Issue:
A lot of Garmin devices support turn by turn navigation, but currently there are only two, very limited in function, ways to enable this:
- importing/creating a route on Garmin Connect and letting Garmin Connect create the turning alerts automatically (this only happens when you send the course to a supported Garmin device and not when you import/create one; indeed when exporting the course with the "Download FIT" button, the exported track doesn't have any course point)
- using some external non-Garmin software to create a .fit file with custom navigation course points and importing it on the device directly via usb (you can't import it on Garmin Connect because, when doing so, Connect deletes the custom course points)
The first option is problematic because:
- the navigation points are not editable from Garmin Connect, but they should be, given that a lot of times they are missing in some key points or they are wrongly positioned, creating confusion when trying to follow them
- the points are not visible on the map view of the course on Connect, so we have no idea where they will be put until we go riding or running
The second option is problematic because:
- the majority of software that supports inserting navigation points is not free to use, and we shouldn't have to pay other people to use a basic feature of the device
- the files with those navigation points can't be uploaded on Connect without losing the navigation points, so we can't save them there in order to have all courses in the same place and we always have to connect the devices via usb to upload a course
Another issue is the inability to upload a fit course file. This means we have to convert the fit files to gpx files using external tools before uploading them on Connect.
Solution:
- Allowing the import of .fit course files on Connect
- Calculating/creating the navigation course points when importing or creating the course, not while sending the course to a device
- Giving the option to choose to retain the existing course points or to replace them with the Connect generated ones when importing a course file
- Showing the navigation course points on the map view of the course on Connect, so we know if they are correct or not
- Giving the option to edit/add/remove a navigation course point (currently there is an option to insert .fit protocol course points on Connect, but this is limited to non-navigation course points like "bridge" and there is no way of inserting navigation course points like "turn left". It is possible to insert an "info" point with a custom description, but this is a hack and does not comply with the fit protocol, it is not a real navigation indication, it does not show the arrow symbol for the direction to follow and, being not able to see where the existing navigation points are, it only brings to more confusion)
Course points are not even supported by Garmin Basecamp, so this is a very big void in the Garmin ecosystem.
Turn by turn navigation feels incomplete right now and I constantly have to check the map because too often the indications are missing or wrong, so I hope these fixes will soon be implemented.