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

Top Replies

All Replies

Anton_Vaasa over 8 years ago

working greatInverted

Tested with the white bg. Works nicely and is quite easy to read.
Ohr works, gps works...everything works.
I have the 235 3.30
On my watch the up/down for walk/hike is very sluggish. Takes several presses to change... might be a fault in my watch. But no biggie, as the app is otherwise great.

Heksa80 over 8 years ago

Negative steps

The app's step counter goes negative at midnight. I suppose it's displaying n = nc - n0 where nc is is the current step counter from Toybox.ActivityMonitor.Info.steps and n0 its value when the app was started? Instead, maybe just initialize it like that but then keep a total count n based on a non-negative delta like so:

nc_new = Info.steps;
n = n + max(0, nc_new - nc_old);
nc_old = nc_new;

This may lose a couple of steps during the refresh interval at midnight, but it's acceptable. :)

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

The app's step counter goes negative at midnight. I suppose it's displaying n = nc - n0 where nc is is the current step counter from Toybox.ActivityMonitor.Info.steps and n0 its value when the app was started? Instead, maybe just initialize it like that but then keep a total count n based on a non-negative delta like so:

nc_new = Info.steps;
n = n + max(0, nc_new - nc_old);
nc_old = nc_new;

This may lose a couple of steps during the refresh interval at midnight, but it's acceptable. :)

I never considered step counts over midnight! When it starts, I get the starting step count (let's say it was 4000) and then while running, I subtract that from the current count (let's say it goes to 10000), so it will display between 0 and 6000. But at midnight, the current count will go back to 0, so yes, it will go negative after midnight.

Yes, it's can be fixed with just a few lines of code. Not sure when I'll do the next release, but it will be there!

In the mean time, the steps for the activity in garmin connect will be correct.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Version 0.14b

The only change is that step count now works correctly if you are hiking over midnight.

MikeDozer over 8 years ago

App is awesome. Have you thought about building field for FR230 only with breadcrumb track? Garmin has cut off forerunners from that simple map, and i think you have skill to repair that via connectIQ field :) Simple map as 1 field size would be great help when running offroadrs and when we try to control where we are and where we were :)

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

App is awesome. Have you thought about building field for FR230 only with breadcrumb track? Garmin has cut off forerunners from that simple map, and i think you have skill to repair that via connectIQ field :) Simple map as 1 field size would be great help when running offroadrs and when we try to control where we are and where we were :)

The code to draw the chart isn't that complex. But it takes a lot of data to do it (saving lat/lon every minute), and could push the limit of a data field (which is only 16k total of program and data on the 230) I'll look into a "slimmer" version for a DF, limiting the amount of data or extending the time between when spots are marked. There are a few other inner working things things that would have to change..

gcan100 over 8 years ago

i used this app for the first time today and everything works splendidly.

i just have one question... in the app settings what is "Mark Spot Time"?
please excuse my ignorance.

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

i just have one question... in the app settings what is "Mark Spot Time"?

For the chart screen, it marks "spots" to generate it (to show where you were along the way without specifically marking a waypoint.

This is how often it marks a "spot" (saves the lat/lon). The default is once a minute, but tou can set it to every 30 seconds (for finer detail on the chart), or "never", and then the chart will only show waypoints you kark.

KRYTEN4B over 8 years ago

Battery

Hey

I wanted to know if hiking uses less battery over running....

I trek a lot and like the vivocative over other larger watches...

Can the hiking app use less battery? When I trek I go for 2-5 days... Usage in this time period would be 16-20 hours.. I am wondering if your app could behave as the lower how modes of the 920 or fenix

jim_m_58 over 8 years ago

Hey

I wanted to know if hiking uses less battery over running....

I trek a lot and like the vivocative over other larger watches...

In my testing, a vivoactive on a full charge can go about 8 hrs with both hike and the standard running application. The "chart" page in hike will reduce that time if you're always displaying it (easily cut 90 minutes off that time).

I have gone 20+ hours with a va, by charging it with something like a battery based cell phone charger. If you set the USB mode on the vivoactive to "Garmin" (it's default is "Mass Storage"), you can actually charge the vivoactive while hike is running!