PolyField Track

A results viewing and display software package for FinishLynx and TimeTronics photo-finish systems. Runs on Windows and Mac as a desktop device linked to your photo-finish results folder.

Download from polyfield.co.uk

• PolyField Track
  • Overview
  • How it works
  • Getting started
    • 1. Set the results directory
    • 2. Open a display
  • The desktop control panel
  • Overlays
    • Screensaver (image or layout)
    • Countdown
    • Records
    • Line view
  • Text size & rotation modes
  • Browse & restore
  • Connecting screens
  • The Layout Builder
  • Widget reference
  • Combined Events points
  • Horizontal jump displays
    • Jump Ruler (PolyField)
    • Field Results & Recent Results (PolyField)
  • Vertical jump displays
    • Advanced — qualifying board
    • Simplified — current-state card
    • Shared options
  • Themes, bibs & club abbreviations
  • Web views
    • Multi-Result view
    • Athlete kiosk (self-service)
  • FinishLynx & TimeTronics setup
    • Scoreboard setup (FinishLynx)
      • 1. Main output — polyfield.lss
      • 2. Wind output — polyfield-wind.lss
      • 3. Backup output — polyfield-backup.lss (recommended)
  • Networking
  • Troubleshooting
  • Download & support
  • API integration
    • GET /server-info
    • GET /latest-lif and GET /all-lif
    • GET /startlist
    • GET /clock-data

Overview

PolyField Track turns your FinishLynx or TimeTronics results into live displays across your venue. One desktop instance watches your results folder and serves a web interface that any device on the network can open — scoreboards, an athlete self-service kiosk, a speed board, and more.

It keeps the operator in control: results only appear once they are saved, ensuring positive validation before display. Multiple saves are supported — so you can show distance-race athletes early, or reveal a race once the top 3 have performances assigned.

How it works

• You run one instance of the desktop app on a computer connected to your photo-finish results folder.
• The app builds a web interface on port 3000. Any device on the same network opens it in a browser — no install needed on the displays.
• Each display registers itself and can be given a layout to show. The number of displays is limited only by your network and the host computer.
• The operator drives what appears — results, overlays (text, screensaver, countdown, records, line view), or a full custom layout.

Getting started

1. Set the results directory

This is the folder FinishLynx or TimeTronics saves results into (LIF, etc.). Click the red button in the top-right corner, “Select Results Folder”. You can change it later with “Change Folder”.

Once set, the web interface builds and the access address is shown at the top of the desktop app (e.g. http://track.local:3000 or http://<your-IP>:3000).

2. Open a display

On each display device, open a browser and go to the address shown, then /display. Each screen that connects auto-assigns a number. See Connecting screens for the QR-code shortcut.

Tip — leave the desktop app on its home screen and drive the displays from there, or from a second device on the web interface. This keeps you in control of the overlays while the results flow automatically.

The desktop control panel

The control panel is the operator’s home. Along the top you set the results folder and see the connection address. The main controls are grouped into a compact button row (which wraps to a second row on narrow windows):

Overlays

Overlays are things you show on top of (or instead of) the results: text, screensaver, line view, clock, records and countdown. Three important points about how they work:

• You can run several at once. For example a screensaver background with a countdown and a text banner on top. Turning one on no longer turns the others off.
• The widgets decide what shows where. Each display only shows the overlays that its assigned layout contains — so different screens can show different combinations from one desktop.
• A new result clears them all and returns every screen to the results — so live results always take priority.

Screensaver (image or layout)

Choose Image (a linked graphic — sponsor boards, notices) or Layout (any saved layout shown as a full takeover of the screensaver area). Pick the source, then press Display. Once a source is set, the Screensaver button toggles it directly.

Countdown

Counts down to a target time of day, read from each screen’s own clock. Enter the time (e.g. 15:40) and Start. In the Layout Builder you can set the caption (default “Next Event In:”), whether seconds are shown, and the text/font/colour. It hides itself at zero and yields to new results and other overlays.

Records

Flag an athlete’s record in FinishLynx (see setup), then press Records to show a celebratory card — athlete, category, event, club and time. Prev / Next step through multiple flagged athletes. Manual selection of an athlete from an existing LIF file and flagging them as a Record is also possible. Press Records then Manual Selection to start the 3 step flow. 1. Choose the race. 2. Choose the Performance. 3. Choose or input the Record type.

Line view

Sends the latest photo-finish image to displays with a line-view widget. The Rotation (s) control sets how often it alternates the photo with the result.

Text size & rotation modes

The default results text size is adjusted with the + and − buttons (layout widgets have their own Text Size in the Layout Builder).

The rotation mode determines how results with more than 8 competitors display:

The default athlete rotation speed is 5 seconds.

Browse & restore

Browse LIF lists previous results from the monitored folder so you can re-show any of them — useful for photo opportunities or re-displaying an earlier heat. Opening an old file in FinishLynx does not disturb the live display; only a genuine change to a result promotes it.

Connecting screens

Open http://<address>:3000/display on each screen; it auto-assigns a number. The Screen QR Codes page (from the Screens panel, or /screens-overview) shows a scannable code for every display page, so you can point a phone, tablet or TV browser at the right page quickly.

In the Screens panel you assign a saved layout to each screen independently, and remove screens that are no longer live. The desktop also has a built-in scoreboard preview that mirrors a real screen when you assign it a layout.

The Layout Builder

Open the Layout Builder to design custom scoreboard layouts from widgets. Each layout has an aspect ratio and a theme, and is built by dropping widgets onto a grid and positioning them.

• Add widgets from the palette on the left, grouped by Current Event, Results, Overlays and Information.
• Select a widget to edit its Properties on the right — position & size, columns, text size, font, colours and per-widget options.
• Overlapping widgets: use the ◀ Widgets ▶ navigator at the top of the Properties panel to cycle selection through every widget, including ones hidden behind others.
• Assign a layout to a screen (or the scoreboard preview) from the Screens panel.

Widget reference

Combined Events points

For a combined-events (multi-event) competition, the results table can show an extra Combined Event column that scores each track performance against the official 2026 UKA/ESAA Combined Events Score Tables.

• Add the column — in the Layout Builder, select a Results Table or Multi-Result widget and add the Combined Event column (Properties → Columns). Tick Append “pts” to Combined Events points column to show 617 pts rather than 617.
• Automatic by event & gender — the scoring table is chosen from the event name (e.g. 80mH (76.2) U14B), so every age group is covered — U13 to U20, Senior and Masters — with no per-athlete setup.
• Track only — hurdles and flat races are scored; field events, relays and any event without a matching table are left blank.
• Non-finishers — DNS athletes are not shown; DNF and DQ show no score.

The time used for the lookup is the value displayed (already rounded to the timing precision), so the points match the official tables exactly.

Horizontal jump displays

These widgets show live field-event data from a PolyField Field server on the same network. Add them from the PolyField Server group in the Layout Builder; each has an IP address and Port for the field server (default 192.168.0.90:8080).

Jump Ruler (PolyField)

A pit-side ruler for long jump and triple jump — ideal for a long, thin LED strip beside the runway (e.g. 500 mm × 4–6 m). It draws a distance scale with metre / 50 cm / 10 cm ticks, marks the leading three jumps, and shows the current jumper’s details.

• Tag it to one event. Pick the event from the Event dropdown (only Horizontal Jumps events are listed). Several rulers can run at once for different events, each tagged separately.
• Take-off board. The scale is pit-anchored: enter the ruler start for long jump and for each triple-jump board (7 / 9 / 11 / 13 m, to 2 decimal places, e.g. 11.02). The athlete’s active board (from the feed) sets which start the ruler uses, so marks always land in the right place.
• Top-3 pins. The leading three marks show as height-staggered pins (1st tallest, then 2nd and 3rd), with 1st always drawn in front. A mark outside the visible range shows as an arrowhead at the edge pointing its way.
• Average pin. An optional Avg pin plots the competition average.
• Athlete panel. Drag-position each piece — current athlete, current mark & wind, previous athlete with their mark & wind, current board and best of competition — and set each one’s caption, colour, size and visibility. Lay them out as a top banner or a side panel.
• Athlete direction. Choose left → right or right → left so the scale matches the way athletes run into the pit.
• The flow: an athlete is selected → shown as current (no mark yet); their jump is measured → current mark & wind appear; the next athlete is selected → they become current and the last jumper moves to previous.

Field Results & Recent Results (PolyField)

Field Results (PolyField) — a live standings board for field events (rank, athlete, club, event, mark, best), with the leader highlighted and fouls shown in red.

Recent Results (PolyField) — the last three completed field performances (name, event, round and mark, with wind for horizontal jumps).

Vertical jump displays

Vertical Jumps (PolyField) shows a high jump or pole vault competition, tagged to one event (only Vertical Jumps events appear in its Event dropdown). It’s in the PolyField Server palette group and has two styles.

Advanced — qualifying board

A horizontal bar, labelled with the current height, divides the display like a qualifying board.

• Athletes still to clear sit below the bar. When one clears they rise above it with a green dot; a failed attempt shows a red dot and they stay below; an athlete out of the competition has a red row.
• When the height changes the bar reveals with an animation, every athlete resets below it, and the eliminated drop off. Athletes who pass the height don’t appear.
• The bar’s vertical position tracks the ratio of cleared to not-yet-cleared, and if more athletes are in than rows, the list rotates so everyone is shown.
• The data lines up in columns (place · name · attempts · marker) so it stays tidy whatever the name lengths.

Simplified — current-state card

A single card showing the athlete up now: the current height, their name, their attempts at that height and their full series.

Each piece — event name, height, athlete, attempts, series, and optional place / best / bib — is drag-positioned with its own caption, colour, size and visibility, like the Jump Ruler’s panel.

Shared options

• No height set. Before a bar height is announced (it would read 0.00 m), the widget shows the event name and a sponsor logo instead.
• Sponsor logo. Optional — shown on that idle card, and (advanced) under the bar during the height change.
• Configurable — rows, text size and font, the colours (bar, cleared, failed, out, accent) and the bar-reveal duration.

Themes, bibs & club abbreviations

Themes set the default colours for all displays; you can create, duplicate and edit them. Bibs can be shown or hidden in the results view. Club abbreviations are managed centrally (edit the club list) and applied everywhere — add a new club or override a built-in abbreviation, and changes reach all displays within a few seconds.

Web views

The web views are best accessed through the web interface, using the access details at the top of the desktop app. Key pages:

Multi-Result view

Displays results in a 2×2 or 3×2 matrix. Configure it to show the latest results or rotate through all available results; adapt the text size; and use full-screen mode to hide the toolbar (any mouse movement pops it back up). Results paginate, with the current page shown at the top. The search icon opens the athlete kiosk.

Athlete kiosk (self-service)

Open <IP-ADDRESS>:3000/athlete. An athlete searches by name or bib number; clicking a name shows all their performances in the current results directory. Clicking a result card displays it full-screen for photo opportunities. Reset clears the search; the back button returns to the search field.

FinishLynx & TimeTronics setup

• Scoreboard scripts — use the supplied polyfield.lss, polyfield-wind.lss and polyfield-backup.lss scripts so FinishLynx sends the live running clock, wind, start lists and results to PolyField Track. See Scoreboard setup below for how to configure each output.
• Records — flag an athlete’s record in the FinishLynx User 3 field (e.g. PB or W50 WR). Record codes are expanded to full titles from the club list.
• Line view — export your photo-finish images (JPG) into the monitored results folder; the Line View button enables once they appear.
• Results — save your LIF as normal; PolyField only displays saved results.

Scoreboard setup (FinishLynx)

PolyField Track receives the running clock, start lists, live results and wind over a single UDP feed on port 5001. FinishLynx sends this through its Scoreboard outputs (Options → Scoreboard). Set up the outputs below — each is a Network (UDP) scoreboard pointed at the computer running PolyField Track.

Settings common to every output:

1. Main output — polyfield.lss

The primary feed: running clock, start lists and live results.

• Script: polyfield.lss · Name: PolyField Track
• Running Time: Normal
• Running Time → Options: Send results if armed ✓
• Auto Break: Finish ✓ (with if capturing ✓)
• Results → Options: Always send place ✓ · Include first name ✓ · Track live results ✓ (leave Affiliation abbreviation off — PolyField Track expands club names from its own club list)

2. Wind output — polyfield-wind.lss

A dedicated output for wind readings.

• Script: polyfield-wind.lss · Name: PolyField Track Wind
• Running Time: Raw — wind fires on every beam break; Raw mode passes each reading straight through (PolyField Track ignores the “no data” values)
• Running Time → Options: Send results if armed off
• Results → Options: Always send place ✓ · Include first name ✓ · Affiliation abbreviation ✓ · Track live results ✓

3. Backup output — polyfield-backup.lss (recommended)

A second, independent copy of the start list for resilience. FinishLynx sends each start list only once when the event loads, so a single dropped UDP packet can leave a screen blank. This backup output sends an identical start list from a separate scoreboard, so if one packet is lost the other still arrives. Point it at the same PolyField Track computer.

• Script: polyfield-backup.lss · Name: PolyField Track Backup
• Running Time: Normal
• Running Time → Options: Send results if armed ✓
• Results → Options: Always send place ✓ · Include first name ✓ · Track live results ✓

All three outputs can run at once and send to the same IP and port — PolyField Track sorts them out by content.

Networking

• The app serves on port 3000 and advertises itself as track.local on the network, so displays can use http://track.local:3000 without knowing the IP.
• On computers with more than one network card (common on Windows), pick the correct network adapter in the connection panel so the right address is advertised.
• All devices must be on the same network as the host computer.

Troubleshooting

Download & support

Download the latest version from www.polyfield.co.uk or the releases page. Support: support@polyfield.co.uk.

API integration

PolyField Track serves a small read-only HTTP + JSON API on port 3000, on the same local network as your displays. It’s the same interface the built-in displays use, so anything on the LAN — a custom scoreboard, a stats dashboard, a stream overlay, a venue’s own signage — can read live results, the start list and the running clock straight from the app. Requests are plain GET, responses are JSON, there is no authentication, and CORS is open, so a browser page on the LAN can call it directly.

The API is LAN-only by design — the app does not expose it to the internet. Any WAN- or internet-facing integration (remote scoreboards, cloud services, a second venue) should be discussed with us first so it’s done safely, typically over a VPN or a controlled reverse proxy rather than by opening the port to the world. Contact support@polyfield.co.uk.

Base URL: http://<track-pc-ip>:3000 — find the PC’s LAN address from the Displays panel, or from GET /server-info.

GET /server-info

{ "lanIP": "192.168.0.137" }

GET /latest-lif and GET /all-lif

/latest-lif returns one result object ({} when nothing is loaded); /all-lif returns an array of the same object, newest first. Fields:

• fileName — source file name.
• eventName — event title as sent by the timing system.
• wind — wind reading with unit (e.g. "0.6 m/s"), or empty.
• modifiedTime — Unix seconds when the result last changed.
• competitors[] — one entry per athlete: place, id (bib), firstName, lastName, affiliation (club/nation), time (already rounded/formatted), and optional recordFlag (e.g. "PB", "W50 WR").

{
  "fileName": "race01.lif",
  "eventName": "Men 100m Final",
  "wind": "0.6 m/s",
  "modifiedTime": 1790447000,
  "competitors": [
    { "place": "1", "id": "1001", "firstName": "Marcell", "lastName": "JACOBS",   "affiliation": "ITA", "time": "9.80", "recordFlag": "PB" },
    { "place": "2", "id": "1002", "firstName": "Fred",    "lastName": "KERLEY",   "affiliation": "USA", "time": "9.84" },
    { "place": "3", "id": "1003", "firstName": "Andre",   "lastName": "DE GRASSE", "affiliation": "CAN", "time": "9.89" }
  ]
}

GET /startlist

• eventName, round, heat, eventNo — event identity (any may be empty).
• hasLanes — true for lane-based events (track), false otherwise.
• entries[] — lane, id (bib), firstName, lastName, affiliation.

{
  "eventName": "T1 Kestrel Club 75 Race 1 of 6",
  "round": "",
  "heat": "",
  "eventNo": "",
  "hasLanes": true,
  "entries": [
    { "lane": "1", "id": "164", "firstName": "Rocco",  "lastName": "Kothakota", "affiliation": "St Mary's Richmond AC" },
    { "lane": "2", "id": "60",  "firstName": "Fabian", "lastName": "Higgins",   "affiliation": "Young Athletes Club (YAC)" }
  ]
}

GET /clock-data

The live clock from the timing system. Poll it (about once a second) to drive a running clock. state is armed / running / stopped / idle; serverNow is the server time in Unix milliseconds so a client can correct for clock skew.

{
  "state": "running",
  "time": "9.42",
  "eventName": "Men 100m Final",
  "eventNo": "12",
  "round": "1",
  "heat": "3",
  "wind": "+0.6",
  "receivedAt": 1790447079000,
  "serverNow": 1790447079466
}

Results and the start list change infrequently — poll every 1–2 seconds (or fetch on demand); only /clock-data needs frequent polling while a race is live.