wrist GPS for orienteering and geocaching.

[Zokko!]

Sporttracks v2.1 seems to be still available here.

[frog]

2 inches of snow overnight so running training now impossible, will have to get xc skis back out of loft, and try and find somewhere to get new basket for 1 of them.

[frog]

Used it yesterday at Ed for first time orienteering.
The tutorial by Paul F on routegadget was excellent at telling me what to do, although could have done with a bit at the beginning telling me how to get the gpx file out of my GPS and onto the computer in the first place. Managed that with the Garmin website and Paul's video tutorial explained the rest.
I was surprised at how much tweaking was necessary, I had expected to just download my GPS file loading in start and finish points and it to be completely accurate. It took a few extra points until it didn't look as though the reason I was so slow was that I was perfecting my walking through walls technique. I presume there is more fiddling required on urban maps than forest ones as you generally know exactly where you were.
It was interesting, but I think next time for an urban map I'll just draw my route.

[denzil53]

My Sutton Park route uploaded to RouteGadget shows the loop before the start where I needed a quick comfort break . . . . Maybe I should have deleted that bit (if I knew how) . . . .

[Spookster]

My Sutton Park route uploaded to RouteGadget shows the loop before the start where I needed a quick comfort break . . . . Maybe I should have deleted that bit (if I knew how) . . . .

GPX files (which is what I assume you have) are very easy to edit manually. Just open the GPX file in a text file editor (like Notepad), identify the rows of data that you don't want (they'll be time stamped, so you can delete any rows with times before your start time and after you finished), then just save the file again and use with Routegadget.

[frog]

That's handy to know. I just delayed pressing my timer until in start box, but am bad at forgetting to press buttons when I finish.

[Ernie_Wise]

I was surprised at how much tweaking was necessary, I had expected to just download my GPS file loading in start and finish points and it to be completely accurate.

I was expecting the same experience before I got my first GPS watch and was disappointed when I found out that you had to 'tweak' the route.

I've got no idea how route gadget works but I'd assume that you would need the software too overlay the map with a GPS grid when it is uploaded to route gadget. Then when the competitor comes to upload their route, the software would automatically draw each GPS data point (from the watch) onto map using the grid, meaning no 'tweaking'.

Is that a possible idea for a route gadget update? Or is it too hard and I'm being too wistful?

[Spookster]

I was expecting the same experience before I got my first GPS watch and was disappointed when I found out that you had to 'tweak' the route.

I've got no idea how route gadget works but I'd assume that you would need the software too overlay the map with a GPS grid when it is uploaded to route gadget. Then when the competitor comes to upload their route, the software would automatically draw each GPS data point (from the watch) onto map using the grid, meaning no 'tweaking'.

Yes. Currently when you upload a map to Routegadget, it doesn't need to know where on the world's surface that map is (you don't put in the lat./lon. co-ords). Hence it cannot line up an uploaded GPS trace which does have co-ords.

Even if you did geo-reference a map when uploaded to Routegadget, it still may not help, if the map has errors. You can occasionally see events where someone has apparently run in the forest parallel to a track. In reality they used the track, but the track isn't quite in the right place on the map.

[Paul Frost]

Spookster has explained the positioning problem perfectly.

Giving details as to how to get a GPX file is covered on the RouteGadget UK website but there have been so many changes to existing applications and new ones coming out all the time that it's hard to keep it all up to date.

Aligning your track with the map is a skill that improves with repetition. Sometimes it is way out and it's hard to tell if the error is with the GPS or the map. If you have a choice on your GPS device select the option to record every second rather than Smart of set times. RouteGadget plots a point for every second and if there isn't a point it generates one by average.

It's interesting that my track for Edinburgh street was very vague in places, so I looked at it on Google aerial view and then manually plotted my route in RG whilst looking at another screen with the aerial view up. I had forgotten to switch to every second recording and suspect that was the problem, but there may be other issues.

[AndyC]

I often find that my GPS has blank patches where I'm under trees - so I tend to put it up on Google Earth and trace my route manually into RG adjusting where appropriate (it has been known to show me on the wrong side of a big feature on GE so what chance does RG have with a map that may not reference right?). A bit of " I definitely found myself at that feature while looking for that control" helps fill in the picture!

[roadrunner]

I often find that my GPS has blank patches where I'm under trees - so I tend to put it up on Google Earth and trace my route manually into RG adjusting where appropriate (it has been known to show me on the wrong side of a big feature on GE so what chance does RG have with a map that may not reference right?). A bit of " I definitely found myself at that feature while looking for that control" helps fill in the picture!

That's what I do as well (except that I use SportTracks rather than Google Earth). In urban events in particular, the GPS is often way off. In fact, running the London Marathon a couple of years back, it was so bad in docklands that the automatic mile splits were some way out as well.

[mharky]

My Sutton Park route uploaded to RouteGadget shows the loop before the start where I needed a quick comfort break . . . . Maybe I should have deleted that bit (if I knew how) . . . .

You can pause your watch, but the unexplained drop in HR always gives it away...

[denzil53]

My Sutton Park route uploaded to RouteGadget shows the loop before the start where I needed a quick comfort break . . . . Maybe I should have deleted that bit (if I knew how) . . . .

And my latest gps effort on Brindley Heath shows me running round in small circles - I know, I know