Live Metrics

The Live Metrics screen in the SailingMetrics app gives you a real-time dashboard of your sailing performance. It combines GPS, compass, and accelerometer data into a single view and can announce metric values aloud so you can focus on sailing without looking at your phone.

Metrics displayed

Seven metric tiles are shown simultaneously on the dashboard, plus a Settings tile that opens configuration:

Wind Direction – manually entered wind direction (degrees), or connect a BLE wind sensor from this tile to feed it directly. An icon button on the tile lets you quickly set the wind direction to your current compass heading.
Heel – current heel angle in degrees, measured by the device accelerometer.
Pitch – current pitch (fore-aft tilt) in degrees, also from the device accelerometer.
Compass Heading – device compass bearing with the angular difference to the wind direction shown.
COG – Course Over Ground from GPS with the angular difference to the wind direction shown.
VMG – Velocity Made Good toward the wind, shown as both an instant value and an integrated (averaged) value over the configured window.
SOG – Speed Over Ground, also shown as both an instant and integrated value.

Integration periods

Because raw GPS values can be noisy, each metric is averaged over a configurable time window called the integration period. The default settings are:

VMG: 30 seconds
SOG: 10 seconds
COG: 10 seconds
Heel: 1 second
Pitch: 1 second
Compass Heading: 1 second

Angular metrics (COG, Heading) use a circular mean so that wrap-around at 0°/360° is handled correctly. You can adjust all integration periods in the configuration screen, accessible from the Settings tile in the metrics grid.

Audio announcements

The app can announce metric values aloud using text-to-speech so that you never have to look at the screen. You can choose which metrics are announced and the announcements are staggered by two seconds to prevent them from overlapping. A heel threshold setting prevents the app from calling out small heel angles that are not meaningful.

Use the volume icon in the top-right corner of the screen to mute or unmute announcements at any time.

Configuration

Tap the Settings tile to open the configuration screen where you can:

Select which metrics are included in audio announcements (at least one must be enabled).
Set the integration period (in seconds) for each metric.
Set the heel threshold – the minimum heel angle (in degrees) that triggers an announcement.
Toggle signed VMG – shows downwind VMG as a negative value instead of a plain magnitude. Enabled by default.

Sensor orientation

If the phone is mounted upside-down or in an unusual orientation, tap "Calibrate" on the Heel, Pitch, or Compass Heading tile to open Sensor Calibration, then turn on "Phone mounted backward". This flips the affected sensor readings so they stay accurate regardless of how the device is mounted on the boat.

Live Metrics in action

The video below shows the Live Metrics screen being used on a dinghy on the water.