GoldenCheetah/doc/user/GC31-Release.texinfo

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@setfilename Release Notes.texinfo
@settitle Golden Cheetah v3.1 Release Notes
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@titlepage
@title Golden Cheetah v3.1 Release Notes
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@author Mark Liversedge

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@top title

These release notes are for GoldenCheetah, version 3.1.
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@menu
* WHATS NEW::  What's new in V3.1
* CONTRIBUTORS::  List of Contributors to V3.1
@end menu

@node WHATS NEW,CONTRIBUTORS,CONTRIBUTORS,Top
@chapter Whats New

@section Major new features; Compare, Share and Merge

We have added a new feature to enable comparing rides and intervals across all
the charts where it is sensible to try; performance plot, cp chart, histogram
and QA charts all support compare.  Additionally it is possible to compare 
trends across different seasons as well as histograms. And of course, these are
also possible across athletes; so you can compare one athletes season or ride
with another athletes season or ride.

Wherever it is sensible to compare things, we think it is now possible to compare things.

We have also unified upload to "cloud" across Strava, RideWithGPS and Cycling
Analytics. With a single click you can upload to all services. We do not currently
support Garmin Connect as they have closed their system and only work with commercial
partners - for this reason we recommend storing data outside for future data security.

Lastly, it is now possible to merge data from different sources into a single ridefile.
This is particularly useful when working with multipled devices or integrating data
from devices like the Moxy SM02 monitor.

@section General Enhancements

We have made the following general / UI enhancements:

@itemize @bullet 
@item Open Athletes in Tabs - it is possible to open up all your athletes within a
single window and switch tabs.

@item ChartBar - the chartbar has become a toolbar item and is scrollable. This
dramatically increases the screen estate available for displaying charts and data
but also makes the UI less `quirky' and align more to typical desktop application
styles.

@item Themes and better support for color customisation - we now have much more sophisticated
support for color customisation and support across all the charts. Themes allow you
to switch between light on dark and dark on light setups quickly and easily.

@item Improved Interactivity - mouse over interactivity has been extended over the ride
list and most charts for faster exploration of data and to provide a more fluid and 
dynamic user experience. This extendes to isolating curves within a chart by hovering
over the axis labels and automatically selecting intervals as you hover over their data
in the QA and ride charts.

@item Autofilter in Trends view - as well as advance data filtering within chart setup and
the toolbar search box we have now added autofilters in the trends sidebar to make it
simple to filter data based upon metadata e.g. all running files or rides on your TT bike.

@item Specify athlete library location - You can now specify where data is stored to make
it easier to integrate with backup or other synchronisation tools.

@item  Improved Dropbox support (CRC) - We will check the data within a ride has changed
(as opposed to its timestamp) before refreshing metrics. This is to remove unneccessary
metric refreshes when copying data between computers or synchronising using tools like
Dropbox.

@item Find intervals via matches, hills etc - The find intervals dialog will now find
hills as well as sustained efforts using W' consumption (see support for W'bal).

@end itemize

@section Enhanced Device Support

We have fixed or enhanced device support for:

@itemize @bullet

@item Fixed up Tacx Fortius Support - Dave Waterworth has updated the original beta code
for Fortius support to now make the Fortius and fully supported device in train view.

@item Joule GPS updates - the latest firmware is now supported and no longer crashes GC (!).

@item FIT ride file updates - better support for custom FIT sections that are being used
by vendors to suport localised data.

@item Pedal Smoothness / Torque Effectiveness support - the Rotor and Vector data series
are now extracted and stored in ridefiles and can be plotted alongside all the other ride
data series on performance, scatter and histogram plots.

@item Moxy support - we have added support for the Moxy SM02 monitor and can be imported
and merged with ride data using the new merge dialog.

@end itemize

@section New Metrics Implemented

We have implemented a lot of new science in 3.1 and along with that
there are a lot of associated metrics:

@itemize @bullet

@item Plot bests - It is now possible to plot user-defined durations for power bests.
For example it is now possible to plot 13s power best, but we have extended this to
cover all ride data series, so you can plot best durations for heartrate, speed, cadence
and so on within a metric trends chart. This feature has been the most requested feature
since LTM was implemeted in 2010, so we've finally got there.

@item Plot Model Estimates - With the new PD models we also derive estimates for W', CP et al using
each of the models. These can then be plotted; an example `CP History' plot in the trends view
is provide as an example.

@item W'bal implemented with metrics - The W'bal data series is derived from power data and
can be plotted alongside all other ride data. It has also been implemented within the erg
plot to assess ERG workouts before attempting them.

@item TISS implemented - An an Ae TISS have been implemented and can be plotted as data series
within a ride but also as inputs into a PMC chart. An example `Stress' chart is provided to
plot these in the Trends and Rides view.

@item aPower - We have implemented Altitude Power to adjust recorded power to take into
account the effect of altitude on vo2max and thus power output. This can be plotted alongside
all other ride data series.

@item Polarised Zones - Histogram chart will now plot power histograms in Polarised Zones as well
as the more familar Coggan 7 levels.

@item Pacing Index / Fatigue Index - Experimentally added to help review interval efforts.

@item W' work - To compliment W'bal and Work metrics we now isolate and can track how much
W' energy is being expended. This is closely related to tracking Anaerobic training.

@item Average Pedal Smoothness / Torque Efficiency - the Rotor/Vector metrics can be plotted
alongside ride data but also as average metrics to track across weeks, months and seasons.

@end itemize

@section Chart Enhancements

We have made significant changes across all the charts in 3.1. These have been added
to support the new models and science and also to try and enhance the utility and 
user experience.

@itemize @bullet

@item LTM Chart - It is now possible to select charts via a Chart selection sidebar thus
reducing the number of charts needed to be pre-configured on the chart bar. We have also
tidied up the LTM settings dialog and improved the UX for setting up charts in the first place.
To support the new compare mode we have also added a Stack mode and a Data table mode to 
look at series in isolation or just review the numbers. It is also now possible to export 
the chart data to manipulate or analyse in other tools. Lastly, we have also added Labels 
and Quadratic trend lines to create charts that are more readable without resorting to 
tooltips and guess work.

@item CP Chart - The critical power chart has seen a lot of new features added both to
support the new PD models but also to provide the possibility to plot and compare intervals.
The key new features include User selectable CP models and the ability to fine tune the
search intervals used by each of the 4 models. It is also now possible to plot rates of change
for power, heartrate etc and also to plot heat and heat by age. You can also plot a ride as 
percentge of best or as a centile. And as with the LTM charts it is also possible to export
the PD data and model to review and assess in other tools.

@item Ride Chart - It is now possible to plot lots of derived series; NP, W'bal, xPower, Delta etc 
and also to plot each series in its own chart with all series shown as a 'stack'. We have also
finally added the ability to create and edit reference lines for power and have added an overlay
to display interval data as you hover or select them in the plot.

@item Summary Chart - It is mostly unchanged but will now also support displaying user
defined metrics for Athlete Bests for the date range selected. It will also show model
estimates that apply to the ride or for the date range being summarised.

@end itemize

@section Code refactoring and 300 issues fixed

Since we release 3.0 in June 2013 we've been busily updating the
code to fix lots and lots of nits and errors, but also slowly adjusting
the code to provide a better platform for new features.

We have deferred almost all features related to indoor training to a 
release 3.11 that is planned for the beginning of 2015 with development
starting in August 2014.

However, some of the (boring, tehcnical) foundational things that changed in 3.1 include:

@itemize @bullet 
@item QT 5.3 is now supported; so QT video support, QML, Qt Json, faster
webkit and for the future, possible support for IOS and Android devices.

@item QWT 6.1 with multiaxis is now supported; lots of bug fixes and better
rendering on retina and high resolution displays.

@item CP chart and AllPlot chart refactored to make it possible to extend
functionality e.g. for new PD models and derived data series.
 
@end itemize

Some of the functionality that has been fixed include reinstated support
for Strava and Twitter.  We also have better native support for look-and-feel
differences across the three platforms we currently support (Mac, Linux, Windows).

We have also adjusted the startup mechanism to make it possible to select a 
different athlete or create a new one if recovering from a fatal crash.

@node CONTRIBUTORS,WHATS NEW,WHATS NEW,Top
@chapter Contributors

@section Credits and Contributors

The main contributors continue to be Mark, Damien and Gareth, but a few new contributors
have joined the team in the last year and the future looks promising. A particular shout
out is deserved for Joern Rischmuller who has updated the GC Wiki to cover all functionality --
so for the first time we have comprehensive user documentation.

The following have all made a contribution to 3.1:

Alejandro Martinez, Bruno Fernandez-Ruiz, Christian Stade-Schuldt, Damien Grauser, Dave Waterworth, Eric Johnson,
Gareth Coco, Ilja Booij, Jaime Jofre, Joern Rischmuller, Jon Beverley, Jon Escombe, KURASHIKI Satoru, Mark Liversedge,
Rainer Clasen, Ralf Spenneberg, Simon Egli, Stig B. Dørmænen, Tom Weichmann, Walter Bürki and Alex Delli.

@bye