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How to show direction of course on map screen during activity

martor2000
over 5 years ago
I ride a lot of mountain biking trails which cross over parts of the same course - for example if riding a figure of eight loop on unmarked trails in a forest trail network. A big problem I have noticed is that if using the Map view when following a Course during an Activity, the screen only shows the course as a solid line with no directional information, i.e. there are no "course arrows" showing which way to go. So, if you are approaching a point where the course crosses over another part of the course from earlier or later in the ride, as far as I can tell you don't know which of the 3 possible directions to take from the information shown by default on the map screen. It would be really helpful if the map screen showed the direction of the course - e.g. by showing a couple of arrows along the line of the course.

Am I missing something, or is there a way of turning on this information from the settings menu? If not, can this be a feature request for a future update of the software?
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    In almost all other watch screens, there is a red arrow at the edge of the screen, showing in which direction to go. Unfortunately, this red arrow is missing in the map screen, even though it would be really nice to have.

    I was hit by this myself when I made this birthday greeting card by paddling 25 km along a pre-created Course:
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...2539609&type=3

    I constantly had to switch between two screens to get both the map and the direction arrow. I finally gave up and just paddled along the lines on the map, hoping that I would remember to cover them all, not necessarily in the correct order. As a result, a part of the "R" is missing.

    Edit: When you reach the turn, you will get a direction arrow for some time. However, for some reason which I have already forgot, I did not really find this arrow very useful.
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    Thanks for your response. Yes, the "heading bug" / arrow is helpful on the other screens (assuming you have a free hand to switch screens, less easy when cycling), and the direction arrow as you approach a turn also useful - but for some reason I often seem to have quite similar direction options e.g. where you reach an intersection that leads to a fork with both outbound and inbound trails initially in broadly the same heading. Attached is an example of the route I did at the weekend - the course crosses over itself four times, and some of the junctions are like this, where you are left scratching your head working out which way to go.

    What's weird, is that at the start of the route, I sometimes notice a grey arrow appear on the map screen which sits on top of the course line and seems (I think) to show the direction of the course, but this usually disappears as you follow the route, or at least isn't reliably there.

    I'm not sure if this is the right forum to log a feature request, but it would be very helpful if this grey arrow, or something similar to show course direction information on the map screen, could be toggled on permanently.ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1461466.png
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    I'm also curious about this one. Having just upgraded from the Fenix 3, I am used to the issue, as you only have a black line to follow. With the maps it makes it easier, although i've not yet use the 5X+ on trails. I know my mates V800 has a different colouring/shading for the line to follow, vs the intersecting lines. Definitely doable in the software, if Garmin wants to? :D
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    Just a follow up to my last post, I had a play around and the grey arrow showing course direction does indeed appear at the beginning of the activity - see attached photo, but seems to disappear once you get underway. I assume this is Garmin's way of helping you get the right direction at the start of the course (?), but it would be great if this could stay on the screen permanently, or at least flash up on the screen if your position is anywhere near a point where the course crosses over itself.ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1464039.jpg
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    Isn´t the grey arrow the "virtual partner"?
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    Right! So - in theory at least - if you set the Virtual Partner pace to be slightly faster than your expected pace on a course, you should have the required course direction displayed on the map thanks the grey arrow. Possibly less useful for sports where your pace is likely to be highly variable (unfortunately for me like mountain biking) as I could imagine frequently either overtaking or falling behind a fixed pace arrow, but a bit of a workaround if you wanted to know the direction you should take along the course without leaving the map screen.
  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I was about to post the same question when I saw this post.

    You can set up the heading bug, but as it shows the direction of the end point of your route, it's useless when you're following a course with multiple loops and overlapping trails. So I'm also looking for a way to see the direction of a track. I guess you could use 'use map' instead of 'follow course' in the routing settings to get turn by turn alerts, but then the route will be recalculated if you stray from the course. That's not an option for me when I want to follow the exact hiking trail.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to Rule01

    I fully agree. Sometimes, I see (additionally to the red heading bug) also little grey arrows indicating the direction. Often, however, they are too little to be useful.
    What would be useful is a line style that is directly showing the direction, or simply some more (small) grey arrows.

    Especially with overlapping trails, the current solution is far from ideal.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Same issue when following a downloaded track that is a loop. I arrive at the start point and need to look on the internet in which direction the loop starts, even though this information is in the time stamp of the track. Other navigation apps show little triangles on the track to indicate the direction. This is a pretty basic feature and I am surprised that Garmin prioritizes music and payment function over navigation usability.
    This Fenix 6 is a disaster of complexity and I would have gotten a Forerunner 945 if it came in small size. I predict that in 2 years I get a Chinese Smartwatch and run an app like Backcountry navigator or the Ortovox app or the Alpenvereinaktiv app. Far better tailored to navigation needs.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I came here for this same issue, also with mountain biking.  I've only recently started using the navigation features of the watch, as I'm learning a few new trail networks and planning rides in advance.  Lollypop loops off of other trails are incredibly frustrating to figure out if I don't memorize the direction in advance.  Simple arrows on the course, like are shown in BaseCamp would be perfect.  Instead I have to guess, ride a few hundred feet and see if I go off course or not.  I'm a little surprised this isn't already available.