App: Hiker

[FONT=Arial Black]Hiker[/FONT]
https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/a230c855-7adf-415a-bb1c-289f27304563

Please use this thread for any questions and feedback.

Description
Hiker is designed for walking or scrambling outdoors. The app captures the hike data using the standard Garmin activities which can be uploaded via Garmin Connect. The activity is classed as a hike.

There is one main screen showing clock, timer, distance, steps, ascent and current heading. If a compass is present in the watch then the heading will display the current heading, otherwise it will display the direction of travel from the GPS trace.

Following this there are a number of graph screens:

Elevation
Pressure (Not available on the Forerunner watches)
Temperature (Using the Garmin Tempe temperature sensor)
Heart Rate

The data within these screens is sampled every 2 minutes which gives a history over the last 4 hours. The min, max and average values are taken from this sampled data. Any other data is read directly from the activity which you will see in Garmin Connect.

The last screen displays a trail as representation of the path walked. A data point is mapped down every 2 minutes when there's a good GPS signal. The start is represented by a green square and the current position is a red cross. Below the trail is the last known good position in degrees, minutes and seconds.

On starting the app it will wait for a good GPS signal which can bypassed. Use left and right swipes or the up and down buttons to move through the screens. Activities can be paused using the start/stop button. If you forget to resume the activity after a number of steps you will be asked if you wish to resume the hike.

Versions
v1.06

Added a breadcrumb trail of the hike.
Corrected the animation for up and down buttons.
Optimised the code to reduce the memory usage. This allowed the above trail feature to be added to all the existing supported watches.

v1.03

Added support for D2 Bravo, D2 Bravo Titanium, fēnix® 3 and fēnix® 3 HR.

v1.02

Added support for Forerunner® 230, Forerunner® 235, Forerunner® 630 and Forerunner® 735XT.
Added a heart rate graph. (Note: There is an issue with the vívoactive® HR firmware. This has been fixed in the beta release and will work in the next full release.)
Improved the display of the GPS status.

v1.00

Initial release for vívoactive® HR.

Former Member over 8 years ago

Altimeter

It's a cool app.

During my first hike I had some trouble. I only could resolve with a reboot of my vivoactive HR. So my track is split into two :(. I can't reproduce this problem so far and can't confrim that it is linked to this app. It was not possible to end a pause.

Why is it not possible to calibrate the alimeter during a hike?
I think this is an important function during a mountain hike.

I would also like the option to customize the data fields on the main screen. The current altitude is much more interesting than the ascent. But ascent is much more interesting than steps...But the general layout is fine!

For myself I'm not sure that a touchscreen is good interface during hikes with rainy conditions. But that was my decision...

JohnD25 over 8 years ago

Hi SvenKra

I'm glad you like it.

During my first hike I had some trouble. I only could resolve with a reboot of my vivoactive HR. So my track is split into two :(. I can't reproduce this problem so far and can't confrim that it is linked to this app. It was not possible to end a pause.

Thanks for the feedback. I've not seen this issue yet. Let me know if it happens again and I'll look into it.

Why is it not possible to calibrate the alimeter during a hike?

The development kit doesn't give us this functionality. However you could calibrate the watch prior to starting the app.

I would also like the option to customize the data fields on the main screen. The current altitude is much more interesting than the ascent. But ascent is much more interesting than steps...But the general layout is fine!

Yes, I had thought about this and may update the app to include this functionality. It's a good suggestion. Thanks:)

Former Member over 8 years ago

The development kit doesn't give us this functionality. However you could calibrate the watch prior to starting the app.

Okay. That is something Garmin should work on from my point of view.
While using the build-in "walking" app a calibration is possible. So why not for 3rd party apps?:(

Former Member over 8 years ago

only had a quick test but love the look and feel of this app. The UX features like the overlaid box with message about waiting for GPS etc send it a level above other apps I've tried.

Handful of suggestions...

1) Maybe lose the 'hiker' green bar at the top so the time font can be even taller?

2) Make the green background to the battery icon match the colour of the battery (although that might a full battery disappear with only a thin black outline to indicate).

3) No idea if this is even possible with the data structures you have, but modify the bread trail so that a manual pause drops a symbol into the trail to indicate a waypoint (maybe a little cross).

4) If a temperature sensor isn't present, is it possible to hide that screen?

And something a bit off the wall...I'd love to see a similar "Runner" app with the bread trail, heart rate and elevation screens etc, but modify the main screen to show elapsed time and distance as the two main large fields, pace and average pace below, and cadence and heart rate (with colour coding) below that.

JohnD25 over 8 years ago

Thanks for the feedback and review. It's much appreciated.

1) Maybe lose the 'hiker' green bar at the top so the time font can be even taller?

I understand what you're saying but the way the application is structured it isn't worth the design change.

2) Make the green background to the battery icon match the colour of the battery (although that might a full battery disappear with only a thin black outline to indicate).

It actually does this already. As your battery depletes it will change to orange at 50% and then to red at 20%. When it's completely black you have less then 5% left. The firmware will start alerting you to low battery as well.

3) No idea if this is even possible with the data structures you have, but modify the bread trail so that a manual pause drops a symbol into the trail to indicate a waypoint (maybe a little cross).

This is a great idea and I'll definitely be adding this to future updates. Thanks.

4) If a temperature sensor isn't present, is it possible to hide that screen?

I am looking to add configuration to the app to allow users to turn off screens and potentially change the data fields on the home screen.

And something a bit off the wall...I'd love to see a similar "Runner" app with the bread trail, heart rate and elevation screens etc, but modify the main screen to show elapsed time and distance as the two main large fields, pace and average pace below, and cadence and heart rate (with colour coding) below that.

Yeah that's got me thinking of how I could port this to other apps. Something for the future...

Thanks again for the suggestions and feedback.

Former Member over 8 years ago

Great, great app. I really love it. Very clear and nice design.
I have two comments:
1) As already said by others, it would be nice to configure few things (like removing the temperature (I don't have some sensor) and the pressure (don't know the benefit of this).

2) I first thought that the graphs are strange and most probably completely wrong. But I realized that they are plotted in the opposite way as normal: new current values are added to the left.
and the oldest ones are at the right of the graph.
Is this true, for all graphs? I would strongly prefer the opposite way - reading from left=old to right=current. All other graphs in the watch and in Connect app are plotted like that.

Thanks a lot,
Lars

JohnD25 over 8 years ago

Thanks Lars, glad you like it.

1) As already said by others, it would be nice to configure few things (like removing the temperature (I don't have some sensor) and the pressure (don't know the benefit of this).

Yep I will be adding this feature. The reason for the pressure graph is try and highlight a potential change in the weather.

2) I first thought that the graphs are strange and most probably completely wrong. But I realized that they are plotted in the opposite way as normal: new current values are added to the left and the oldest ones are at the right of the graph. Is this true, for all graphs? I would strongly prefer the opposite way - reading from left=old to right=current. All other graphs in the watch and in Connect app are plotted like that.

Yes new values are added to left. You can argue it both ways. I chose to have time increasing to the right like a conventional graph. This implies new data is added to the left, time equals zero. However I accept your point that it differs from the Garmin graphs which has led to confusion. On that basis I will look to change them and apply similar styling to Garmin.

Thanks for the feedback.

Former Member over 8 years ago

This app looks fantastic and there is so much potential in it.

I would love to see a "Runner" or "Trail Runner" app based on this which would include the following:
- some level of configuration of the fields shown on the main screen (to allow us to see Timer, Distance, Average pace, 10s or 30s Current pace, HR, Cadence, Elevation, Ascent, Incline)
- add Time of the day into the title bar on the main screen
- make the font in the bottom half smaller to allow for bigger numbers (lose the bottom line to save space as well)
- add auto-lap and manual lap functionality (+display last lap time)
- add basic custom-workout functionality (time and distance intervals - this by itself would be a killer feature for vivoactive owners)

JohnD25 over 8 years ago

Hi Lu

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

some level of configuration of the fields shown on the main screen (to allow us to see Timer, Distance, Average pace, 10s or 30s Current pace, HR, Cadence, Elevation, Ascent, Incline)

I'm looking to make the 4 data fields on the first screen selectable via the settings. When I do this I'll add additional fields like the ones you listed.

add auto-lap and manual lap functionality (+display last lap time)

Auto lap is built into the activity already which you'll be able to see in Garmin Connect. Currently this is every mile or km depending on your watch settings.

add basic custom-workout functionality (time and distance intervals - this by itself would be a killer feature for vivoactive owners)

I agree this is a missing feature for the Vivoactive. May be something for me to consider for the future...

Former Member over 8 years ago

is it avaiable a trackbak option ?