WatchApp: Compass

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/663c7106-883c-4fbc-9a89-e01d9e9983ac

A simple compass app that looks eerily similar to the built-in compass on the Fenix3. On devices with a magnetic compass, the compass will report your heading (the direction you are facing). For devices without device support, the compass will display your heading (the direction you are travelling).

*Note*: This is an app version of the popular Compass Widget. It was created to avoid the 10 second screen timeout on the Vivoactive, but will work for other devices. If you'd rather have a widget, have a look here. https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/7115691d-7456-43ef-92bd-92a5885f16c7

Revision History

1.0.5
* Initial Revision

Jamesy13 over 9 years ago

I have a Vivoactive watch, the compass app. Just keeps on spinning around not settling on anything, what's going wrong?

travis.vitek over 9 years ago

From the app description...

For devices without the necessary magnetic compass support, the compass will display your heading (the direction you are travelling).

The vivoactive does not have a magnetometer, so it displays the direction you are travelling. If you are standing still, or are moving extremely slow, the heading data that is available will be erratic, and you will see the compass behaving like you describe.

Travis

Former Member over 9 years ago

Not functioning

Hi. I just downloaded this to my vivoactive and even when moving ( walking and travelling in my car ) it didn't function at all. Not functioning in the sense that it always showed a north direction. Is there a way to erase it from my watch?

travis.vitek over 9 years ago

Yes. You can remove the app using Garmin Connect Mobile or Garmin Express.

I took my vivoactive outside with an iPhone to show a video of it working. My first attempt at running the app showed the behavior you are seeing. My second attempt did not. I've found the source of the problem and will be submitting a fix immediately.

Travis

jorge.aragon over 9 years ago

Hi,

1.0.8 does no longer work with the magnetic compass on forerunner 630.
This was working without problems with 1.0.7
Please look at it since I mostly need the compass without GPS....

Cheers, Jorge

travis.vitek over 9 years ago

Jorge,

Sorry. My fix for the issue last night was quick and dirty.

I've implemented auto-detection of magnetometer support, and I now allow you to specify how you want the compass to work (either using the magnetometer or direction of travel) for devices that support it. The version in the store is now 1.0.9 and it includes these changes and has been tested on the fr630 and vivoactive.

Travis

jorge.aragon over 9 years ago

Hi,

perfect :)

Cheers, Jorge

Former Member over 8 years ago

The app works fine on VivoActive HR in Sensor mode.
BUT, the heading is not right. It would be great if the app could have an option to add magnetic declination to the sensor data. The value can be entered manually by the user, and additionally calculated automatically based on current GPS location after a one-time GPS coordinates capture & current location of Magnetic North.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_declination