1. A system for tracking and analyzing welding activity, said system comprising: means for automatically sensing dynamic spatial properties of a welding tool during a welding process producing a real world weld; means for automatically tracking said sensed dynamic spatial properties over time during said welding process; means for automatically capturing in real time or near real time said tracked dynamic spatial properties as tracked data during said welding process; and means for automatically analyzing in real time or near real time said tracked data to determine at least one of performance characteristics of a welder performing said welding process and a quality characteristics characteristic of a said real world weld produced by said welding process.