Overview
GPS data has become ubiquitous with performance management and it provides a mountain of data on how far someone ran, how fast they did it, how many times they started and stopped along with a bunch of other numbers. In the APM platform, we've simplified it down to four key metrics (distance, HMLD, high intensity and sprints) that we're using to help athletes and organizations understand capacity, better manage load and provide clarity on actionable steps. As of today, the solution is only ingesting data, so there isn't much value add; however, we are currently building our target building models which should be rolling out in August, 2026 to aid in our that purpose.
Data Collection
Our GPS setup is intended to be seamless and easy to configure. Our current integration is with PlayerData (https://playerdata.com/) and setup takes about 1 minute once all the configuration values are received from PlayerData. You can visit support to get additional details on setup (https://athleteperformancemgmt.com/support-gps). Once configuration is setup, ingesting today's data is one-click. Additional configuration allows the user to select a time window to pull in additional data.
In addition, an organization can upload data manually to address situations where GPS data is not available (tracker went dead, player forgot to wear tracker) or where they want to augment data from other organizations (national team data sharing, external private training). A simple template is able to be downloaded which provides all the necessary keys so that manually added data can be properly mapped to players.
Metrics
Distance is a foundational metric, but it is the least critical as much of it depends upon internal processes on when you hand out trackers, the setup of sessions, etc. We monitor it because it is a large number, so minor things don't impact it too much when it's consistent within your program. Outliers are easy to spot and should trigger a conversation.
HMLD stands for high metabolic load distance. We consider this the most important metric and one where target development and management should be focused. It incorporates speed, distance, accelerations, decelerations and is ultimately a proxy for work.
High intensity distance is intended to represent a good running speed. We recommend configuring your GPS tool to identify 70% of max speed as the threshold for high intensity running.
Sprint distance is intended to represent high taxing running speeds. We recommend configuring your GPS tool to identify 85% of max speed as the threshold for high intensity running.
Summary
We focus on these four metrics as distance provides a total volume and HMLD provides the based line athlete capacity. High intensity and sprinting provide context for HMLD so we can get a better sense of where the players' work rate is coming from (e.g., is it coming from a significant number of high speed runs or is it coming from accelerations and decelerations but not getting to top end speed). Ultimately you require distance to get to 70% of max and even more distance to get to 85% of max, so this comparison gives us insight to how the player is training and playing.
All of this is important and why we are building a target building model which will allow organizations to create player-level targets based on their capacity, how they play and train and how they want to grow/maintain capacity at various parts of the season. Our August release will provide a step-function increase in the value of the platform and GPS data streamlining not only the building of targets, but the maintaining and evolution of them as players increase capacity.