Startup Idea: Offline, Sport-Specific Unit Conversion App
I have been working as a track and field coach for the throwing events (shot put, discus, weight, hammer, javelin) for six years. I spend a lot of time at meets and at practices.
In college and higher level meets, measurements (even in the USA) are made in metric. This can be frustrating for coaches, athletes, parents, and fans, who are comfortable with the metric system, since most distances are measure and expressed in Imperial measurements.
It would be incredibly handy to have an app that could be used without needing internet access that can convert measurements from metric to Imperial, and vice versa.
This requires more than just having a unit conversion app - since, when converting measurements from metric to Imperial - for the long throws (javelin, discus, and hammer) are rounded to the nearest inch, for the short throws (shot put and weight throw) and the horizontal jumps (long and triple jump) are rounded to the nearest quarter inch, and for the vertical jumps (pole vault and high jump) are always rounded down and to the nearest quarter inch.
There is a page on the USATF website (https://www.usatf.org/statistics/calculators/markConversions/) that has unit converters, so you can get a sense of what I am describing. And, although this page is available, I would pay a nominal amount of money to have the converter in a dedicated, clean app with a great GUI.
For an example of the differences in measurement conversion, please use the above website to convert 1.89m from metric to Imperial for high jump, shot put, and discus. The output will be three different answers.
There is a paper book (The Big Gold Book - https://www.amazon.com/Track-Field-News-Gold-Book/dp/0911521704) that many coaches carry around to meets. This book has page after page of the unit conversions. The book, although small, is a pain to have to carry around and remember, and also relatively expensive. As a throws coach, I would literally buy the book just for the accurate unit conversions, if it was a little less expensive.
There could be a simple code written to perform accurate unit conversions, or a table of measurements for the program to draw from (since there is a limit on the distances that would need to be included - say, 120% of the current world records).
An additional feature that would be useful would be the ability to save marks - sort of a personal record (PR) or other record table. Athletes and coaches would probably save personal bests, goals, and qualification marks. Perhaps even having tables would be helpful.
I have several other ideas for apps specifically related to track and field that I would find helpful. I have thought about figuring out how to develop my own apps, but it's just been a little above what I'm capable of coding right now. But here is one of my other ideas:
~A meet tracking app: Coaches, athletes, and parents/fans often make notes on paper to track where an athlete is ranked. It would be helpful to have one program that you could enter data into as the event is progressing that would continually update the standings, allowing the user to determine placings at any moment (an athlete makes finals, and gets three extra attempts if they finish in the top nine, and it puts the athlete at a disadvantage if they wait until the qualifiers for finals are announced). This app could also be connected to some sort of display, so that event standing can be continually updated for the fans. Yes. Apps that do something similar (iOS/Apple app store): Track and Field (too cluttered); Score Calc (conversion doesn't take into account the rounding rules; doesn't have the ability to save individual marks).
Track and field, unit conversion.
I either use a website (not mobile friendly; can't save results); wait until results are posted (not helpful for in-the-moment decisions); or use a copy of The Big Gold Book, if someone has one I can borrow.
Submitter: Janine Kuestner, (view contact info) Please contact me if you have any questions. I would love to see this app developed!