Elevated Goal Support

The upcoming GAP 2026 competition rules introduce a new concept called Elevated Goal. SkyTrackPro already supports this new rule directly in the Task Manager on the website, allowing organizers to configure Elevated Goal tasks today.

Support for Elevated Goal will also be included in the next release of the SkyTrackPro mobile app, ensuring pilots and organizers can fully use the new rule during competitions.

SkyTrackPro is already prepared for GAP 2026 competitions.

What is an Elevated Goal?

Traditionally, XC competition tasks use an End of Speed Section (ESS) followed by a separate ground-level goal. With the Elevated Goal concept, these two points are combined.

An Elevated Goal acts both as ESS and Goal. The pilot's race time is taken at the goal cylinder itself, but the altitude at which the pilot crosses the cylinder now also matters.

The crossing altitude is measured relative to the goal elevation. The default required altitude above goal is 300 meters.

• If a pilot crosses the goal cylinder at or above the required altitude, they receive full time points.
• If the pilot crosses below the required altitude, a penalty is applied.
• The penalty increases smoothly the lower the pilot crosses the goal.
• The maximum penalty is 20% of the pilot's time points.

This rule encourages pilots to maintain altitude during the final glide, improving safety and restoring the original purpose of the ESS concept.

Already Available in the SkyTrackPro Task Manager

The SkyTrackPro Task Manager already supports Elevated Goal configuration. Organizers can enable it directly when creating or editing a task.

SkyTrackPro automatically treats a task as Elevated Goal in three situations:

• No ESS exists in the task
• ESS and Goal are identical and adjacent
• The goal is explicitly marked as Elevated Goal in the task editor

When a task is explicitly marked as Elevated Goal, any previous ESS waypoint is exported as a regular turnpoint to avoid exporting both ESS and Elevated Goal simultaneously.

XCTSK Format Extension

Because Elevated Goal is a new rule concept, SkyTrackPro has extended the XCTSK task export format to include metadata allowing mobile apps and other navigation devices to detect Elevated Goal tasks correctly.

Other app manufacturers are encouraged to follow this extension so that pilots receive consistent behavior across navigation software.

XCTSK v1 Example

{
  "goal": {
    "type": "CYLINDER",
    "deadline": "15:30:00Z",
    "elevatedGoal": true,
    "elevatedGoalAltitudeM": 300,
    "elevatedGoalReason": "explicit"
  }
}

• goal.elevatedGoal – Elevated Goal active
• goal.elevatedGoalAltitudeM – altitude above goal in meters
• goal.elevatedGoalReason – explicit, no_ess, or same_ess

XCTSK v2 Compact Example

{
  "g": {
    "d": "15:30:00Z",
    "t": 2,
    "eg": 1,
    "ea": 300,
    "er": 1
  }
}

• g.eg – Elevated Goal active
• g.ea – altitude above goal in meters
• g.er – reason code

Reason codes:

• 1 = explicit Elevated Goal
• 2 = no ESS declared
• 3 = ESS identical to Goal

QR Task Compatibility

QR task sharing continues to use the existing compact XCTSK v2 payload prefixed with XCTSK:. No QR format change is required, only the additional Elevated Goal parameters.

Older apps can safely ignore these parameters, while updated apps can detect Elevated Goal tasks automatically.

SkyTrackPro continues to quickly adapt to evolving competition rules, ensuring organizers and pilots are ready for the next season.

Elevated Goal support is already available in the SkyTrackPro website task manager and will soon arrive in the mobile apps.

SkyTrackPro keeps pushing competition technology forward — helping organizers, pilots, and supporters manage modern XC competitions.