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Open Access To Exercise Data?

Posted by kdawson on from the lub-dub dept.

identity0 writes "A recent Slashdot discussion about heart-rate monitors in schools got me thinking about getting one for my own exercise. It turns out that the available models have a wide range of features: calorie rate, pedometers, GPS, PC connectivity, etc. Being a geek, I want one that will let me look at my exercise data, and I'm curious what experiences Slashdotters have had with them. Some download data to a proprietary application — are open source alternatives available or is the data format easily readable? Others upload data to an online app — can the data be pulled off the site or is it forever trapped on their servers? While I'm not an open source zealot or a paranoid about my data being shared, I would like to know that I can access my data in the future. Whatever method you guys use to monitor your exercise, I'd love to hear about it."

3 of 188 comments (clear)

  1. PolarViewer by cjfs · · Score: 5, Informative

    PolarViewer only works with certain monitors, but is under the GPL.

    Linux.com had an article in 07 on the subject as well.

  2. Garmin Edge 705 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I use a Garmin Edge 705 for my training needs. The device shows up as a normal USB Mass Storage Device, and the file format is an easily readable XML type file.

  3. Garmin is reasonable by Rufus211 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm quite happy with the Garmin bike GPS I have. It downloads the data in a pseudo-proprietary format, but it's easy to convert into an XML format that's fully documented on their website: http://developer.garmin.com/schemas/

    Also for those that use linux, here's a couple of scripts that sync down the garmin data, do the XML transformation, and uploads it to garmin connect: http://braiden.org/?p=62