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

Hi,

I use Garmin Tempe on my FR230 to record temperatures, that works well during recording activity.
But it looks like that the temperature recording changes during pause-state of hike-app.

Arriving at the alpin hut, I pressed pause - but the temperature stays the same - and then after resumeing temperature starts where it stopped before ??

See enclosed picture:

How about that ?

J.M.

I use a tempe most of the time too, and do see that drop while paused. It makes sense as while paused, nothing is recorded (GPS, HR, Temp, etc but time passes. When paused, nothing is written to the .fit, so while paused, when you view it in GC, there is a gap while paused.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Hi Jim,

At this time of year one of the main uses is to answer how quickly should I turn back given the amount of light left.
There's no concept of laps for me. Looking forward to future versions.

Thanks for a great app.

I'd love to be able to export the map, GPS waypoint list for subsequent upload and mapping.

In the next version I'm working on the display of a chart without marking any waypoints. With it hike saves the GPS location based on time (every 30 seconds, minute, etc). You still have waypoints to mark specific points.

Here's what the chart looks like with no waypoints marked, about 40 minutes into a recording:

Here's a case where it's about a 2 mile route (I've since stopped displaying a dot when a spot is saved) and there's one WP marked:

Also, when you mark a waypoint and when the data is uploaded to Garmin Connect, if you turn on laps on the map, it shows where your waypoints are (they show up as lap marks)

There is a way to get a list of waypoints you marked (in what's actually a log file used for debugging) with lat, lon, and time of each one.

What about this as far as the # of WPs? right now I stop marking at the max (25 right now). What if when the max is hit, I keep replacing the last one for display, but the data for all marked is in that debug log and as a lap mark when uploaded to GC?

webvan over 8 years ago

With display being the bottleneck that sounds like a good solution. As you point out with the new "breadcrumb" feature 25 waypoints should be enough in most cases anyway.

Any chance of a zoom in/out on the chart ? ;-)

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Any chance of a zoom in/out on the chart ? ;-)

I've thought about it, but no plans for it at the current time. It adds a level of complexity to the code, as well as for the user. Right now, the N-S scale and the E-W scale can be very different (I stretch one of them to make use of the whole screen, for example, and couldn't zoom them both the same way)

webvan over 8 years ago

Makes sense, thanks again for a great app ! Oh can we get 5 digits for the "d" in DD.ddddd in the start/current position screen to get the best possible accuracy ? You never know, could come in handy ;-)

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Makes sense, thanks again for a great app ! Oh can we get 5 digits for the "d" in DD.ddddd in the start/current position screen to get the best possible accuracy ? You never know, could come in handy ;-)

I'll look into it, but I've always found the 5th and 6th digit not really that accurate due to normal fluctuations in GPS. I had 6 at one point and someone said it cluttered the screen, but 5 may be a good compromise.

webvan over 8 years ago

Thanks for looking into it, yes 5 digits would be the "sweet spot" at about 1 meter (better than the actual GPS accuracy) vs about 10 meters (worse than actual GPS accuracy in good conditions) for 4 digits.

Delgado92651 over 8 years ago

Suitable for running

Will the app be fine for running? I have a FR 235 and would just like to "mark" distance and time for various spots along my run, is this what this app does?
Thanks

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Will the app be fine for running? I have a FR 235 and would just like to "mark" distance and time for various spots along my run, is this what this app does?
Thanks

It only records either walking or hiking, but not running. You can run with it and change the type later in garmin connect.

But, why not just use the standard running app on the 235, turn off auto-lap, and then use the lap button? That way you can display more running type data with data fields

Delgado92651 over 8 years ago

Hike/Walk

Looks like manual lap in the standard running app will work for me, I'm new to the Garmin watch world, still figuring out what means what. Didn't find the manual too helpful. I haven't seen the hike/walk mode where is that? Didn't see it in Garmin Connect.
Thanks