Cell phone scoring

[pistol champ]

Has anyone used a cell phone to take a photo of a target and have the application give a score?

[Brian Girling]

TargetScanner is an excellent tool for ISSF airgun targets but only available for IOS phones.

I have not used it so I am not aware of all the tools but it will score integer and decimal air rifle targets and air pistol targets.

Just take a series of photos to get a total score and group.

I have an android phone :-(

[dronning]

I have TargetScanner. I haven't used it much and there have been several updates since I last used it so I can't comment on how it works now. When I was using it there needed to be good contrast so it could see the holes. Also it had trouble when several shots were overlapping.

Now I take a picture of each target and my scorecard so I can enter the scores into a spreadsheet later.

- Dave

[bking]

I use TargetScan on iPhone & iPad, its really great. If you have both it will make a "light table" by causing the iPad screen to be a bright solid blue, then you photo the target with your iPhone. It has been much more accurate after the last couple of releases, and it is easy to correct anything it misses by dragging a dot around. As long as you hold the target with backlight it scores well.

The developer is also super-responsive. I emailed asking that he add a 50' NRA/USAS free pistol target & he did quickly. These targets aren't sold where he lives (UK) so he asked that I mail some shot targets to him so he could quality test the app with them to be sure it works well. I highly recommend the app.

[Isabel1130]

I have used it. It is good for international where you can remove the paper target from the backing.

There needs to be light through the holes for the scanner to identify them.

This doesn't happen with 22 holes with an attached cardboard backer.

I am going to a match this weekend where I will try it with 45 and 38 holes.

It works great with air pistol.

[Wynne G Oldman]

I also use Targetscan for 10M air pistol and NSRA 25 yard rifle (prone). It's a great app, pretty accurate and as said before, Thomas, the author, will respond to any queries usually within 24 hours.

[shaky hands]

Why would you need a scoring software? On a timed/rapid target just count the # of 9s and subtract it from 100. On a slow fire target count your 10s, subtract the # of 8s, add the result to 90 and you are done. In an unlikely event of a 7, subtract 2 instead (as opposed to subtracting 1 in case of an 8).

[SteveT]

I can think of several reasons why target scoring SW would be better than manual scoring and tracking.

1. Not everyone can do math quickly in their head and not everyone keeps all their shots in the 8 ring.
2. A cell phone app that links to a database eliminates the step of writing down scores and entering them into a computer
3. There is more information in a target than the score. Getting the X-Y coordinates of each shot would allow a person to see the results of multiple targets and identify trends, sight corrections etc in a lot more detail than a single target.
4. It would eliminate the time standing in front of the target writing down scores. It isn't a lot of time, but if everyone finished scoring and changing targets 30-60 seconds faster we'd finish the 2700 15-30 minutes earlier.

Item #3 is the one that fascinates me. I love the idea of a combined training & tracking SW program that customizes your training program by learning what works in matches over months and years. Imagine intelligent SW that gave you a set of drills at each practice session and correlated the drills you did in practice with subsequent match scores! Put your future matches in it's calendar and it would optimize your training leading up to them.

[Wynne G Oldman]

Targetscan is much more than a scoring app. Here's a link to the Targetscan website. Much easier than me trying to explain myself. ;)

http://www.targetshootingapp.com

[richrd]

when I saw the title of the thread, I thought it meant how to score the shot cell phone that rang on the firing line. sorry.

[shaky hands]

The demo is fine but I am wary because it (and the website pictures) shows nice round wadcutter holes (and nice round air pistol pellet holes). I have no doubt believing that the App can score those nicely. But what about the anus-like holes that round-nosed .22 bullets leave behind?
Also, as far as using the App in its present state in matches, I doubt that it can score for multiple competitors. Also, the need to place a target on a piece of paper (or iPad) makes it rather impractical for bullseye. Also, if one cannot keep all shots in the 8 ring os a slow fire target, chances are one will occasionally shoot a hole in a 25 yd rapid fire target which would be to far from the center of the target than a Letter-sized paper (or iPad) would be able to cover, and that will mess up the whole scoring.
Overall, the App seems to be a good substitute for a shooting diary for an air pistol shooter, but hardly utilitarian for bullseye shooters.

[Wynne G Oldman]

The demo is fine but I am wary because it (and the website pictures) shows nice round wadcutter holes (and nice round air pistol pellet holes). I have no doubt believing that the App can score those nicely. But what about the anus-like holes that round-nosed .22 bullets leave behind?
Also, as far as using the App in its present state in matches, I doubt that it can score for multiple competitors. Also, the need to place a target on a piece of paper (or iPad) makes it rather impractical for bullseye. Also, if one cannot keep all shots in the 8 ring os a slow fire target, chances are one will occasionally shoot a hole in a 25 yd rapid fire target which would be to far from the center of the target than a Letter-sized paper (or iPad) would be able to cover, and that will mess up the whole scoring.
Overall, the App seems to be a good substitute for a shooting diary for an air pistol shooter, but hardly utilitarian for bullseye shooters.

I use it with .22 rimfire and it works fine. It scores from the centre of the hole, so it doesn't matter if it's smaller than the calibre of the bullet. It is only a single user app, so no good for competition use.

EDIT: I have suggested to Thomas than an app for Mac and PC that records scores from multiple users devices would be great for competition purposes. I don't know if he wants to go down that route though.

[Isabel1130]

I like the direction this software is going.

It could eventually revolutionize shooting scoring, and eliminate the need for expensive cumbersome electronic targets that have been hardened for large calibers and bad weather.

Had a very interesting experience a couple of days ago. I bought some bullets from Roze distribution, and their checkout system had an app that used my iPad camera to scan my credit card. It read the numbers, and the expiration date, and filled in the order form for me.

All I could say is wow.


The iPhone cameras are getting better and better. I would imagine that , within a year, this software won't need any light coming through the holes to score the targets.

[inthebeech]

You just want to use your phone.

[dronning]

Look at the SCATT MX-02 it uses a camera to locate the target with no electronics downstream and up to several hundred yards away. I'd bet the optics and software are available now to have all the electronics at the bench. You would still have to go down and paste the targets which is still a part of bullseye shooting I enjoy!

Hey and they might be able to work with existing turning targets.

- Dave

[Wynne G Oldman]

You can email your score cards in PDF form from your iPhone/ipad. I suppose that it could be used for competition in this way, if all users sent their cards to the email address of the person running the competition.

I've attached a sample below. I'm sorry, I don't know how to attach a PDF so that you can view it without downloading it, but don't worry, it's nothing sinister.

TargetScan Report.pdf

(80.35 KiB) Downloaded 198 times

[Isabel1130]

You just want to use your phone.

Well I will say that the camera in my IPhone does seem a bit superior to my aging eyes... :-)

[pistol champ]

I have an Android so the program will not work with it. I was hoping that with todays high res. cameras I was hoping for real easy and accurate consistent scoring with all the statistics as my eyes are not getting any better.