Timestamp field in split_summary messages

If Garmin devices mostly, as far as I know, produce FIT files having timestamp field for split_summary messages, is there any reason why it is not being defined in Profile.xlsx?

0 Ben FIT 2 months ago

The split and split_summary messages are always written to the file at the end of the activity and they all share the same timestamp, which is the end time of the activity. This makes timestamp irrelevant since it does not provide any useful information, so it was left out of the SDK. The field id is 254, same as all the other timestamp fields in the SDK.

0 muktihari 1 month ago in reply to Ben FIT

Okay, this is understandable that timestamp is irrelevant since this is a summary message of the entire activity after all. And since that's the case, it's normal to think that we can just write no timestamp at all for split_summary since it does not provide any useful information, right? But I did a little experiment, having the same exact messages except I remove the timestamp from the split_summary, Garmin Connect rejects my file.

Yeah, I know this is maybe a different case and it might be platform specific, it's up to the platform, in this case Garmin Connect but not limited to this platform only, to create their own rule, but it just feels a bit weird to me since it's the same company that create the SDK.

Having said that, I have no specific concern regarding this, I'm just curious and sharing my opinion, thanks Ben.

0 Ben FIT 1 month ago in reply to muktihari

What is documented for split and split summary messages is decided through the lens of decoding the files. Through that lens, the timestamp in the split summary messages are irrelevant. I am not aware of other devices that encode split and split summary messages, and I only know of a few platforms that decode them. I expect this to be the case moving forward since these messages are very specific to the Garmin ecosystem.