What is meta-data?

When I am coaching, I find pleasure in explaining the biomechanics behind an element. I find the same pleasure in talking about the mechanics that drive the GS software. This time I want to talk about meta-data.

What is meta-data? Meta-data is an IT term and in short it refers to data about data. When you enter a symbol into the GS Judge application, that is data. The DV that appears above the symbol, is the meta-data. Every symbol on every apparatus requires a lot of meta-data. For example on balance beam, we need to know for every symbol:

Difficulty value (A-G)

Is scale (yes/no)

Is mount (yes/no/maybe)

Is dismount (yes/no)

Acro or dance

Split direction (cross split, side split, upward, diagonal)

Is salto (yes/no)

Is turn (yes/no)

Is roll (yes/no)

Is handstand (yes/no)

Is hold

Lower element

Has flight

Supporting hand count (0,1, 2)

Take off from both feet (yes/no)

Element direction (forward, backward, sideward)

LA rotation (180, 360, ...)

BA rotation (360, 720)

Landing type (on 1 foot, 2 feet, straddle sit, ...)

Can repeat for CV (yes, no, once, ...)

Having one of these values wrong for a symbol, can have a serious impact on the calculation of an exercise. Today I encountered such a problem. The acro line below was not recognized as a series with two different saltos. The reason was that the meta-data of the whip salto was incomplete: it lacked the BA rotation value and therefore was not recognized by the program as being a salto. The end result was one CR missing, which was a mistake of 0.5 points.

When the new version will be released next week, I expect that more meta-data bugs will surface. If you detect one, don't hesitate to report it so we can improve the product.

Regards, Tom