Komoot is constantly growing and developing new features. Among these, all available now and free of charge, are: some are aimed at youth teams, especially for trainingThis is what emerges from the exchange of ideas with Alessandro Bruzzi and with Giovanni Gautero: the first product manager of the brand, looking for a reality that could make the needs of a team clear to him; the second sporting director of the Esperia Piasco, a team that covers categories from very young to students, which is testing the new features.
«I already used Komoot to extract the GPX of all the races we were going to do,” Gautero says, “then I got in touch with Alessandro Bruzzi. We met here in Cuneo and talked. The main need was to follow the boys safely. We train with the students on Sundays in the Cuneo area, but not everyone knows the area. That's why we use radios, so that I can give them directions from the team car and warn them of any potential hazards. To do this, the function of has recently been added Custom Waypoint. By seeing where the obstacles are located, I can indicate whether or not to start a double row or start other quick jobs."
Coming soon to Android Auto
Adding these indications to the map is done when drawing the route and As the track is being created, you can add custom notesThe only limitation during training is the need to have your phone connected to the Komoot screen, but this is also being worked on.
«A new function is coming – continues Gautero – which via Android Auto projects the map onto the car screen, obviously if the car is equipped for it. This way, the phone becomes available again, while the map view is clearer. In junior races, where radios may be used, you can speak and provide safety instructions on the possible narrow passage, the narrow wall and things like that".
Aerial reconnaissance and tables
On Italian roads, there's no shortage of awkward situations, especially when traveling in unfamiliar areas. Gautero tells and the memory goes to the retreat held in Tuscany, in the San Vincenzo areaThe inspection, carried out the day before a long training session, allowed him to have on the screen the indications of the traffic island, the steepest climb, the fountain. The maps thus elaborated are then also available on Garmin, in the case of a single cyclist.
«As we verify the quality of the various functions – he explains – they put them online. For example, it is The possibility of doing an aerial reconnaissance of a route you've never seen by uploading the GPX file is very nice.. Or, always starting from the GPS track, you can get some very precise timetables: ideal for sending for race authorizations. I mentioned it to an organizer and he wrote to say that from now on he will always use only that one."
The video of the route
The passage on aerial reconnaissance has piqued curiosity. So with Alessandro Bruzzi we go into detail. At Komoot, he does other programming, but as a passionate developer, he also developed these features. Giovanni Gautero's guidance allowed him to refine what his intuition had already accomplished well.
«The system – he explains – It takes all the satellite images, frame by frame, and reconstructs them based on the GPS position., creating an effective aerial reconnaissanceSo you can stop the video, speed it up, or slow it down. You can move around the video, zoom in to explore a specific part of the video. And this is convenient, because in a moment you look at the route with your athletes, perhaps in preparation for a race or training, you project it and you can give them directions on what they will face."
In the first tests, if the race included a circuit, this was displayed as many times as there were laps. Now the display is unique, because the rotation is identical every time».
Match between video and GPX
The system also performs a hazard assessment. You can start from the video, knowing that its points will be cross-referenced with the GPX and then perform the analysis. Image evaluation to understand whether a passage is dangerous or notThe identified risks are noted on the screen. In the 22-kilometer circuit used by Alessandro Bruzzi for our test, Komoot identified 11 critical points, 29 requiring attention, and 14 of medium danger, including bridges, narrow sections, and a sharp curve with a 68-degree change in direction in 13 meters.
«We are now finishing the development on Android – continues Bruzzi – because this way the companies they can put it directly on the flagship navigator, without carrying the tablets in their handsBut in the days before the race, you can export everything to PDF or CSV for consultation or to send to the guys so they can see what awaits them. And on the map created this way they will also find the Custom Waypoints that Giovanni told you about."
Tables and Live Tracking
The latest confirmation of the words of the Piedmontese sporting director concerns roadmaps that can be developed with GPS precision, compared to some approximate calculations found in brochures or online.
«The GPX file is uploaded – explains Bruzzi – the system analyses it in the necessary time, analyses the points and risks and then extrapolates the various steps, also indicating the travel speeds and the corresponding times of passage. At that point, the PDF is downloaded and the table is ready. Among the other features we recently launched, there is also il Live Tracking, so as to keep an eye on the mutual position of those who are pedaling in a cycle-tourism context and certainly not a competitive one."
Komoot: 45 million users
Komoot has 45 million users, it has already been Official Planner of the Giro d'Italia, but the choice to wink at sports groups is considered a great opening. The speed with which these features have been developed is supported by artificial intelligence, but good ideas are the fruit of human work. In France there are teams that already use these systems on a regular basis, Bruzzi explains, applying them in high-level races and pointing out, for example, the need to add the danger of traffic to the risks for those who train on roads open to traffic.
«We are adding a link to public databases – explains Bruzzi – which take into account the traffic changes and any problems related to accidents or roadworks. What is important to me, what is important to our entire team, is also push people to play sports. For this reason we are working to integrate the part of Android Google Health, while Apple Health It already exists, to provide an analysis of the activities taking place.
"These are the big projects," Bruzzi concludes, "but I also find it interesting to reach out to those who experience cycling every day. Having involved a youth team allows us to work with the rapid times that a higher category team perhaps could not dedicate to us. And it seems to me that things are going really well."
