Explore app - courses, routes, tracks…

mcbadger said:

It’d be possible to make a watch show the next waypoint that isn’t just a turn with the current messages but I’m not holding my breath for that one either.

And that is exactly what Garmin has done in Up Ahead feature that it introduced in Fenix 7 and Epix 2. It seems Up Ahead feature filters out all waypoints that are turns based on their type and displays only user defined waypoints.

However a better implementation would be to apply the same kind of filtering to the "next waypoint"  and "distance to next" fields, which would fix this issue on Fenix 6 as well.

Furthermore, even with the filtering implemented in Up Ahead feature, there is still an issue 200 waypoints limit, which is very quickly reached by auto-generated TBT waypoints. For example, recently I tried building a course of an upcoming 100K race. I inserted 10 waypoints for the race aid stations, but then Garmin Connect added 381 waypoints for all the turns, which easily exceeded the 200 waypoint limit. That means that even with the Up Ahead feature of Fenix 7 I wouldn't have any waypoints in the second half of the race, including the ones for the aid stations that I really cared about. So the whole thing continues to be somewhat broken.

You should not use Garmin Connect to sync a course you’ve created with yours clues. Just copy the file directly to Garmin/NewsFiles folder of you device.

Every time you use GC to sync it will create his own TBT which unfortunately is solely based in the course segments change of directions and we all know how a track can be zig zag at a certain zoom level.

GC turns creations are meant for when you ask to GC to calculate a route for you based on a MAP .

Daworp said:

After a while I decided to test Garmin Explore again. Explore seems to have fixed the bug on showing next waypoint. Next waypoints, distance to next waypoint (created as a part of course in Explore) and ETE are now displayed correctly in watch (fenix 6) during navigation. It´s still doesn´t seem possible to show turn-by-turn directions separatly from waypoints.

Unfortunately, I cannot confirm that. It still behaves as always for me. Showing only the first waypoint and only distance to end of course. Are you sure you are navigating a course from Garmin Explore? Because you are also writing about turn promts, but Explore does not add any turn promts at all. Or maybe you used map navigation instead of course navigation? 

marcossaad_ said:

You should not use Garmin Connect to sync a course you’ve created with yours clues. Just copy the file directly to Garmin/NewsFiles folder of you device.

Well, duh! That's what I ended up doing. But that is a workaround that I don't really have to use. That shows that the whole thing isn't working as intended.

First, Garmin creates an excessive number of TBT waypoints without asking me and without giving me a choice. Then the whole thing fails because there are too many waypoints. And how an average user supposed to know about the workaround? It isn't documented anywhere.

And did I mention that the number of turn directions was excessive? There aren't that many actual turns, but Garmin generates a turn waypoint for every sharp bend of the course and every switchback.

I created a course in Garmin Explore. Points used to create course became waypoints afterwards. After saving course I was able to rename them (explore app call them points and they are part of course). That alows me to navigate the course from watch ( after syncing) with distance to next waipoint and time to next waypoint (and waypoint names). I have fenix 6 basic model (non pro).

Edit:

I use Android Explore app (version 3.3.1)

Edit2:

App version 3.3.1

That's interesting. Thanks for sharing the details. I am using the same app version and same procedure as you do. Maybe it's a firmware thing then. Are you on 21.00? Because i did not update yet.

Ok, I am on a fenix 6x pro, but i don't think that would make a difference.

Well, it didn´t work for me either. Explore itself is quite a mess, and I haven´t used it in months.

I am on FW 21.00, but I don´t know what exactly is the cause of change. I should mention that I signed up as beta tester for Explore app in Play store. Last update of app was on May 3, 2022.

It would be nice if someone else could confirm that "distance to next" works for points created in Explore as part of course..

I am also Explore Beta Tester since January, but I have never received any Beta updates. 

So differences that we have are Pro/non Pro and firmware version. I thought both are quite unlikely, but who knows? 

So indeed it would be helpful if somebody following this thread could participate in our research an test it .

Have you ever been successful using Explore web?

Tks,

I don't use Explore web. Explore app seems to be the only tool for offline sync with the watch. That's the main reason I tried to use it at the first place. Ability to add waypoints into course is just a small advantage.

For web planning there are much better tools (Plot-A-Route for example). I'm not sure it's even possible to create a "course" in Explore web.