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Please fix pace graphing Y axis

DrTomWay
3 months ago

Can you please fix the orientation of the Y axis? It is currently done in a way that is not consistent with how data is graphed by those who know how to graph data.

The current graph for pace has a Y axis that is inverted. Graph points don't go higher with lower values, they go higher with higher values.

Please change the Y axis so that 0:00 per mile is at the X axis and slower paces are higher in the Y direction. Running faster should mean the graph is lower on the Y axis, while running more slowly means the graph goes higher.

Thank you.

  • 0 3 months ago

    You are in a user-user forum here. This is not a support channel.

    If you have a suggestion for improvement, you can submit it using the following Garmin form:

    https://www.garmin.com/en-US/forms/ideas/ 

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to bluefish

    Thank you. They have made it so hard to find a contact form for suggestions! Appreciate it!

  • +1 3 months ago

    I understand where you're coming from, but I doubt they will make this change.

    Strava, Stryd, and probably most sports platforms aimed at non-technical users do the same thing. I think the reason is users intuitively think of pace as being synonymous with speed (even though pace is technically 1/speed), so they expect faster (lower-valued paces) to be higher on the y-axis than slower (higher-valued) paces.

    That's why people will say "zero pace" when they really mean standing still, even though technically speaking, zero pace (as in 0:00/km) means moving infinitely fast. Similarly, Garmin used to display "--:--" on the pace data field when you were standing still (or close to it), but now they display "0:00" (which is mathematically incorrect.)

    Similarly, when a runner says "higher pace", they probably mean "faster", even though the literal meaning would be "slower." (That's why I prefer "slower pace" and "faster pace", to avoid ambiguity.)

    Given the choice between adhering to mathematical/technical correctness and displaying what people expect to see, it's pretty obvious what Garmin (and other companies) will choose.

    If Garmin did what you asked, I guarantee many more people would complain.

    If you want to see your Garmin pace graphed properly, you could use https://www.runalyze.com, which is free and syncs with your Connect account. It has 3 options for the pace y-axis: linear (what you want), reversed linear (what Garmin does), and "as speed" (self-explanatory). It also has options to set minimum/maximum values on the y-axis, as well as to ignore outliers, which would help work around some problems that affect both Garmin and Strava's pace charts when your pace data has a very large range (e.g. when you have periods of both fast running and walking/standing still, in the same activity.)

  • 0 3 months ago in reply to FlowState

    Thanks so much for the detailed info and explanation. Yeah, I was an Endomondo guy for many years before UnderArmour bought it, starting "improving" it, then abandoned it. It was an online web app for real athletes who knew about data. I'll take a look at Runalyze. Sounds promising. Thank!