Sandra Vi going for record across America

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Tracker Powered Off wrote:

Showing up unannounced is extremely difficult the way Mimi is "tracking". How is someone supposed to know where she is and when she will be at a certain point? You would have to drive back down the road and hope she stays on her planned course, and did not start early or late, and that she is actually on the road when you pass by.

Stand on a small mountain with a telescope looking down or sit in a car up the road and wait for Mimi to pass by and repeat a la Paz.

How about using a drone with a zoom cam and with GPS? That would be one way to find her when her position is unknown. The drone would have to have a decent range.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Ok, I've figured out a more plausible explanation of why Mimi's GPS tracker appears turned off. If you look at a Verizon cell coverage map of the area, you will see that she is in the middle of a no-coverage zone. The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

https://m.imgur.com/a/A1ojT

Note that's since Mimi's GPS tracker is cell phone based and there are a lot of cell coverage holes on her route, we are going to be seeing a lot more of these outages. I think Mimi should have followed Sandra's setup for robustness.

So I don't think there is any mal-play with Mimi, just an unfortunate choice of technology her. Still, independent witnesses would be nice to have.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Ok, I've figured out a more plausible explanation of why Mimi's GPS tracker appears turned off. If you look at a Verizon cell coverage map of the area, you will see that she is in the middle of a no-coverage zone. The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

I thought of that before. But how did she manage to get a data point(s) plotted in a no coverage zone? And why is Sandy Vi able to get data points in no coverage zones; because she is using real GPS is why.

For any multiday runners who might plan an epic crossing of something in the future, and who want a verifiable result, DO NOT do it the way Mimi is. Do it the way Pete K. did it, and Sandy is doing. And plan for more during run photos, and welcome all boots on the ground whether they are announced to just show up. :-)

Markus wrote:

Sorry it's prove :-)

Your grammar is generally quite meticulous, which made it stand out to me.

The same thing has happened to me. Best regards. ; )

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Ok, I've figured out a more plausible explanation of why Mimi's GPS tracker appears turned off. If you look at a Verizon cell coverage map of the area, you will see that she is in the middle of a no-coverage zone. The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

https://m.imgur.com/a/A1ojT

Note that's since Mimi's GPS tracker is cell phone based and there are a lot of cell coverage holes on her route, we are going to be seeing a lot more of these outages. I think Mimi should have followed Sandra's setup for robustness.

So I don't think there is any mal-play with Mimi, just an unfortunate choice of technology her. Still, independent witnesses would be nice to have.

Cell phone GPS is not real GPS. It is cell tower triangulation. Mimi's Suunto trackers are not adequate for a record run attempt. Real GPS in real time, please.

I hope she's okay wrote:

Those interview answers to the pertinent questions were quite insufficient.

I'm still continuing to transcribe; more of the interview forthcoming.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

Where was it stated which GPS tracker she is using?

cdsadewac wrote:

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

Where was it stated which GPS tracker she is using?

Mimi's GPS tracker widget loads from RaceDrone, which only offers 2G/3G dedicated cell phone based GPS devices or an app on your smartphone. No satellite data transmission.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Ok, I've figured out a more plausible explanation of why Mimi's GPS tracker appears turned off. If you look at a Verizon cell coverage map of the area, you will see that she is in the middle of a no-coverage zone. The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

https://m.imgur.com/a/A1ojT

Note that's since Mimi's GPS tracker is cell phone based and there are a lot of cell coverage holes on her route, we are going to be seeing a lot more of these outages. I think Mimi should have followed Sandra's setup for robustness.

So I don't think there is any mal-play with Mimi, just an unfortunate choice of technology her. Still, independent witnesses would be nice to have.

Note that there is actually widespread AT&T cell phone coverage where Mimi is at with the GPS tracker. So I'm ASSUMING her problem is because she is on something like the Verizon network instead of something that actually works like AT&T.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Ok, I've figured out a more plausible explanation of why Mimi's GPS tracker appears turned off. If you look at a Verizon cell coverage map of the area, you will see that she is in the middle of a no-coverage zone. The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

https://m.imgur.com/a/A1ojT

Note that's since Mimi's GPS tracker is cell phone based and there are a lot of cell coverage holes on her route, we are going to be seeing a lot more of these outages. I think Mimi should have followed Sandra's setup for robustness.

So I don't think there is any mal-play with Mimi, just an unfortunate choice of technology her. Still, independent witnesses would be nice to have.

When are heading out there, chief?

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Mimi's GPS tracker widget loads from RaceDrone, which only offers 2G/3G dedicated cell phone based GPS devices or an app on your smartphone. No satellite data transmission.

RaceDrone site says they offer a dedicated GPS tracker! They say "our next-generation trackers work virtually anywhere all over the World. We have tracked people summiting mountains in the Alps, summiting Kilimanjaro, "

Was that option overlooked by the Mimi team ON PURPOSE!?!

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Ok, I've figured out a more plausible explanation of why Mimi's GPS tracker appears turned off. If you look at a Verizon cell coverage map of the area, you will see that she is in the middle of a no-coverage zone. The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

https://m.imgur.com/a/A1ojT

All this gps spoofing has made me think that the Pete guy's run was faked too.

Do we have any verifiable records?

The Mimi page now says the Support car is moving, yet Mimi's tracker is still powered off. If the excuse is that spotty cell service is why the Trackers are powered off, why is the support car shown?

Relying on spotty cell service as an excuse, to cover up any transgressions in data taking, is a MAJOR FAUX PAS, worth of disqualification. They were well aware of the necessities long before they started this venture! They were well aware REAL-TIME tracking was a necessity.

Mimi's support car long jumped at the time of this post. It went right past the RV.

https://imgur.com/a/diU34

To add more to what I wrote about Mimi's GPS tracker being turned off, it is not definitive that her problem is cell phone network based. If she is using a smartphone strapped to her on the Verizon network, then that could be the problem. But I find that hard to believe she would do something like that when the battery life is poor and connections can be bad. The GPS tracking company she uses is Race Drone and they offer cheap rentals of their dedicated GPS trackers that have long battery lives and can transmit on multiple cell phone networks to prevent dead spots.I would assume that Mimi and her crew with all their experience would be using the Race Drone dedicated GPS tracker instead of just a plain cell phone. I retract what I said about saying there is nothing suspicious about Mimi's GPS tracker getting turned off. I find it hard to believe now based upon more research and knowing that there is indeed cell phone coverage where she is.

How does it work?

As an event participant, you have two options.

Install a small mobile phone app which runs in the background and sends periodic updates to the Race Drone website. The app is designed to minimise battery use, and tests have given over 24 hours use with battery life to spare.

​ or

If you don't own a smartphone, don't want to use one, or you are participanting in a long/multi day event, you can hire one of our mini GPS trackers from our dedicated website. These have a week long battery life, and transmit loctaion on all mobile networks, virtually eliminating coverage blank spots.

cdsadewac wrote:

The Mimi page now says the Support car is moving, yet Mimi's tracker is still powered off. If the excuse is that spotty cell service is why the Trackers are powered off, why is the support car shown?

Relying on spotty cell service as an excuse, to cover up any transgressions in data taking, is a MAJOR FAUX PAS, worth of disqualification. They were well aware of the necessities long before they started this venture! They were well aware REAL-TIME tracking was a necessity.

+1000000

No real-time tracking, then no evidence. Period. You have officially been disqualified, Mimi!

It's OVER!

cdsadewac wrote:

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Mimi's GPS tracker widget loads from RaceDrone, which only offers 2G/3G dedicated cell phone based GPS devices or an app on your smartphone. No satellite data transmission.

RaceDrone site says they offer a dedicated GPS tracker! They say "our next-generation trackers work virtually anywhere all over the World. We have tracked people summiting mountains in the Alps, summiting Kilimanjaro, "

Was that option overlooked by the Mimi team ON PURPOSE!?!

If you believe the excuses from people in this thread, there's better cell reception on the summit of K2 than in Colorado. LOL.

cdsadewac wrote:

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Mimi's GPS tracker widget loads from RaceDrone, which only offers 2G/3G dedicated cell phone based GPS devices or an app on your smartphone. No satellite data transmission.

RaceDrone site says they offer a dedicated GPS tracker! They say "our next-generation trackers work virtually anywhere all over the World. We have tracked people summiting mountains in the Alps, summiting Kilimanjaro, "

Was that option overlooked by the Mimi team ON PURPOSE!?!

Yeah, I see that now. RaceDrone's dedicated GPS tracker transmits on multiple cell phone networks so I no longer support my assertion that Mimi's tracker issue is network based without more evidence. Seems like such a rookie mistake with her and her team's wealth of multiday running experience.

Sheila down under wrote:

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

Ok, I've figured out a more plausible explanation of why Mimi's GPS tracker appears turned off. If you look at a Verizon cell coverage map of the area, you will see that she is in the middle of a no-coverage zone. The RaceDrone GPS device Mimi uses is cell phone based whereas Sandra uses a Garmin Inreach that sends data over satellite. So, false alarm I think.

https://m.imgur.com/a/A1ojT

All this gps spoofing has made me think that the Pete guy's run was faked too.

Do we have any verifiable records?

Pete was joined by several people randomly through out his run. So, no Mimi Support Crew member, Mimi cannot be #1 off all time beating Frank G's 46 day record. She needs to run 200 km per day to get herself under 42 days. :-)