Sports Ecosystem Terms
This glossary defines non-branded digital and data infrastructure terminology: file formats, platform concepts, and the synchronization and integration mechanisms that connect devices, apps, and training platforms. Sport-specific metrics and hardware are defined on their respective glossary pages rather than here.
Quick answers
What is an access token?
An access token is a credential issued to a connected app after authorisation, allowing it to read or write a user’s data without the app ever seeing the user’s password.
What is activity export?
Activity export is the process of downloading a recorded activity from a platform in a standard file format for use elsewhere.
What is an activity feed?
An activity feed is a chronological stream of a user’s own or their contacts’ recently logged activities within a platform.
What is an API?
An API, or application programming interface, is the set of rules a platform provides that allows other software to read or write its data programmatically.
What is a CSV file?
CSV, or comma-separated values, is a plain-text file format storing tabular data, commonly used to export activity summaries or logs.
What is a dashboard in a training platform?
A dashboard is a platform’s summary screen presenting a user’s key metrics, trends, and recent activity at a glance.
What is a data field on a sports watch?
A data field is an individual metric shown to a user, whether displayed live on a device screen during an activity or stored as a column of data within an exported activity file.
What is a developer field in a FIT file?
A developer field is a custom data channel written into a FIT file by a third-party app or sensor manufacturer, used to store metrics outside the file format’s standard fields, such as muscle oxygen or core temperature.
What is a digital badge?
A digital badge is a platform-issued achievement marker awarded for meeting a defined condition, such as a distance milestone or activity streak; the event-classification sense of a similar achievement, such as KOM/QOM, is defined under Cycling.
What is a FIT file?
A FIT file is a compact binary file format developed for storing detailed activity data recorded by sports devices.
What is file conversion (activity data)?
File conversion is the process of transforming an activity file from one format, such as FIT, to another, such as GPX or TCX, for compatibility with a different platform.
What is gear tracking on a training platform?
Gear tracking is a platform feature that logs which piece of equipment, such as a specific bike or pair of shoes, was used on each activity, accumulating mileage and wear data per item over time.
What is a GPX file?
GPX, or GPS exchange format, is an open, text-based file format used to store route and track data as a series of coordinates.
What is a heatmap (training platform)?
A heatmap is a visualisation showing the frequency of routes a user, or an aggregate of users, has travelled across a geographic area.
What is import (activity data)?
Import is the process of bringing an activity file into a platform from an external source, the counterpart to export.
What is a JSON file?
JSON, or JavaScript object notation, is a structured, text-based data format commonly used by platform APIs to exchange activity and account data.
What is a leaderboard?
A leaderboard is a ranked list of users or times, typically scoped to a specific segment, challenge, or time period.
What is live tracking?
Live tracking is the real-time sharing of a user’s location and progress during an ongoing activity, distinct from the activity feed, which shows completed activities after the fact.
What is metadata in an activity file?
Metadata is the descriptive information stored alongside an activity’s time-series data, such as its start time, device, sport type, and location, rather than the measurements themselves.
What is OAuth?
OAuth is the standard authorisation protocol used to grant a connected app access to a user’s data on another platform without the user sharing their password directly.
What is permission scope?
Permission scope defines exactly which categories of a user’s data a connected app or integration is allowed to access.
What is a personal record on a training platform?
A personal record is a platform’s stored record of a user’s best performance for a given distance or activity type.
What is polling (data sync)?
Polling is a synchronization method in which an app periodically checks a platform for new data, the counterpart to a webhook, which pushes a notification the moment new data appears.
What is a privacy zone?
A privacy zone is a user-designated area, typically around a home or workplace, within which a platform hides the exact start or end location of an activity.
What is a profile on a training platform?
A profile is a user’s account page on a platform, typically showing their activity history, stats, and personal information.
What is a rate limit (API)?
A rate limit is a cap a platform places on how many API requests a connected app can make within a given time period.
What is a route (training platform)?
A route is a planned path saved on a platform for future navigation, as distinct from a recorded track of an activity already completed.
What is a segment (training platform)?
A segment is a defined stretch of a route that a platform times separately from the overall activity, allowing users to compare efforts on that stretch over time.
What is a segment effort?
A segment effort is a user’s individually timed performance on a specific segment, which a platform then ranks against other users’ efforts on the same segment leaderboard.
What is social acknowledgment on a training platform?
Social acknowledgment is a generic term for the lightweight positive reaction, such as a like or clap, given to another user’s logged activity on a platform.
What is a structured workout?
A structured workout is a pre-built session with defined steps, such as warm-up, intervals, and cooldown, that can be sent to a device to follow during an activity.
What is a TCX file?
TCX, or Training Center XML, is an XML-based file format that stores activity data along with structured workout and lap information.
What is a third-party integration?
A third-party integration, also called a connected app, is a connection between two platforms, not built by either platform’s original developer, that allows data to flow between them.
What is token revocation?
Token revocation is the act of disconnecting a previously authorised app, cancelling its access token so it can no longer read or write a user’s data.
What is a trackpoint?
A trackpoint is a single recorded point within an activity file, typically carrying a timestamp, position, and whatever additional metrics, such as heart rate or power, were being recorded at that instant.
What is a training log?
A training log is a user’s running record of completed activities, kept for reviewing history and tracking progress over time.
What is a training plan?
A training plan is an organised schedule of workouts laid out over a period of weeks or months, distinct from a workout library, which is an unordered collection a user can draw from.
What is a webhook?
A webhook is an automated notification sent from one platform to another the moment a specified event occurs, such as a new activity being uploaded.
What is a workout library?
A workout library is a platform’s stored collection of structured workouts a user can browse and assign to their training plan.
