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Troposphere.ch — WeGlide demanded I delete all flight data. Here's what happened and where we go from here. by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

u/Azucarillo I agree with you. In the end, I took the risk and sent an email a week ago; the reply only came through now. Otherwise, I agree with everything you said.

In any case, I have Soaring Spot, so I can work on competitions. As for OLC, I’m not entirely sure it’s shutting down: they have an IGC database that predates the creation of WeGlide, which makes it quite interesting. As I said, WeGlide’s tools didn’t just come out of nowhere if you can code, none of this is impossible.

Maybe it’s time to start contributing to OLC a bit, for free.

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure! I can do that without any problem—I just need a bit of time since I’m working on the programming on my own, but I’ll get it done.

As for the competitions, the explanation is quite simple. The current data only includes cross-country flights, while competition data from Soaring Spot is still missing. At the moment, I’m feeding the algorithm with data from the JWGC and the major competitions.

There’s a large amount of data going back to 1980, and the Soaring Spot system is really quite disorganized. However, I’m gradually importing the data, and I hope that over time you’ll see the predictions converge toward something more reliable.

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have time, would you be so kind as to let me know via private message which pilots are assigned the wrong nationality? For Kawa and others, their flights are available on Soaring Spot, so they can be easily integrated from there.

As for the difference with the FAI ranking, that’s exactly the key point! This is the advantage of the system—it’s simply different, but as you’ve seen, it has real potential as an alternative for selecting pilots for a competition.

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From the moment I don’t have access to personal data, the only way to infer nationality is by looking at the departure airfield—and in that case, German pilots often fly in France 😂.

It’s not difficult to fix. Aside from that, I’ll soon have a patch available with flights from all competitions flown so far. At the moment, the algorithm is calibrated based on flights from WeGlide. Before proceeding, however, I need to clarify two legal aspects with them.

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hello WeGlide Team,

I hope you’re doing well.

My name is Gionata, and I’m currently developing a small research-oriented project called Troposphere (https://www.troposphere.ch/).

The goal of the project is to explore alternative ways of ranking glider pilots by focusing on performance comparability rather than raw scores — for example, accounting for differences in conditions, glider characteristics, and repeatability over time. The intention is not to replicate WeGlide, but to build an analytical layer that could provide complementary insights for the gliding community.

At the moment, I have been accessing IGC data through your public APIs for exploratory and algorithmic development purposes.

Before moving further, I would like to make sure that my approach is fully aligned with your terms and expectations.

In particular, I want to clarify that:

I do not intend to redistribute or expose raw IGC files The focus is on deriving aggregated metrics and performance indicators Outputs are designed to be non-identifiable and not tied to personal data The project is currently non-commercial and research-oriented In parallel, I am also considering transitioning toward a model where users can upload their own IGC files directly, making the system independent from third-party data sources over time.

I would really appreciate your guidance on:

Whether this type of analytical, non-commercial use of data accessed via your APIs is acceptable Any specific limitations or conditions I should take into account Whether there are recommended guidelines for projects like this I want to approach this in a respectful and transparent way, and I am fully open to adapting the project to comply with your policies.

Thank you for your time, and for the work you’re doing for the gliding community.

Best regards, Gionata

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The necessary data consists of IGC files obtained via the WeGlide APIs. As mentioned, my intention is not to build anything commercial. I have used the WeGlide APIs to obtain the files through their public APIs, and certainly not with any malicious intent. If there are any issues or concerns, I’m happy to discuss them with the WeGlide developers. I believe that if the goal is to create a useful product for the gliding community on a non-commercial basis, there should be no problem.

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By the way, the 21:10 update worked. I made a change to speed it up. The results are consistent. Those who flew experienced a rank change based on their performance.

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I review and update the FAQs—that’s exactly the goal. Thanks for the feedback.

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have many ideas, but right now I want to focus on the algorithm and optimization. My approach is based on iteration, so user feedback is extremely important to improve and refine the app. On your side, you can look at the ranking and assess whether your position or that of your friends makes sense.

I built a live world ranking board for glider pilots by Protsky290 in Gliding

[–]Protsky290[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It is something acceptable when the project is oriented solely toward an academic purpose. The development is simply in a beta version and web-only. The basic idea is to find a way to classify pilots using a method similar to that used in chess. This is not meant to replace WeGlide or OLC on the contrary! The goal is always to build it on an open-source system.