FitContributor :nativeNum functionality

With regard to the comments about garmin not wanting 3rd party apps to input bad data into connect. Its the users responsibility to input lots of metrics, age, height, gender, that allow the connect metrics to work / be recorded in connect, so we have this issue today.  As long as the 3rd party app allows the user to input "the correct stride length" & the app correctly counts steps the distance will correctly be recorded. 

So garmins issue doesnt wash re bad data appearing in connect. 

As a computer programmer we have a term "sh*t in Sh*t out" as a 50+ 5ft something male, if i were to have set my watch up as a 6ft 35yo female all my data in connect would be bad.

So provided the app developer allows for stride length to be entered & the app correctly counts the steps, then garmin could / should allow the distance to be calculated & shown in connect. 

And as garmin customers its our choice to use the app, But to allow an elliptical app to be sold on the Connect app store that doesnt record distance. Thats bad on garmin customer support. So garmin fix the issue or remove the app from the app store.

Garmin must be breaking Competition law by not giving the 3rd party developer access to the distance field.

I hope AlphaMonkeyC or somebody at Garmin is seeing or listening to this thread and the rest of the Garmin/FB3 CUSTOMERS (and hopefully future customers) and maybe my post below.  Or have the cajones to forward or paste to somebody with foresight, a business sense and authority for change @Garmin???

After many months/years (I am on my third Garmin watch after years/decades of Polar and then MioAlpha use and even Beta testing, I have been beta testing MyFitnessPal for over a decade, btw) )  and now of trying Garmin "canned"/"house"  apps (where bug fixes and missing features go unanswered or fixed ever) I have discovered and paid gladly for many of the FB3 data fields and apps.   They have knocked out (because of the limited memory on my older Garmin and now my Fenix 5x) and of course superior UI (user interfaces), features and functionality.  

Sadly this programmer/developer  "elitism" on Garmin's behalf and exclusivity to exclude or cripple or limit 3rd party developer apps as described herein are a disservice to your 3rd party partners and co-developers BUT most importantly a real slap and deception to your core avid customers like myself.   Your are clearly NOT "open" or inviting or encouraging world class 3rd party products OR improved functionality and creativity and entrepreneur-ism.  

HOW can a "developer of the year" or any tried, true, and accomplished code banger like FB3 be NOT allowed to show Garmin and your products at their BEST and FINEST???  Crazy stuff?

THAT is what I thought I was getting with Connect and the Garmin smart watch Ecosystem.   Seems maybe with the covers off a lie or a deception???  Which one?  If anybody is posting non GPS data to IQ then it is conspiracy/hypocrisy not to let them/us/3rd party do it as well and the safety and stability of the data should be enforced by the programmers OR the SDK itself with data and pattern and posting checking.  I.e. crazy values like a 20,000 mile elliptical activity.

As an IT professional since my 1970s punch card, Fortran, Cobol, assembly, and even CP/M and electrical engineering and computer science days at Drexel Univ. to my hobbies/experience coding C++ dialup QNX realtime OS Bulletin Board software in the 90s on Computer Innovations and  Watcom compilers to my html since the 1990s for my websites.  and C, C++ working with software folks at Computer Associates, Hitachi Data Systems, AppIQ, Quantum, HP, and now IBM experience in systems, storage, infrastructure and SDI (software defined infrastructure) I have been closely involved with dev, devops, product management and product marketing and of course end-users and vars/business partners and 3rd party developers. 

This is a counter-cooperative decision/position.  Please re-consider.

Let me share a quote from my IBM corporate signature with summarizes how I deal with our Business Partners and 3rd party Alliances:  “Always do right, this will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”   - Mark Twain

Garmin could make this right in under an hour!!!   You could turn this into a positive!   Before a FB3 or other could post their code, simply have them submit their code and "certify" their calculations, algorithms, etc. to some Programing Grand Poohba and Certify the Distance calculation.    DONE.  THAT is what everybody else does across technology and the entire 3rd party landscape.

I hope somebody who cares @Garmin and who can make a difference can take a look at this and make a command/cockpit decision. 

Until then my indoor or non-GPS profiles for OutdoorSports+, Sports+, Work+, MotorSports+, BikeSafe+, Yoga, PaddleSports+, Eliptical and MOST and disturbingly the BEST SWIMMING app with a supremely superior interface and functional app >>>  SwimSports+ (I am a US Master Swimmer and swim a few times a week even when traveling around the US for IBM)  will remain CRIPPLED by Garmin.  Very sad.

Soooo, I will go back to swimming zero yards with Garmin, no wonder I am not losing any weight?............<smile>  BTW Here is the Winter Challenge US Masters Swimming 30 minute Swim Challenge I auto-posted.  There is a Garmin <> Swim.com > USMS API that posts this auto-magically as of course a 0.00 to the USMS site under my records.   If you are worried about erroneous and bad data???  Isn't that just as bad as a 20,000 yard swim in 30 minutes?  https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4550082268

Please feel free to call, email, text, taser or whatever with any questions or requests but hopefully a meaningful reply/response!!!!

Thank you,

~ Thomas ~   Thomas J. Lynch |  [email protected] | +1 (631) 384-5791 |  www.L-Y-N-C-H.com

(not for here but just reference: [email protected]  and https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaslynch/ )

I hope somebody at Garmin is seeing or listening to this thread and the rest of the Garmin/FB3 CUSTOMERS (and hopefully future customers) and maybe my post below.  Or have the cajones to forward or paste to somebody with foresight, a business sense and authority for change @Garmin???

After many months/years (I am on my third Garmin watch after years/decades of Polar and then MioAlpha use and even Beta testing, I have been beta testing MyFitnessPal for over a decade, btw) )  and now of trying Garmin "canned"/"house"  apps (where bug fixes and missing features go unanswered or fixed ever) I have discovered and paid gladly for many of the FB3 data fields and apps.   They have knocked out (because of the limited memory on my older Garmin and now my Fenix 5x) and of course superior UI (user interfaces), features and functionality.  

Sadly this programmer/developer  "elitism" on Garmin's behalf and exclusivity to exclude or cripple or limit 3rd party developer apps as described herein are a disservice to your 3rd party partners and co-developers BUT most importantly a real slap and deception to your core avid customers like myself.   Your are clearly NOT "open" or inviting or encouraging world class 3rd party products OR improved functionality and creativity and entrepreneur-ism.  

HOW can a "developer of the year" or any tried, true, and accomplished code banger like FB3 be NOT allowed to show Garmin and your products at their BEST and FINEST???  Crazy stuff?

THAT is what I thought I was getting with Connect and the Garmin smart watch Ecosystem.   Seems maybe with the covers off a lie or a deception???  Which one?  If anybody is posting non GPS data to IQ then it is conspiracy/hypocrisy not to let them/us/3rd party do it as well and the safety and stability of the data should be enforced by the programmers OR the SDK itself with data and pattern and posting checking.  I.e. crazy values like a 20,000 mile elliptical activity.

As an IT professional since my 1970s punch card, Fortran, Cobol, assembly, and even CP/M and electrical engineering and computer science days at Drexel Univ. to my hobbies/experience coding C++ dialup QNX realtime OS Bulletin Board software in the 90s on Computer Innovations and  Watcom compilers to my html since the 1990s for my websites.  and C, C++ working with software folks at Computer Associates, Hitachi Data Systems, AppIQ, Quantum, HP, and now IBM experience in systems, storage, infrastructure and SDI (software defined infrastructure) I have been closely involved with dev, devops, product management and product marketing and of course end-users and vars/business partners and 3rd party developers. 

This is a counter-cooperative decision/position.  Please re-consider.

Let me share a quote from my IBM corporate signature with summarizes how I deal with our Business Partners and 3rd party Alliances:  “Always do right, this will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”   - Mark Twain

Garmin could make this right in under an hour!!!   You could turn this into a positive!   Before a FB3 or other could post their code, simply have them submit their code and "certify" their calculations, algorithms, etc. to some Programing Grand Poohba and Certify the Distance calculation.    DONE.  THAT is what everybody else does across technology and the entire 3rd party landscape.

I hope somebody who cares @Garmin and who can make a difference can take a look at this and make a command/cockpit decision. 

Until then my indoor or non-GPS profiles for OutdoorSports+, Sports+, Work+, MotorSports+, BikeSafe+, Yoga, PaddleSports+, Eliptical and MOST and disturbingly the BEST SWIMMING app with a supremely superior interface and functional app >>>  SwimSports+ (I am a US Master Swimmer and swim a few times a week even when traveling around the US for IBM)  will remain CRIPPLED by Garmin.  Very sad.

Soooo, I will go back to swimming zero yards with Garmin, no wonder I am not losing any weight?............<smile>  BTW Here is the Winter Challenge US Masters Swimming 30 minute Swim Challenge I auto-posted.  There is a Garmin <> Swim.com > USMS API that posts this auto-magically as of course a 0.00 to the USMS site under my records.   If you are worried about erroneous and bad data???  Isn't that just as bad as a 20,000 yard swim in 30 minutes? 

Please feel free to call, email, text, taser or whatever with any questions or requests but hopefully a meaningful reply/response!!!!

Thank you,

~ Thomas ~   Thomas J. Lynch |  [email protected] | +1 (631) 384-5791 

(not for here but just reference: [email protected] 

@AlphaMonkeyC it would be nice to have this function allowed as Brian Brown asks ... now we are at home without running and at least with this I can update naturally distance estimated and sincro with other colleages I can not run with at spain. 

Greetings

sadly Garmin doesn't seem to care about us lowly customers and user.  @AlphaMonkeyC it would be nice to know at least you understand how any why this is very conflicting that the good apps that we pay for to enhance and better the Garmin experience are segregated and down-functioned/downgraded by crippled libraries or function to you developers.  

So many of the bloatware or canned Garmin apps are barely working shells or the authors fix nothing and its broken code just rambles on into uselessness. 

Then we find some GREAT supported widgets or apps or data fields and YOU/Garmin strip it of features on purpose.

THREE years ago and NOTHING from Garmin.  Pitiful really.

Thomas Lynch 

[email protected]

www.L-Y-N-C-H.com

@AlphaMonkeyC sadly crickets from Garmin.  VERY disappointing.  Great app CRIPPLED by the manufacturer.  POOR customer and developer support.  These apps MAKE the watch better and more useful.  Stupid not to fix this.

Here's a suggestion: just get rid of Connect IQ.  The idea that you (Garmin) would enable end users to subscribe/purchase 3rd party applications, get them up and running (per @AlphaMonkeyC I've purchased a bike cadence sensor to get accurate readings from my eliptical's flywheel) and then NOT enable them to add that data to Garmin activity data history for tracking and analysis is absurd.  Please just get rid of IQ Connect.  You're obviously not serious about this being a valuable feature for your customers. </s>