2010 GPS Tracking is now available:
http://www.ionearth.com/2010/iditarod/
You may need to log into your Insider account to view, and you will need a current GPS tracking subscription.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
(The following was provided by Erin at Ion Earth)
In hopes of helping people, I present to you a list of things to try if you find your GPS not working.
First: If you are having issues logging in, please read the following thread: http://iditarodforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=51
I can't help you much with login, billing or other Insider Issues. I can, however, help you out with the GPS once you are registered as an insider and logged in.
If this list still doesn't get you in, then I am more than happy to do my best to trouble shoot your issue with you and get you working. However, the more information you can provide me the better. In order for me to provide you the most expedient help, it is necessary for you to take the time to answer the questions below right from the start than for us to have a back-and-forth asking and answering each of the questions. Also, please read through other users threads with issues similar to yours. It's quite possible the problems others experienced are the same as yours, and what they did to fix themselves will fix you too. Which brings up another point: Please let us know what the problem was and how you fixed it! Your information could help another user much faster than I or Russ (or anyone else) could.
Things to tell me when you request help:
1) Any error messages you receive. (IE lists errors in lower left corner. There will be a white note with an exclamation point. Double click it and it should bring up any errors -- please copy and paste those errors)
2) What browsers you have tried (Please try at the least Internet Explorer and Firefox)
3) Has it ever worked for you? When was the last time it worked? What, if anything have you changed since then?
4) If it works partially, what are you seeing? Please be descriptive! If you say "No musher information" do you mean no green flags on the map, no musher information in the left hand table, no popups for the mushers, or some mix of the above? While javascript allows you to do some very powerful, very nifty things, it is also rather annoying to trouble shoot. It will try to do everything it's told to, and when it can't, it will often silently fail, or fail with less-than-helpful errors. Knowing what the state of your tracker is will help me get an idea of where to start looking.
5) Do you have a firewall? If so, have you tried disabling the firewall and then trying the tracker? There have been a handful of individuals who couldn't see all or any of the tracker because of their firewall settings.
6) What are your security / privacy settings? If they are set too high, your settings may be stopping the javascript from being able to do all it needs to do to render and update the map.
7) What do you see when you try the following link: http://dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=6.2 You should see a bunch of text. If you don't, double check that your firewall is off (and if it isn't, disable it) and try again. If you still can't get that file, there's not a lot I can do to help. That file is hosted by Microsoft, and is necessary to display and move items around on the map.
8) What is the version of the browser(s) you are using? (Help->About [Insert Browser Name]) Do you have the latest version of the browser? If not, please try updating the browser and try again.
9) What browser plugins do you have installed? For example, myself, being a software and web developer, I have Firebug, Web Developer, And a bunch of other Firefox Plugins (also called Extensions) installed. It's possible one of those plugins is the cause of the issue. Example: There is a plugin called "NoScript", and if you don't have it set to allow script from race.ionearth.com, static.ionearth.com, and dev.virtualearth.net, then you will have problems viewing the tracker.
Regarding clustering:
The clustering algorithm breaks the map up into a grid, then checks to see what grid each individual falls within. If more than one individual falls within a grid, their icons are replaced with a single icon placed about center of the grid (I believe – this is all done by Microsoft’s built in clustering algorithm). Hovering over this icon will give you a list of all the mushers within that grid. Clicking on their name will popup the information you are accustomed to seeing in their popup (Race Mile, speed, etc). The area that this grid covers (its height and width) is auto-determined by the built in algorithm. This is why when you are zoomed out, it may appear that all the mushers are at a checkpoint, but when you zoom in, they may separate to show that in actuality, a few are just out of the checkpoint, a few are just on their way in, and a few are actually in the checkpoint.
Regarding updates to the map:
The units on the musher's sleds update once every 15 minutes. That information is then processed by our servers and provided for the gps tracker to download. The tracker asks the server for the latest location of the mushers every couple of minutes. This means that some timers may go slightly past 15 minutes without showing the latest information. If the musher puts their unit inside their bag, it is possible that it may have issues transmitting through whatever may be on top of it.
If a unit stops transmitting or gets lost, we will do what we can to get the unit fixed / replaced as soon as possible. This is typically done at the checkpoints, and requires the weather to be good enough to permit whatever form of travel is necessary to retrieve and transport the units to the appropriate point.
