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GPS Metrics Explained: A Complete Glossary for Coaches
Every GPS metric in plain English: all 108 columns your provider can export, grouped by what they measure, with the thresholds that make them comparable.
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What every GPS metric means, in one place
Each provider documents its own metrics and nobody documents the vocabulary as a whole. This is that page: 108 metrics, grouped by what they measure, defined in the language a coach would use.
Quick answer
GPS providers export around 108 distinct metrics between them, falling into 12 groups: acceleration, speed, distance, energy, metabolic, repeated high-intensity efforts, impacts, movement, work rate, ball actions, session load and heart rate. No single unit produces all of them, and many are the same measurement under a different name or at a different threshold.
Nothing in this list is hard to understand once someone tells you what it measures. The difficulty is that no one does. Catapult documents Catapult, STATSports documents STATSports, and a coach holding a CSV with 60 columns has to work out which of them are genuinely different numbers. Use the table for the group you are looking at, then read the two things below, because they explain most of the confusion in the whole export.
Thresholds
are settings, not standards
What counts as a sprint or a hard acceleration is a number someone configured. Two accurate systems can disagree about the same run.
AU
means arbitrary units
A formula output with no physical unit. Player Load, Dynamic Stress Load and Speed Intensity are all AU, and none are comparable across providers.
Those two facts decide how far any of these numbers travel. Within your own squad, measured the same way week after week, all of them are useful. Against another club running different hardware and different thresholds, most of them are not comparable at all, and the AU metrics are not comparable even in principle.
23 metrics
Acceleration and deceleration metrics
How often the athlete changed speed, how hard, and over what distance. Counts, rates, peaks, distances and intensity bands.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Accel + Decel Efforts | efforts | Every effort past the threshold in both directions, added together. |
| Acceleration Efforts | efforts | How many times the athlete crossed the acceleration threshold. |
| Deceleration Efforts | efforts | How many times they braked harder than the threshold. |
| Max Acceleration | m/s² | The hardest single acceleration reached in the session. |
| Max Deceleration | m/s² | The hardest single braking effort reached in the session. |
| Accelerations Per Minute | efforts/min | Acceleration efforts divided by session minutes. |
| Decelerations Per Minute | efforts/min | Braking efforts divided by session minutes. |
| Accel + Decel Efforts Per Minute | efforts/min | The combined speed-change rate, volume expressed as intensity. |
| Acceleration Density | m/s² | Average of every acceleration and braking value, ignoring direction. Touches no threshold. |
| High Acceleration Distance | m | Metres covered while accelerating in the high-intensity band. |
| Max Acceleration Distance | m | Metres covered while accelerating in the top band. |
| High Deceleration Distance | m | Metres covered while braking in the high-intensity band. |
| Max Deceleration Distance | m | Metres covered while braking in the hardest band. |
| High Acceleration Efforts | efforts | Accelerations in the high-intensity band only. |
| Max Acceleration Efforts | efforts | Accelerations in the top band only. |
| High Deceleration Efforts | efforts | Decelerations in the high-intensity band only. |
| Max Deceleration Efforts | efforts | Decelerations in the hardest braking band only. |
| Acceleration B1-3 Efforts (Gen 2) | efforts | Every Gen 2 acceleration effort across all three bands. |
| Deceleration B1-3 Efforts (Gen 2) | efforts | Every Gen 2 deceleration effort across all three bands. |
| Acceleration B2-3 Efforts (Gen 2) | efforts | Gen 2 accelerations in the two higher bands. |
| Deceleration B2-3 Efforts (Gen 2) | efforts | Gen 2 decelerations in the two hardest braking bands. |
| Deceleration B3 Efforts (Gen 2) | efforts | Gen 2 decelerations in band 3 alone, the hardest braking there is. |
| Acceleration B1-3 Distance (Gen 2) | m | Metres covered while performing Gen 2 acceleration efforts. |
Gen 2 is Catapult's second-generation processing, which sorts efforts into three acceleration and three deceleration bands rather than counting everything past one threshold. For the thresholds behind these counts, why deceleration usually outnumbers acceleration in football, and which five of the 23 are worth reporting, see the full guide to GPS acceleration metrics.
9 metrics
Speed metrics
How fast the athlete was moving: peak speed, efforts past a speed threshold, and running rates.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Max Velocity | km/h | The highest speed reached during the session. |
| Max Vel (% Max) | % | Session peak speed as a percentage of the athlete's own maximum. |
| Sprint Efforts | efforts | Runs that crossed the sprint threshold, 7 m/s by default. |
| High Speed Efforts | efforts | Runs that crossed the high-speed threshold, 5.5 m/s by default. |
| Average Speed | m/min | Distance covered per minute of activity. The standard work-rate figure. |
| Speed Intensity | AU | A weighted accumulation of instantaneous speed. Proprietary to STATSports. |
| Velocity B6+ Efforts (Gen 2) | efforts | Catapult's band-system count of efforts above 7 m/s. |
| High Speed Distance Per Minute | m/min | High-speed metres accumulated per minute. |
| Sprint Distance Per Minute | m/min | Sprint metres accumulated per minute. |
Max velocity does double duty. It is a capacity marker in its own right, and it is the denominator for every individualised threshold, so an unreliable maximum quietly corrupts every relative zone built on it.
18 metrics
Distance metrics
How far the athlete moved, in total and inside each speed band. This is the group with the most duplicate naming.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | m | Total metres covered during the session. |
| Distance Per Minute | m/min | Total distance divided by session minutes. |
| High Speed Distance | m | Metres above the high-speed threshold, 5.5 m/s (19.8 km/h) by default. |
| Sprint Distance | m | Metres above the sprint threshold, 7 m/s (25.2 km/h) by default. |
| Distance Zone 5 | m | Metres inside speed zone 5, high-speed running. |
| Distance Zone 6 | m | Metres inside speed zone 6, sprinting. |
| Explosive Distance | m | Hard accelerations and decelerations below high-speed pace. HMLD minus high speed running. |
| Velocity Band 1 Distance | m | Metres while standing or barely moving. |
| Velocity Band 2 Distance | m | Metres while walking. |
| Velocity Band 3 Distance | m | Metres while jogging. |
| Velocity Band 4 Distance | m | Metres while running at a moderate pace. |
| Velocity Band 5 Distance | m | Metres at high intensity, below sprint speed. |
| Velocity Band 6 Distance | m | Metres while sprinting at near-maximal speed. |
| Standing Distance | m | Velocity band 1 under its plain-English name. |
| Walking Distance | m | Velocity band 2 under its plain-English name. |
| Jogging Distance | m | Velocity band 3 under its plain-English name. |
| Running Distance | m | Velocity band 4 under its plain-English name. |
| High Intensity Distance | m | Metres between the high-speed and sprint thresholds. |
Four rows here are the same numbers twice: standing, walking, jogging and running distance are velocity bands 1 to 4 under plain-English names, and zones 5 and 6 are bands 5 and 6. Which label your export uses depends on the provider. The thresholds behind these bands, and how they differ across seven providers, are covered in the guide to GPS speed and distance metrics.
12 metrics
Energy and accelerometer load metrics
Whole-body mechanical load and estimated energy cost, most of it derived from the accelerometer rather than from position.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Player Load | AU | Accumulated tri-axial acceleration change. Whole-body mechanical load, including non-running work. |
| Player Load Per Minute | AU/min | The rate at which Player Load accumulates. |
| Average Player Load | AU/min | Player Load per minute of session, read as an intensity. |
| Energy | kcal or J/kg | Estimated energy expended, derived from metabolic power. |
| Calories / Energy Expenditure | kcal | Estimated energy burned across the session. |
| Calories Per Minute | kcal/min | Estimated energy burned per minute. |
| High Metabolic Load Distance | m | Metres covered while metabolic power exceeds 25.5 W/kg. |
| HML Distance Per Minute | m/min | High metabolic load distance per minute of play. |
| HML Efforts | efforts | Separate efforts above the high metabolic load threshold. |
| Dynamic Stress Load | AU | Weighted total of impacts above 2 g, with harder impacts counting disproportionately. Proprietary to STATSports. |
| Total Acceleration Load | AU | Accumulated absolute acceleration and deceleration values across the session. |
| Average Acceleration Load | AU/min | Acceleration load per unit of time. |
Player Load is the most quoted number in this group and the one most often misused. It is derived from the rate of change of acceleration across three axes, which is why it captures tackling, jumping and cutting that never register as distance. It also carries a trap: Catapult divides by a scaling factor of 100 and the equivalent STATSports metric divides by 1,000, so raw values from the two systems are not comparable in any direction.
6 metrics
Metabolic metrics
Energy cost expressed as power rather than distance, which is what catches hard work that never reaches high speed.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Metabolic Distance | m | Distance covered inside a defined metabolic power zone. |
| Equivalent Metabolic Distance | m | The distance at constant speed that would have cost the same energy. |
| Average Metabolic Power | W/kg | Average rate of energy use per kilogram of body mass. |
| High Metabolic Power Duration | s | Time spent above the high-metabolic-power threshold. |
| High Metabolic Power Time | % | Share of session time above that threshold. |
| Active Duration | s | Time in active movement rather than standing or passive recovery. |
The reason this group exists is that speed alone understates effort in tight spaces. Accelerating hard from a low speed can cost as much energy as running steadily above the high-speed threshold, and only the metabolic metrics count it. For a squad doing a lot of small-sided work, this is where their real workload shows up.
2 metrics
Repeated high-intensity efforts
Whether hard efforts arrived spread out or stacked back to back with no time to recover.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| RHIE Total Bouts | bouts | Clusters of repeated high-intensity efforts with minimal recovery between them. |
| RHIE Efforts Per Bout (Max) | efforts | The most high-intensity efforts packed into a single bout. |
Under the Gabbett framework a bout is at least three efforts with under 21 seconds of recovery between them. Two athletes can finish a session with identical sprint counts and completely different bout profiles, and the one whose efforts clustered did the harder session.
5 metrics
Impact metrics
Collisions and hard foot strikes picked up by the accelerometer, sorted into g-force bands.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Impacts | count | Accelerometer-detected collisions above a set g-force threshold. |
| Low Impacts | count | Impacts in the lowest configured g-force band. |
| Medium Impacts | count | Impacts in the middle configured band. |
| High Impacts | count | Impacts in the highest configured band. |
| Max Impact | g | The single hardest impact recorded in the session. |
Impact bands are configured, not fixed, so a high impact at your club is not a high impact at another one unless you both set the same g-force boundaries.
7 metrics
Movement and symmetry metrics
What the athlete's body was doing rather than how far it travelled: jumps, cuts, ball carries and left-right balance.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Step Balance | % | Left versus right step impact symmetry. An even athlete reads 50:50. |
| Running Imbalance | % | Average load difference between left and right legs while running. |
| Total Time | s (shown HH:MM:SS) | Total elapsed duration of the session or drill. |
| Jumps | count | Jumps detected from the unit's inertial sensors. |
| Changes of Direction | count | Sharp left or right cuts detected by the inertial sensors. |
| Dribbles | count | Ball-carry actions detected by the unit. Detection method is not publicly documented. |
| Dribble Distance | m | Distance travelled while carrying the ball. |
Step balance is the one to watch in this group. An even athlete reads close to 50:50, and shifts of a couple of percentage points from their own baseline are normal. Larger shifts tend to show up when an old injury is flaring or when fatigue has changed how someone runs, which makes it a rare case of a GPS column pointing at something you would otherwise only notice by eye.
6 metrics
Work rate and ball metrics
One work-to-rest measure, plus the shot metrics that come from limb-mounted sensors rather than the vest unit.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Work/Rest Ratio | % | Share of session time spent moving above the work speed threshold. |
| Total Shots | count | All ball strikes detected, every power band. |
| Low Power Shots | count | Shots struck in the lowest power band. |
| Medium Power Shots | count | Shots struck in the middle power band. |
| High Power Shots | count | Shots struck in the highest power band. |
| Shot Power | km/h or m/s | Speed of the foot or ball at the moment of striking, from a limb-mounted sensor. |
The shot metrics need hardware most clubs do not have. They come from a sensor worn on the limb rather than the standard vest unit, so if your export has no shot columns, that is why.
6 metrics
Session load metrics
The group that turns everything above into a decision, by expressing a session against the athlete's own benchmark instead of as a raw count.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Session Volume | % | Session workload as a percentage of the athlete's own matchday benchmark. |
| Session Intensity | % | Session work rate against that benchmark, using per-minute metrics. |
| Speed Intensity Index | % | The speed-based share of session intensity. |
| Acceleration Intensity Index | % | The acceleration-based share of session intensity. |
| RPE | AU (0-10 or 6-20) | The athlete's own rating of how hard the session felt, on a fixed scale. |
| Session RPE / sRPE | AU | RPE multiplied by session duration in minutes. The standard internal load figure. |
Session volume and session intensity are percentages of the athlete's own matchday benchmark, which is what makes them readable without any GPS background: 80% volume at 110% intensity describes a short sharp session in two numbers. RPE and session RPE sit in this group too, and they are the only entries in the whole glossary that describe how the session felt rather than what happened. That difference is the subject of our guide to internal versus external load.
14 metrics
Heart rate metrics
Cardiovascular response, available when athletes wear a heart rate strap alongside the GPS unit.
| Metric | Unit | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Max Heart Rate | bpm | The highest heart rate reached in the session. |
| Average Heart Rate | bpm | Mean heart rate across the whole session. |
| Max HR (% HRmax) | % | Session peak as a percentage of the athlete's maximum. |
| Average HR (% HRmax) | % | Session average as a percentage of the athlete's maximum. |
| Heart Rate Exertion | AU | Weighted cardiovascular load, where time at higher heart rates counts for more. |
| Red Zone Time | s or min | Time above the top threshold, 85% of max HR by default. |
| Heart Rate Band 1 Duration | s or min | Time in the lowest band, under 50% of max HR by default. |
| Heart Rate Band 2 Duration | s or min | Time at 50-60% of max HR. |
| Heart Rate Band 3 Duration | s or min | Time at 60-70% of max HR. |
| Heart Rate Band 4 Duration | s or min | Time at 70-85% of max HR. |
| Heart Rate Band 5 Duration | s or min | Time at 85-95% of max HR. |
| Heart Rate Band 6 Duration | s or min | Time above 95% of max HR. |
| Heart Rate Band 7 Duration | s or min | Second-highest band where an eight-band model is used. |
| Heart Rate Band 8 Duration | s or min | Top band where an eight-band model is used. |
Band percentages are defaults and are configurable, and systems differ on whether they use six bands or eight. Every heart rate metric here depends on a maximum heart rate value being right for each athlete, so an estimated maximum carried over from a formula will skew every percentage and every band duration underneath it.
Definitions compiled from Fractall's cross-provider GPS metrics reference, built from Catapult, STATSports, GPEXE, Oliver Sports, WIMU, Fitogether and JOHAN Sports documentation, August 2026. Thresholds and band boundaries stated as defaults throughout; all are configurable at account level, so confirm your own settings before comparing any figure to a published one.
In Fractall
Which of these Fractall reads
Fractall doesn't sell GPS units. It reads the export your provider already produces and turns these columns into charts beside the rest of the athlete's record.
The GPS module models 56 of the metrics in this glossary. Catapult, STATSports, Oliver Sports and WIMU files are read natively, and columns from other providers can be mapped by hand once, after which later imports line up on their own. Six metrics are charted by default, distance, high speed running, sprint distance, accel + decel efforts, max velocity and player load, with a picker for the rest.
A metric on its own says very little. The same distance figure means one thing on the day after a match and another three days before the next one, which is why these land against a labelled training week and next to session RPE and wellness rather than sitting alone in a provider portal.
Import the export you already have
Drop your Catapult, STATSports, Oliver Sports or WIMU CSV into Fractall and chart the metrics that matter across the microcycle, beside RPE and wellness. Four-week free trial, no card.
FAQs
Common questions about GPS metrics
What does AU mean in a GPS report?
AU stands for arbitrary units. It marks a metric with no physical unit like metres or seconds, because it is the output of a formula the provider designed. Player Load, Dynamic Stress Load and Speed Intensity are all AU. Values are not comparable between systems, since each applies its own scaling.
What is the difference between high speed distance and sprint distance?
They are the same measurement at two different thresholds. High speed distance counts metres above 5.5 m/s (19.8 km/h) by default, and sprint distance counts metres above 7 m/s (25.2 km/h). Sprint metres are a subset of what most systems already count as high speed.
Why do two GPS systems report different numbers for the same session?
Because the thresholds that define an effort are settings rather than standards. Providers ship different defaults for what counts as a sprint or a high-intensity acceleration, and those defaults are configurable per club. Two accurate systems can disagree about the same run.
Which GPS metrics should a coach actually report?
Five or six, chosen once and kept stable. Total distance and distance per minute for volume and work rate, high speed distance and sprint distance for high-intensity exposure, accel + decel efforts for mechanical work, and max velocity for top-end speed. Extra columns rarely change a decision.
Does a coach need GPS to monitor training load?
No. Session RPE multiplied by session duration gives a defensible internal load number with no hardware at all, and most small clubs should start there. GPS adds detail about what the athlete did and none about what it cost them, so the two work better together than either does alone.
Related guides
GPS Speed & Distance Metrics: What All 27 Actually Mean
GPS speed and distance metrics explained: what all 27 columns measure, the thresholds behind high speed running and sprinting, and the five worth reporting.
Garmin, Apple Watch and Polar Training Load for Team Sports
What Garmin, Apple Watch and Polar training load scores actually measure, why they don't compare across a squad, and how to run one team standard with sRPE.
GPS Acceleration Metrics: What All 23 Actually Mean
GPS acceleration metrics explained: what all 23 columns in your export measure, which five to report, and which to drop. Start with the five-metric panel.