Glossary and commonly used terminology

This glossary brings together the terms used in Copernico and in this wiki. It will help you prepare before race day.

1. Race, events and participants

Race: the set of events to be timed. For example, “The 101 km of Ronda” includes several running competitions, a duathlon… When you create the race you set the period in which Copernico accepts readings from the devices (Readings reception start and Readings reception end); the schedule of each competition is set in its events and waves.

Event: each of the different competitions that make up a race. Events can be differentiated by distance covered, type of participants or any circumstance that means some participants cannot appear in the same rankings as those of another event. For example, the participants in the walk and in the cycling event of the 101 of Ronda will never share rankings; neither will the runners in the marathon and the half marathon, nor participants with or without a wheelchair, even if the distance is the same.

Participant: each entry timed in an event. It is usually a person, but it can also be a relay team or a vehicle.

2. Course: locations, timing points and splits

Location: the name of the place where one or more timing devices will be installed.

Timing device: the reader, with its antennas, that detects the participants' tags at a location.

Timing point: each point where a time is recorded. For example, in a 10K there can be Start, 5K and Finish.

Difference between location and timing point: the location is the physical place where the timing device is installed; the timing point is each passage you want to record. The same location can have two or more timing points. For example, in a two-lap 10K with the mat on the finish line there is a single location (Finish) and two timing points: 5K (first passage) and Finish (second passage). The location name is free: for example, the name of the place (Somport, Avda. Francia…) or that of the most important timing point (Finish).

Split: a segment within an event used to calculate participants' times and positions. In an event there must always be a split from the start timing point to the finish timing point. You can create as many splits as you need to time your event.

3. Readings and times

Readings (raw times): each unprocessed detection of a tag by a timing device: the passage time at a location. The Raw times table shows the tag, the Raw creation, the Reading time, the device that recorded it, the location and the assigned timing point.

Signal: the record generated when the macro button of the timing device is pressed (some screens call it guntime). It is not a tag reading. More information in Group signals panel.

Timing point times: each reading that has been processed to become a participant's time at a timing point. Processing means applying that timing point's configuration: minimum and maximum passage times, laps, detection mode (first or last reading) and backup locations.

Split times: the time between two timing points that Copernico uses to calculate positions in a split. For example, in a triathlon there are the following splits and split times: Swim, Transition 1, Bike, Transition 2, Run and a split from Start to Finish. The times of each split are used to calculate rankings; if you want to rank the participants reaching the 5K within a 10K, you must create a split from the Start to the 5K timing point.

Gun time: the time from the start signal of the participant's wave to their passage through the finish. It is the same for all participants in the same wave, regardless of when each of them crosses the start line.

Chip time: the time from when the participant crosses the start until they cross the finish, measured by the detection of their tag.

4. Waves, categories, attributes, teams and awards

Wave: the name given to the start time of a group of participants. In an event there can be one or several waves, and each participant has only one associated wave. Each participant's start time can be taken from their wave's start time or from their first reading at the start timing point (Start time mode). More information in Creating a wave.

Category: a group of participants within an event used to obtain separate rankings. It is usually based on age or year of birth and gender (for example, Senior Male, Veteran Female), but it can also be defined by other criteria and assigned manually (for example, Elite or Wheelchair).

Attribute: this concept is very important to understand, as it will help you generate special rankings such as local, federated, etc. It is any specific value that can be assigned to a participant so that they take part in a special ranking. For example, Local = Yes, or Profession = Firefighter, Doctor, Police… Copernico calculates a ranking for each value configured in the attribute's options. Each participant has a single value per attribute. More information in Attribute configuration.

Team: a grouping of participants according to the criteria you establish; it does not have to coincide with the club they belong to. Copernico calculates team rankings. How the team result is calculated (sum of times, sum of positions, average time…) is defined by its team type. More information in Configuring types of teams.

Awards: the criteria for giving prizes to the winning participants. They are shown in the Live apps, and award ceremony documents can be generated, among other functions.