Segments are timed sections on roads, off-road or over water and are great for sports like cycling, running, swimming, rowing, sailing and many others. They provide an easy way to time your progress over a set route and compare your performance against others.
One of the great features of Map My Tracks segments is that they can be used to cover simple short sections like sprints and climbs or long complex courses like time trial courses or regular training routes. In both cases a full leader board of everyone’s performance it automatically created to compare your performance.
Segments come with their own set of achievements. Achievements are gained for personal bests, pole positions for both men and women across different sports. Each time you cover a segment your relative position in the leader board is measured and ranked. At a glance, you can see how you performed against your own previous efforts and everyone else who has covered the segment.
It wouldn’t be fair to compare a running activity against a cycling activity across a segment so the leader boards are split across different sports. Each leader board also ranks your performance against just your friends. It’s a great way to help keep you motivated to try harder.
Some already popular segments include:
Knoll Hill
Upper Road, Dover
New Dover Road, Canterbury
Fowlmead 10m Q10/42
How to create a segment
Segments are created from activities that have route data. New segments are easy to create.
- First open the activity that includes the segment you wish to create.
- Click on Actions > Create new segment to load the create segment tools.
- Zoom into the area that includes the segment then click on the position along the route that represents the start point of the segment.
- Once a segment start has been set then set the segment finish point.
- Give the segment a useful name to help identify it and click ‘Save’.
This creates the segment and scans the activity to populate the leader board.
How to scan old activities
Activities are scanned for segments when they are first uploaded or synced to the site. If you want to scan old activities then:
- First open the activity to scan.
- Click on Actions > Scan for segments.
- This will scan the activity for any segments, including new segments, available along the route taken. All matching segments will be presented under the Achievements section on the page with links to the segment leader board.
How can you use Map My Tracks segments
Cycling time trials
Map My Tracks segment are great for time trials. A virtual leader board for the time trial course is automatically created and features anyone that has covered the course. Simply create a segment of the time trial course then any time Map My Tracks users upload their ride data it will be automatically ranked on a leader board for all time, this month, week or day. The Fowlmead 10m Q10/42 has been set up and is logging the performance of anyone on Map My Tracks that covers the course.
Cycling and running hill climbs and sprints
Map My Tracks segments making timing your progress up a climb or on a sprint section super simple. Create segments of key climbs and sprints along training routes to keep a record of your performance and compare against friends.
View example
Regular training routes for all sports
Map My Tracks segments can be used over long distance training routes. A segment of your whole route lets you keep a leader board of your own performance over that route. It’s a great way to benchmark your performance over time.
Rowing
Map My Tracks segments make is simple to monitor the performance of rowers across any stretch of water. Segments can be created for training sessions on rivers or lakes. Each time the data from the training session is uploaded the performance is added to the rowing segment’s leader board.
There are plenty of other uses for Map My Tracks segment but we’ll leave it up to you, our users, to take advantage of them as you need to.
Tips for successful segments
Segments are a great way to keep motivated and try to improve your performance. In providing segments Map My Tracks does not endorse or encourage irresponsible action on the part of our users. Map My Tracks users should obey all traffic controls and signage, comply with all applicable traffic laws and not endanger themselves or other road users.
When creating segments:
- Do not create segments with busy junctions.
- Do not create segments in built up areas with lots of traffic calming.
We can’t wait to see how you use the Map My Tracks segments and hope you like the new feature.
