App: Hiking

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/39d3b5e8-67db-4517-93a8-5ec485269635

For the vivoactive, FR230, FR235, and FR630 (I don't plan support for other devices)

Please use this thread for questions, etc!

"Hike" records an activity as a hike or walk in Garmin Connect. It also allows you to mark "waypoints" (they show up as lap marks in Garmin connect, so you can see them on that map).

When hike starts, it waits for GPS, and looks for an available HRM and Tempe. At this point, with the up/down key or a screen swipe, you can switch between "hike" and "walk". Then, press "start" to start recording.

The current time, HR and temp (if the sensors are available) is displayed on all screens. While recording, pressing "back" marks a waypoint. To pause or end, press "start again", and you are given the options of "resume", "save", and "discard".

When you hit the start button and get the resume/save/discard menu, you can hit the back button. The menu goes away, and the recording remains paused (it's indicated next to the clock time on all pages). But you can scroll trough the data pages at the time. That way, if you're taking a break, you can sit and look at the current data.

When "paused" is displayed with the time, pressing start again resumes the recording.

There are 5 data screens that you can see when recording (up/down button, or swipe right/left on touch devices) (some not shown here due to forum limits)

The first screen is basic recording info: The time for the activity, the time that recording was active (when paused, this doesn't increase), the distance, and the number of waypoints marked

The second screen shows pace, avg pace, speed, and avg speed.

The third page shows the waypoints you marked. They are shown 5 at a time, and rotate every 7 seconds. They closest waypoint is shown in green.

The fourth page shows elevation data. This is GPS based, and sometime may be off. Elevation, total Ascent, and total Descent is shown.

The fifth page is location information. Your current lat/lon and heading, as well as your starting location lat/lon and the direction and distance back to start. GPS quality is also show, both in text and colors (green is usable or better)

Changes in version 0.12: see https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?335082-App-Hiking&p=765691#post765691

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jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

The 230 does have a longer battery life with GPS than the vivoactive, but I haven't tried it on a long hike yet. Thanks for the info!

havliko over 8 years ago

Actually my elapsed time was (hence the time with GPS on) 4h32min. That would give, in theory, 16,6 hours of battery life!

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Hike 0.12 changes

Version 0.12 will be in the store shortly, and here is a list of changes:

- problem with fr630 start button resolved!

- after saving a hike/run, a summary page is displayed

- battery level is included on the first screen. Line turns pink when level is <10%

- an alert when you get close to a waypoint or start ("within sight").
Vibration, and the screen is overlayed with a message with distance and direction for a few seconds.
This can be enabled or disabled in "User Settings" (default is enabled)

- option to "hide" waypoints you've already to returned to.
This can be enabled or disabled in "User Settings" (default is disabled)

- Waypoint page has changed. Labels removed for distance and direction.
"Green" used to be the closest waypoint regardless of the distance, and is now one that is "close" ("within sight")
"Yellow" is the closest if none are "within sight". "Found" is also shown if you've already returned to that waypoint.

boonybabe over 8 years ago

I apologise if this has already been discussed - if possible can a way point been entered or sent to the device. I would find this useful. Rarely would I go wondering without an intended destination and just collect random waypoints. My proposal would permit me to plan a destination and then send to the device. Also would allow geocaches to use the device which no other app permits. Just a suggestion.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

I apologise if this has already been discussed - if possible can a way point been entered or sent to the device. I would find this useful. Rarely would I go wondering without an intended destination and just collect random waypoints. My proposal would permit me to plan a destination and then send to the device. Also would allow geocaches to use the device which no other app permits. Just a suggestion.

No plans to add that - have you looked at the dwMap application? With that you can plan a route and send it to the device.

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/2750f280-82f4-4f21-a32c-57acc7ce4870

webvan over 8 years ago

I tried it but couldn't really get it to work properly on my FR230 as it kept going into pause and creating tiny activities...

Gave the new version a try this morning and it worked fine. Did get a buzz to let me know I was getting back to the start (which was also my WP1). I agree that I don't see this feature as essential but it's nice to have ;-)

Noticed that you could go back to the save/discard menu after looking at the stats, thanks for adding that.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

The app was built with GPS in mind, and with GPS off, most of the screens wouldn't work. In fact, it doesn't start recording until after it's got a good GPS fix. I'll think about doing an "indoor walking" app (it wouldn't really need Tempe Support but would need footpod support, which is easy to do). I mainly use a vivoactive, and indoor walking is a standard app there, and I rarely use indoor walking, so haven't really thought about it.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Not that I'm signing up to doing an indoor walking app, but what data would you like to see in such an app?
I'm thinking time of day, elapsed time, distance, steps, calories, speed, pace, Heart Rate, and maybe cadence (but in a walking activity, cadence isn't saved as part of the recording and doesn't show on Garmin Connect).

Have you tried the standard indoor running app for indoor walking? Other than the activity is marked as a "run", it would be much more flexible than anything I could do in Connect IQ... (the number of available data fields, for example)

Giovanni_Garcea over 8 years ago

Hi, can you add steps to this nice app (unless they're already there and I haven't seen them)?

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Hi, can you add steps to this nice app (unless they're already there and I haven't seen them)?

I don't display steps anywhere, but it could be done. All the current screens are fairly full, but I'll consider a new page with something like:
- steps for the day
- steps during the activity
- calories for the day
- calories during the activity
(if "activity tracking" is turned off on the watch, I'd only show "calories during the activity" as that's all I'll know)

With an app like this, I won't bother with a "move bar" :)

Update: After thinking about this for a while, I'll be adding the new page in an upcoming version (TBD).