings as indicative.
There is no PositionTracker app for participants. Your position during the race is sent by OwnTracks, a free open-source app you install once. It runs in the background, so you can leave the phone locked in your pocket.
A phone without Google Play? The app is also on F-Droid. Look for exactly "OwnTracks" (developer OwnTracks), not similar-sounding apps. Do not set anything up when you first open the app: you get the configuration from your invitation in step 4.
In the organizer's email click your personal link. The page appears in your language and shows the event, your name and bib. Confirm (or decline) and, if you like, choose a nickname (max. 30 characters).
Consent to share your location during the race is required. The organizer sees you exactly, spectators with a delay. Optionally allow showing your name (otherwise they see only the bib). The data is deleted after 30 days.
On the phone with OwnTracks installed tap "Set up OwnTracks", or scan the QR code from another device, and accept the import. Nothing is typed by hand.
The setup contains your device's secret key. Do not share it. If you lost it, repeat the consent: the old key stops working.
Android: Settings → Apps → OwnTracks → Battery → Unrestricted; Location → Allow all the time. iPhone: Settings → OwnTracks → Location → Always, Precise Location on, Background App Refresh on. Keep the app in "Move" mode.
Before the start check that the app shows no error after sending a position. Do not switch the phone off or turn on battery saver. SOS is not a button in the app: phone the organizer. The organizer marks a withdrawal.
The organizer sends you a link or a QR code. No installation, no account. At the top a notice says positions are delayed: the standings are indicative.
Search by name or bib, filter by category. The star next to a name follows them: other riders shrink on the map, yours stands out.
The biggest figure is the expected finish time and its range. Below it distance covered, speed (or pace), rank and gap, and coloured sectors: purple is the fastest sector of everyone, green your best, yellow slower.
Turn on "Notify me at the finish" and the page alerts you when the rider crosses the line (while it stays open). "Share" sends a link straight to your rider.
apps for spectators. A link in the browser is enough.
free app for the participant: OwnTracks, in the background, even with a locked screen.
and positions delete themselves. Spectators see a name only with consent, and never a minor's.
spectator delay is yours to set; the organizer sees everything instantly.
This tool was not born in a meeting. It started over a beer, when my colleague Qto explained how he struggles to tell an AI what exactly it should do. Qto is a passionate cyclist and a man who knows his way around vibration and signal measurement. He can spot one bad bearing in a chart at a glance.
My take: an AI is not a calibrated sensor, it is a capable new colleague. Tell it “just do something” and you get something. Tell it what you want, what it will run on and how you will check it, and you get PositionTracker: live race tracking from registration to the finish line.
I am Martin Horný, a senior .NET developer from Košice, Slovakia. If you are sceptical about AI, you are right not to trust it blindly. You have to steer it and check its work. I would be glad to show you how to bring it into your team’s work.
Want to try it in your company or club? Get in touch: LinkedIn · GitHub · CV · E-mail
No. A phone in a jersey pocket, backpack or armband is enough. The free OwnTracks app sends the position in the background.
The app queues positions and sends them when the connection returns. The organizer and spectators see an "offline" notice meanwhile. Behaviour in long outages is still being verified in the field.
No. Spectators see the position with a delay and only during the race. Only the organizer sees you exactly.
Yes. For running the app shows pace in min/km, for cycling km/h, and it adjusts the position sampling too.
PositionTracker is an open project you can run on your own server (Docker, PostgreSQL). The deployment guide is in the repository.
Draw the course by clicking on the map in the free tool gpx.studio and export it (File → Export…). The exact steps are in the organizer guide, first step.
No. Spectator standings are indicative because positions are delayed. The organizer issues the official results.
Run the demo once more, switch to the spectator view and imagine it is your event. Then create your own.