GPS Support

In order to standardize and simplify, our system has focused on four key metrics:

• Distance
• HMLD
• High Intensity Distance
• Sprint Distance

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.

Both high intensity and sprinting should be configured based on the individual max velocity of the player (rather than some specific number) to better personalize the targets.

The reason we track high intensity and sprinting is that when we look at HMLD, using the context of high intensity and sprinting 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. 

When our target building capability comes out, matches will be a included in 4 of the models you can use for target development.  A match segment is intended to be ONLY the data when a player is on the field in an actual match playing in the game. It is not the warmup data, sideline warmup data or the post-game running, it is only the data from when they enter the field to when they leave the field or the half or game is over.

There are a couple ways to provide this data:

1. In PlayerData, you can use the match session capability. As long as you utilize the substitutions in the tools and ensure that the right players enter and leave at the appropriate times, this will automatically provide the data segmented in a proper format.
2. In PlayerData, you can use a training session and then go in to the segments section and create segments for the players that are on the field. The only requirement is that the segment name is "Match". If this is completed, the data is processed in our system automatically as well.

NOTE: We recommend using the Training session in PlayerData, since the Match ONLY includes the match data and does not currently include any additional metrics from warmup, or post session running. If you use the Match session, you would want to potentially create a separate session to capture the other work, depending upon how complete you want to be in understanding player loads on game days.

Integrating with PlayerData is easy and any organization admin can setup the initial configuration.

Step 1: Confirm with APM that GPS integration has been turned on (if you see GPS in the Admin menu - you have been turned on).

Step 2: You will need to confirm with PlayerData that you have API access and you will need to request the following values:

• Client ID
• Client Secret
• Organization ID
• Club ID(s)

You may have a unique Club ID for each team/grouping within your PlayerData setup. Work with support to get all the values you need. You can do this by reaching out to support@playerdata.com.

Step 3: Have the organization admin go to Admin>GPS and enter the Client ID, Client Secret and Organization ID in to the interface. If those values are the same for all teams within your organization, then do NOT check "enable team customization". If there are different values for each of the teams (or some of the teams), check that box so that teams can override the values as necessary. Save the Integration Details.

Step 4: Select a team from the upper right menu. Populate the Club ID value from PlayerData for that team. If you are using tags to distinguish teams (see question below), enter the unique tag for this team.

Step 5: Click Save Integration Details

Step 6: Click Player Mapping. If you have data in your PlayerData system, it will pull players so that you can map them to players in APM. If you haven't set all the players up or just starting with PlayerData, you can come back to Player Mapping at any point. If you get a successful message, your configuration has been setup correctly. 

Depending upon your setup with PlayerData, you may have multiple teams under the same Club ID. In that case, we use the tagging capability in PlayerData to determine which data goes with which team to streamline the data ingestion process and not end up with a bunch of unmapped records.

In PlayerData, you would setup a unique tag for each team and make certain that for their sessions, that tag was always added. In the GPS Configuration, you would include that tag in the Team Tag field - which would ensure that only the data associated with that team is ingested.

At this stage, our automated integration is only with PlayerData. StatSport does not offer an API, so we cannot integrate directly with them, but you can use our manual upload. If you are using Catalyst, Titan, WIMU or Hudl, they do have APIs and we will build that integration with you. If you have another provider, if they have an API, we will build that integration and bring the data into our system. Please use the form below to request the integration and our team will be in touch.

In the meantime, we can provide you with access to our manual uploads which will get the data into our system and available to your players. In addition, once our target building capability comes online (July/August 26), that historical data will be available for calculation.

While you don't have to use our template, it is highly, highly recommended. When you download the template, it will provide you with your players' GUIDs, which is what we use to map your GPS data to your players - without this connection - your data will fail. In addition, there are some very specific instructions on what the system is looking for. If you use a different format, it will cause problems. Hopefully we've made it easy enough for you to use the template. If there is something we can do to make it easier, please share.

The required pieces of information include:

• Player ID
• Match or Whole Session
• Date
• Start Time
• Duration

NOTE: You can copy the rows or delete rows so you can upload all of your data at 1 time, you don't need to do different days in different files. 

NOTE 2: Note the format of the date and time columns to ensure they are properly formatted.

NOTE 3: Save the sheet as a CSV to upload.