There is a bug in Garmin Connect. I went running with my Vivoactive HR watch in a famous park (Lizhi Park) in Shenzhen, China. Garmin Connect displays the wrong route - it's offset to the left and up a bit, looks like I'm running not in the park When I use Garmin Connect to export to Google Earth, Google Earth places my running route correctly inside the park. sandiway @ mac dot com. ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1440097.jpgciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1440098.jpg
Not a bug I'm afraid, there are always issues with maps data in China.
For a long time the Chinese Gov. considered mapping data a "national secret" and GPS devices were not permitted to be operated in the country. Technically it was illegal to own them.
At this time I think alot of the major manufacturers were forced to implement overrides in the device which would throw off the position by about 100 metres or so in order to comply with the law and still sell products in China - the in-built maps were then offset by the same amount so in effect you would not notice.
I used to live in China until about 5 years ago and my Car satnav devices worked like this then. I could take GPS points in location such as my house which would show correctly on the device but when I took it home to the UK and viewed on my PC it was in the wrong place.
I suspect the issue you see is that the Google Maps Data in the Garmin Connect is not up to date, however when you use Google Earth it is. You will notice that the road mapping data on Google Earth in your image is also not correctly aligned with the GPS imagery - so the satellite imagery is more recent than the maps data.
You can see a similar issue with a walk I took this summer: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2969245259 If you cycle between the maps (Google Map or Satellite view, Openstreet Map) they do not allign properly.
I don't know how long you have been in China, I was there for about 4 years so trust me you are going to have to get used to this sort of thing!
Thanks for your response. I visit periodically. I've noticed it before, but I put it down to an error in my syncing with respect to time (watch showing a different timezone when not sync'ed with my phone after landing). I see it's deliberately off. That sucks, but it's nice to get confirmation and that at least Google Earth works correctly.
However, my iPhone works correctly both in Apple Maps and Google Maps. Directions are pin-point accurate for those apps. So perhaps it's time for Garmin to implement a fix?
I think there is some change in the law in recent years, that if the maps are hosted in China, then they are correct.
China is a big customer base for Apple so they are abiding by this law, wheras Google quite notably offer no services in China, therefore Google Maps are still incorrect. Its the same with other mapping services. Bing Maps are correct as well.
its also worth noting that I have a few friends in China who are all fellow Garmin runners. All there maps are correct, because Garmin use baidu maps for services with local devices, yet it is not possible to see each other in connections. Searching for each others email address or username etc gives no result - there is a literal divide between the service offered in the rest of the world and that in China, which extends beyond just the mapping.
As a user from "outside" China, your device can come in and work but it is subject to all these kinds of problems...
