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So many aggravating inconsistencies and dead-ends

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I dipped back into this to prepare for a mountain trip. I wanted to make some courses and have them on my FR255 watch for primary navigation, my inReach mini 2 (as backup navigation), and my inReach MapShare so others can see my intended route along with my satellite tracking points.

I think I finally found a couple flows that may work, but they are clumsy in different ways. 

  1. Create a course in Garmin Connect web or mobile (like I usually do for my FR255), export to GPX on my laptop, import to Explore website as a "route" which reduces it to 200 points.
  2. Create a course in Garmin Explore mobile and "share" to Google Drive so I can then open/share it into Connect Mobile.

But I rediscovered so many gotchas along the way.

  • First, what does this distinction between "tracks", "routes", and "courses" even mean in Explore?? It is so opaque in the website and then the mobile app doesn't really distinguish them in the "saved" list.
  • The website also cautions about needing routes for syncing to "inreach devices", but then my inReach Mini 2 seems to call things "courses" and it's all very confusing.
  • A default course from connect creates an absurd behavior when using it to navigate on my inReach Mini 2... a 3 mile course is alerting me every 50 feet or so with a long chirp and generic "flag" icon alert. I guess it's celebrating that I reached each point in the GPX file?  I've read that turning off turn guidance before I export the course to GPX from Connect may fix this, but I haven't taken it out for another outdoor test to verify yet.
  • Any "course points" created in the Connect course seem to turn into disembodied waypoints in Explore that aren't even attached to the imported route. You can delete the route and the waypoints remain on the map like a ghostly reminder of the past.
  • Some of the web UI suggests importing to a "track" instead of a route, but this makes some hideous pile of individual point flags on the Explore map.
  • The Explore website doesn't have any way to create "courses" or "tracks" even though it knows they exist. It can create routes and waypoints or make a "track" via import.
  • The website route creation doesn't seem to have any logic at all to follow roads or trails. You just have to draw line segments like it is 1980.
  • The Explore mobile app only knows how to create courses and waypoints. At least it can follow roads and trails, but it is annoying to have to do this on a little phone screen instead of a laptop with a mouse and a bigger screen to zoom and pan around!  Conversely, Connect website pretty much does all the same things as Connect mobile and so I prefer the website for making courses normally for my watch.
  • Comparing Explore mobile and Connect for course creation, the map detail for trails is quite different. And, Connect offers "popularity" routing as an option instead of following the trail network.
  • Every kind of import/export flow seems to lose any metadata like a course name.
  • There seem to be many ways to accidentally click into an empty section on the Explore web left sidebar and then the arrow to go back out is missing. My only option seemed to be reloading the whole page and starting over on the explore homepage.

It's not that my complaints are exhausted, but I think the Garmin Forum may be running out of bullets for my bullet list...

  • +1

    In the Garmin world tracks, routes and courses are different things. Historically there were only tracks (a trace of a certain path with lots of points describing that trace) and routes (a collection of points to navigate between where the device will determine the actual route). Tracks and routes usually come in GPX file format. Unless you look into the GPX file you cannot see whether it's a route or a track.

    The downside of routes is that Garmin Devices have limitations on the number of points in a route. So routes are used less frequently.

    Then Garmin introduced courses, which are kind of a mix between tracks and routes. A course is in essence the same as a track, but can also contain course points. These are points along the course that are used for either "helping" the device navigating, or for including points of interest like rest stops, landmarks etc. What are Activities, Courses, Tracks, Routes, and Waypoints on Garmin Watches? further explains this in the context of Garmin watches, but it applies to other Garmin devices as well.

    The inReach Mini 2 only supports courses. So if you import a track or a route, it will be converted to a course when synchronizing with the Mini 2.

    Now the confusing part is that Garmin Explore web only allows creating routes (i.e. location points in a sequence you want to navigate them). And Garmin Explore works mainly with courses. So there is a definitive feature disparity between both platforms.

    So my advice is to forget about Garmin Explore web for doing any planning work. Basically forget about Explore web at all except for managing some inReach settings and the MapShare functionality.

    Instead you could use one of the many other planning platforms like Komoot, Strava, RideWithGPS, etc. Most of them require a subscription though, but the planning functionality is miles ahead.

    Export the planned route from those platforms as GPX track, and import them in Explore app, convert to Course and sync with your Mini 2.

    Or use Connect web to plan your route and export as GPX. You lose the functionality for Course points, because these are not supported in GPX files.

    Uploading and Syncing GPX Files to the inReach Mini 2 provides more details on how to get GPX files to your Mini 2, but as I mentioned before they will be converted to courses because the Mini 2 only supports courses.

  • 0 in reply to JungleJim

    Thanks. I discovered one downside of my chosen method of planning courses in Connect... The default (?) Google Maps map source seems to have imaginary or obsolete trail data for a well traveled day use area in Yosemite NP.

    I ended up having to spend a few miles "off course" to follow a trail I could find with my own eyes instead of where my watch was trying to send me. After the first off-course alert, I spent about 20 minutes orienteering a steep slope in the icy woods before I decided the trail-based course on my watch was bogus. I had to loop back down to the trail I could see with my eyes and follow it instead.

    Maybe the trail in the map existed there many years ago, before being buried by a rockfall. But the rubble field I found was well encrusted with moss, lichen, and small trees (not some fresh destruction). I never saw any signs of the trail into or out of that area where the course intersected my actual track, so if it existed the park service had already had time to well and truly erase the remnants.

    In this case, it seems the OpenStreetMap data would have been closer to truth in Connect, but still might have thrown some off-course alerts where it deviates from the trodden path. The Explore Topo/TopoActive maps also seem similarly accurate, just with different deviations. The "popularity" overlap is best through this one section, but then has lots of annoying deviation in other places where people seem to veer off-trail for scenic spots...