How to load GPS waypoints directly into watch folder?

wschoot said:

in GPX terms,

As have said : doesn’t work on gpx files 

True. Is the basecamp with "send to device"-way compatible with upahead somehow? All I want is to have a route/track/course with some points that I can see in up ahead along a route and I can use basecamp just fine.

It is really disappointing how messy, inconsistent and incomplete Garmin ecosystem for working with navigation data on Garmin devices. We have Garmin Connect, Explore, and Basecamp. Each has some unique features and each misses some critical features. 

I use only only Garmin Connect because I only use courses and have to have course points. But why doesn't it have support for standalone waypoints. Why can't I mark a waypoint on the watch and see it later on my recorded activity and later on the map when making another course? 

If I understand it correctly you wanted to be able to create a gpx file manually and that the points in the file should populate Saved Locations on watch.

That is possible. All GPX <wpt> tags end up in Saved Locations and become visible on the map.

And here are an example from one of the files:

<wpt lat="59.3360904" lon="18.3084015">
<time>2023-11-06T00:00:00Z</time>
<name>HiTrackPOI</name>
<cmt>Himlaberget</cmt>
<desc>Himlaberget</desc>
<sym>Summit</sym>
<type>Waypoint</type>
</wpt>

Forgot: As said before, put the GPX file in NewFiles folder.

You were talking about scripting the gpx file.

Then you may want it to be as small as possible. I tested what data I could omit. This gives me three waypoints in Saved Locations without any course. Unfortunately, I can't get the symbol to work even if I think I've found values that should work. I always get a blue flag, both in the list and on the map. If you can't get them to work, <sym> can probably also be omitted.

<gpx>
<wpt lat="59.3360904" lon="18.3084015">
<name>Himlaberget</name>
<sym>Flag, Red</sym>
</wpt>
<wpt lat="59.3379034" lon="18.3115557">
<name>5stenaröset</name>
<sym>Scenic Area</sym>
</wpt>
<wpt lat="59.33618" lon="18.3139">
<name>Den stora korsningen</name>
<sym>Crossing</sym>
</wpt>
</gpx>

My gpx file has no <sym> tags and works. I have the <ele> tag for elevation, which shows in the “details” of the saved location on the watch.

I personally don’t like flags as position markers as they take up a lot of space, block the map details behind and you’re not 100% sure which part of the flag symbol is marking the exact coordinates (although it’s probably the lower tip of the pole). On real maps, you almost never see locations marked with flags. When I make markings on my actual paper maps, I just use a cross.

wschoot said:

I don't really see how a point can "belong" to a route.

It is easier to understand if you think about a course point as a checkpoint / event on your planned course rather than a location. To give you a concrete example, think about an aid station in a race. It is possible for a race course to go through the same location multiple times. Then you'll visit the same aid station multiple times, which means in Up Ahead you should see an "aid station" course point multiple times, for example at miles 10, 20, 30 into your race course. It is also possible that the aid station won't be there every time you visit it. For example recently I had a 50 mile race where I went through the same location twice, but the aid station was there only the first time I went through there at mile 30, but not the second time at mile 49. But in other 100K race that I've done previous year, there was also a point that I went through two times and an aid station was there only when I visited it the second time. Without course points having distance that is impossible to express.

Furthermore, I think the implementation of course points on Fenix requires the distance to be present in order to make computations more efficient. That is because Up Ahead can show up to 4 upcoming course points. To display distances to all of them the implementation of Up Ahead only needs to know one number - how far are you along the course. For example if you have course points at miles 8, 13.2, 17.1, and 22.5 (all distances are precomputed in advance to be from the start of the course). Then the course tracking algorithm finds your position on the course and computes it to be e.g. 7.2 miles from the start. Then it is trivial to calculate that distances to upcoming course points are 0.8, 6, 9.9, and 15.3. There is no need to compute distance to each course point separately based on their positions alone.

Thanks for the explanation. But I think Garmin’s jargonology only makes things more confusing.

course = Garmin golf course map? Beginner’s course in photography?

track = GPS tracking? Railway track?

My proposal is to call every route a route and every location a location (regardless of how many times the route passes through it). Even “waypoint” is really too bombastic.

Locations can be a bunch of isolated coordinates or they can be joined by a route.

Distances to upcoming locations can still be calculated without having to call them coursepoints.

To may this even more confusing Garmin has both "course" and "route".

A route is a sequence of waypoints trough which the device routes on the fly using on-device routing. This is more like how Google Maps navigation works. If you go off route then it automatically reroutes. What matters is that you only go through the planned waypoints. 

In contrast, a course is a preplanned track that you follow exactly. There is no on-device rerouting. If you go off-course you have to return back on course and continue. 

The goals are different. In the first case the goal is to reach the destination point or a sequence of waypoints. In the second case the goal is to follow a specific course like in a race. The course navigation has much more sense if there are specific performance goals like to cover a target distance or to achieve a target elevation gain. That's why the course navigation is usually used during sport activities and the route navigation was historically used by hikers, trekkers, backpackers, mountaineers, etc.

To make it more confusing, Fenix supports both navigation modes.