Any hope for improving GPS track?

[Annnnna5]

@isazi I had this problem today. Went walking for 10 km, the watch showed 12 km, +2 km. This is insane.

[Randy Penn]

@annnnna5 Was your GPS track woefully inaccurate as well?

[Brad_Olwin]

@annnnna5 Were there tall buildings, dense trees, water? All these can cause GPS issues. Second, I’ve asked this before how do you know it is 10 km? Measured along the path you walked?

[olymay]

Remember, the default GPS accuracy in walking mode is GOOD and samples t 10s intervals. Could this be causing these minor differences? Maybe try changing it to BEST which samples every 1s?

At the end of the day, does a couple of hundred metres make all that much difference when out for a walk?

[Aleksander H]

@olymay said in Any hope for improving GPS track?:

Remember, the default GPS accuracy in walking mode is GOOD and samples t 10s intervals.

Really? On my watch it is set to best, and I don’t think I’ve ever used the basic walk activity before, so I don’t think that is a change I’ve made.

[olymay]

@aleksander-h strange. When I used the walking mode it was set to GOOD. I changed it to best before realising that was pointless for a slow activity like walking.

In fact, I think GOOD is more than good enough for a run too. I’ve compared 6 runs (3 on GOOD and 3 on BEST) and it was tough to spot the difference

[Aleksander H]

@olymay said in Any hope for improving GPS track?:

In fact, I think GOOD is more than good enough for a run too. I’ve compared 6 runs (3 on GOOD and 3 on BEST) and it was tough to spot the difference

I’ll admit I never really tried it much. My activities don’t usually last more than 1 or 2 hours, so I’ve never felt the need to extend the battery. My old watch was a Garmin Vivosport, and that thing also sampled once every 10 seconds. I could never tell the difference between that and the track on my Fenix 5 Plus, so I’m not surprised if Good on the S7 works just as well for my slow running.

[olymay]

@aleksander-h Oh I still use BEST for my runs too

My runs are also typically short (when I can go running that is ) and rarely above 2hrs.

But it’s nice to know that the GOOD mode is more than capable should it be needed or wanted

[Annnnna5]

@brad_olwin I turned the GPS on my mobile phone, and my friend’s mobile phone also showed 10. We were in nature, tall trees, no roads etc. But the difference in huge.

[Annnnna5]

@randy-penn no, this is the first time.

[Aleksander H]

@annnnna5 could you share a link to the activity in question?

My S7 has been pretty solid, and usually comes within about 0.5 - 1% of my wife’s Fenix 5 when we go out together. Only really had an issue once when the track took a surprise detour, but my Garmin would do that as well every now and then.

[isazi]

@annnnna5 20% difference is not just some wobbling around, it’s most probably a major GPS error, so should be very visible if you compare the track of your S7 with the track on the phone. Can you show us pictures, or the activity itself?

[Aleksander H]

@isazi this is what I was thinking. An erroneous GPS fix throwing the track off and back can happen. My Garmin once teleported 800 m into the forrest and back.

[isazi]

@aleksander-h my Fenix 2 once teleported me 26 km away

[Aleksander H]

@isazi You must have got an impressive half-marathon time that day

[Brad_Olwin]

@isazi My S9baro transported me from Colorado, USA to Spain once:)

[Randy Penn]

@brad_olwin I seem to recall that you are in Colorado, so I would think that your experience would be similar to mine. I posted these images in another thread but it didn’t get the traction that this one has, so I’ll repost them here. The blue track is from a Garmin and the purple one is the Suunto 7. Based on these, it’s pretty obvious why the distance traveled according to the S7 is always high. Are GPS tracks like those in the image the norm?

[Brad_Olwin]

@randy-penn I don’t see this, I have many, many activities wearing the S7 and S9baro. If you are not wearing both devices at the same time and on the same arm you cannot compare them. The first below is a hike, both watches on Best GPS, they are identical, S7 is red. The second is SkiMo S7 is on FusedTack and S9 on Best GPS. Here you can clearly see S7 misses some turns. That is expected as GPS fix is at 10s intervals. S7 is red.

Are you sure you are on Best GPS fix?

[Randy Penn]

@brad_olwin Yup, that’s best GPS. Your RMNP tracks are pretty rough, but the Dakota Ridge ones look acceptable. I don’t know why my S7 tracks in wide open, treeless spaces are so poor.

[Brad_Olwin]

@randy-penn The RMNP tracks are rough because I used 10s fix and FusedTrack doesn’t work with skiing, not a good combo. I can show you many trail runs where S9 and S7 are indistinguishable.