The beesayatv field documentation system records route and environmental observations during hikes. These measurements support Trail Reports, Trail Atlas layers, and the broader field approach described in the Solo Hiking Principles.
- GPS route recording — The beesayatv Field Logger App requests high-accuracy GPS updates roughly every 5–8 seconds. Accepted points contain latitude, longitude, timestamp, and, when available from the device, altitude and location accuracy. These accepted points form the recorded route used for later review.
- Filtering of route points — The logger rejects points with invalid coordinates, missing or invalid accuracy, accuracy above 200 metres, stale timestamps, or implausible movement speed. These are data-quality acceptance rules and do not represent a claim of route precision.
- Distance, elevation, and elevation gain — Route distance is accumulated between accepted GPS points. Altitude is exported when supplied by the device. Trail reports can display elevation profiles from route data. The displayed elevation-gain value is maintained separately from the logger’s raw altitude observations.
- Start, finish, and selected route section — During review, a start and finish point can be selected from the imported route. The selected section remains separate from the full recorded route and is divided into 25-metre review cells for further analysis.
- Trail surface and transitions — The logger can record manual surface labels and can also produce draft surface suggestions using movement-related signals such as walking speed and step timing. During review, evidence is associated with 25-metre route cells and labels can be applied as Paved, Unpaved, Trail, or Unclassified. Reviewed cells are then merged into surface segments used for trail summaries and map layers.
- Cellular and LTE observations — Connectivity records include timestamp, coordinates, GPS accuracy, altitude, route distance, service state, network type, signal strength, signal level, operator, and subscription information. After the first valid observation, new samples are considered approximately every five minutes and are saved only after meaningful movement. Poor-quality location observations can be excluded from the public Trail Atlas.
- Connectivity display — Published connectivity observations are consolidated by factors such as coverage class, operator, network type, and nearby position before being shown in the Trail Atlas. The Atlas can distinguish service, no-service, and emergency-only observations. Trail reports may also show a calculated connectivity-presence percentage based on the selected survey data. This percentage is a summary of recorded observations and is not a direct measurement of total route coverage.
- GNSS and field telemetry — When supported by the device, the logger records best-effort telemetry approximately every 10 seconds. This can include location quality, GNSS status, visible and used satellites, satellite signal values, motion and step information, orientation, ambient light, battery state, and current surface suggestions. Most of this telemetry is retained for analysis and is not automatically published in the Trail Atlas or trail reports.
- Shade and canopy-related analysis — Ambient-light readings from the device light sensor can be associated with route cells. The review system can generate draft shade classifications such as Exposed, Partial, or Good by comparing local light readings with nearby or session-level baselines. These are light-based shade inferences and should not be interpreted as direct measurements of forest canopy density.
- Visual evidence — With camera permission and an available front camera, the logger can capture optional private photos linked to accepted route points. Captures are limited by both route distance and elapsed time. Imported photos can be used as supporting evidence during administrative review and are not automatically published to the public Trail Atlas.
- Points of interest — The website stores field-documented points of interest with coordinates, category, title, and optional notes. Context POIs near a selected route can appear in the Trail Atlas and can also be included as GPX waypoints. POIs are documented separately and are not automatically generated from field-logger data.
- Export and import — At the end of a session, the logger can create a GPX route file, connectivity CSV, route-surface CSV, field-telemetry CSV, a session manifest containing file hashes, and, when applicable, photo metadata. These files can be imported into WordPress for review. Reviewed surface segments can also be exported as structured data, while published trail routes and nearby contextual POIs can be exported as GPX.
Measured, Calculated, and Inferred Data
beesayatv distinguishes between raw observations and derived outputs.
- Raw observations can include accepted GPS locations, device-reported altitude and accuracy, cellular fields, GNSS status, motion and sensor readings, ambient light, and optional photo metadata.
- Calculated outputs can include accumulated route distance, route review cells, consolidated connectivity observations, and summary values derived from recorded samples.
- Inferred outputs can include draft surface and shade classifications. These are generated from recorded evidence and are intended to assist review rather than replace it.
Reviewer-applied classifications remain separate from automated suggestions. Raw telemetry, draft shade classifications, and visual evidence are not automatically treated as public trail data unless they are reviewed and incorporated into a published trail report or Trail Atlas layer.