Widget: PositionPlus

***UPDATE*** Please note that I no longer use a Fenix 3 and no longer have the time to maintain and upgrade this app. Sorry for this and thanks to everyone who posted feedback over time, I built this app for my own needs and I was quite surprised to see that it was useful to quite a few people! At this point I'm mostly using the Gaia GPS app on my iPhone 6 (with the iPhone in a rugged battery case for better grip and extended battery life - Beetle Sport Power Pack) plus the Gaia GPS Apple Watch extension for a quick look at the map/stats on the wrist. I still have an Oregon 600 as a backup but I sold the Fenix 3 as it was just sitting in my drawer.

PositionPlus Widget

This is a widget I initially wrote for my own use on my fenix 3 but thought to make it available on the Connect IQ app store and was very positively surprised by how many people found it useful! :)

On launch, the widget will first aquire GPS signal after which it will display the current latitude and longitude (in either degrees/minutes/seconds, decimal degrees or MGRS format - pls choose the format you prefer by pressing [Menu] while the widget is active), the current altitude (in meters or feet depending on user settings), the current speed (in km/h or mph depending on user settings), the current heading (in degree and cardinal points format), the current time (hours, minutes, seconds), the timezone (offset from UTC in hours), whether Daylight Saving Time (DST) applies for the current timezone and the GPS signal strength (on a scale from 1 to 4, 1=no gps signal, 2=poor signal, 3=usable signal, 4=good signal). GPS signal strength will color red when there's no GPS reception and green while GPS is active and the watch will play a short alert sound and/or vibrate whenever GPS fix is acquired or lost (subject to alerts/vibration having been enabled in system settings).

*The GPS signal strength will show properly on the Fenix 3 but it will not show on the Epix, Forerunner and generally on square watches due to lack of screen real estate (square displays having less height compared to Fenix 3's round display). All other fields should show properly on all devices. I will look into using a different layout for square watches in upcoming versions.

***CHANGE HISTORY***

Changes made from version 2.1 to version 2.2:
- fixed issue where DST was reported incorrectly
- removed the vivoactive as a compatible device due to reports from users about erros (a red X showing) on the device. Unfortunately I do not own the vivoactive and the widget works when tested on the simulator so not really able to debug this. Therefore I decided to remove vivoactive support from the widget.

Changes made from version 2.0 to version 2.1:
- added feature where the watch will vibrate for 0.5 seconds and play a short alert sound when GPS fix is acquired or lost (if vibration/alerts are enabled on the device)

Changes made from version 1.1 to version 2.0:
- added ability to select coordinates format (degrees/minutes/seconds, decimal degrees or MGRS - pls choose the format you prefer by pressing [Menu] while the widget is active).

- added the time of day (hh:mm:ss), UTC offset (in hours) and a daylight savings time (DST) indicator.

- added dynamic coloring for the GPS signal strength indicator (green when a GPS lock has been acquired, red otherwise).

- updated widget layout to accommodate the newly added fields.

Changes made from version 1.0 to version 1.1:
- altitude is now displayed in either meters or feet depending on user settings

Volker over 10 years ago

Good work! Would be nice, if the position also would show the user settings ( utm, mgrs, ...)

thebigbadwolf_1 over 10 years ago

Would be nice, if the position also would show the user settings ( utm, mgrs, ...)

Unfortunately the Connect IQ API doesn't allow me to check what coordinate system the user has set on the device so I wouldn't be able to know when to display the coordinates in degrees/minutes/seconds and when in other formats..several people reviewing the widget have asked for this but I'm afraid it cannot be implemented with the current version of the API :(

thebigbadwolf_1 over 10 years ago

Unfortunately the Connect IQ API doesn't allow me to check what coordinate system the user has set on the device so I wouldn't be able to know when to display the coordinates in degrees/minutes/seconds and when in other formats..several people reviewing the widget have asked for this but I'm afraid it cannot be implemented with the current version of the API :(

A quick update on displaying MGRS and other coordinate formats, I've just launched version 2 of the widget where I've added the ability to change the coordinates system from within the widget. Press Menu with the widget active and you will get a list of coordinates formats to choose from (currently ddd mm' ss", dd.dddd and MGRS). The selected format will be remembered the next time you start the widget and is independent of user settings.

bravndal over 10 years ago

First of all, I'd like to say that this widget is what will make me buy the Fenix 3, as this functionality is the only thing I've had trouble figuring out if I would get it to do for me. On another note, I'm curious as to how you'd go about saving battery. Would it be possible to force this widget to stop syncing GPS-signal, and then manually telling it when to sync? For longer (several days) hikes, there will be long stretches of time when the exact position isn't of importance, but you'd still like to have this set of datafields, and then being able to sync the GPS at your own convenience. Any thoughts on this?

thebigbadwolf_1 over 10 years ago

First of all, I'd like to say that this widget is what will make me buy the Fenix 3, as this functionality is the only thing I've had trouble figuring out if I would get it to do for me. On another note, I'm curious as to how you'd go about saving battery. Would it be possible to force this widget to stop syncing GPS-signal, and then manually telling it when to sync? For longer (several days) hikes, there will be long stretches of time when the exact position isn't of importance, but you'd still like to have this set of datafields, and then being able to sync the GPS at your own convenience. Any thoughts on this?

So first of all, any widget (at least on the fenix 3) times out automatically after a time period so in it's current form this widget can't be used for multihour hiking as after a minute or so Garmin will revert back to the watch face. However I am thinking to evolve this widget to an app which would, among other things, be able to turn both GPS and activity recording on and off, provide some additional info fields, save the activity fit file, allow saving a waipoint (maybe projecting a waypoint as wel) display charts of atmospheric pressure (this is useful for weather predictions when at a fixed elevations such as overnight), temperature change over time, GPS altitude chart (subject to garmin exposing GPS altitude in the API) and battery usage chart. The idea would be to leave the app running while hiking, then when spending the night, pause the gps and tracking but still keep the app on to monitor air pressure trends etc.

razmichael over 10 years ago

However I am thinking to evolve this widget to an app

I saw on another of your posts a note about turning this into an anpp and want to ask that you keep the widget format as well - as much as the app sounds really interesting, I also really like this widget - quick, simple to access and does a specific job well. Thanks for the good work.

DAPE-BRNO over 10 years ago

as a previous user, please, keep this app as a widget as well. It is really fast just to know exact position. Well done! Thank you.

Former Member over 10 years ago

Love the app. Thanks for your effort!
Just a small niggle...I'm located in Singapore and the timezone shows up fine (UTC+8), the time is also reported correctly. However, DST is shown as "Yes", we do not have DST at all throughout the year. (I'm running it on a Fenix 3 firmware: v3.20).

Regarding the widget vs app debate, I'm too new a user and have no idea what's the pros and cons of each. But is it possible to come out with both versions, then we could choose the version we prefer.

thebigbadwolf_1 over 10 years ago

I saw on another of your posts a note about turning this into an anpp and want to ask that you keep the widget format as well - as much as the app sounds really interesting, I also really like this widget - quick, simple to access and does a specific job well. Thanks for the good work.

Don't worry everyone, I'll keep the existing widget available for download. If there will be an app it will be a new one...Unfortunately due to many Connect IQ limitations most ideas I had for the app cannot be implemented so less keen on that idea currently.

thebigbadwolf_1 over 10 years ago

Love the app. Thanks for your effort!
Just a small niggle...I'm located in Singapore and the timezone shows up fine (UTC+8), the time is also reported correctly. However, DST is shown as "Yes", we do not have DST at all throughout the year. (I'm running it on a Fenix 3 firmware: v3.20).

Regarding the widget vs app debate, I'm too new a user and have no idea what's the pros and cons of each. But is it possible to come out with both versions, then we could choose the version we prefer.

Thanks Jason, I will make a change in the code which may fix the dst issue.