How to make "Distance to Next" work correctly (Etrex)

[321up]

Inspired by another thread...

Yes the high/low points can be a pain, depending on the terrain.  (In properly mountainous coutry the high points are quite good.)  Of course they depend on the Track being followed having elevation data embedded -some Tracks do, some don't.  No elevation data, no high/low points.

Aside from that issue, do the waypoints need to be in the same gpx file as the track or can they be in different gpx files?

They can be either, in the same or in different files.

New track with no elevation data and a few waypoints:  'Where to', 'Tracks', 'TestTrack', 'Go'... "Loading track with elevation data from the map" [long wait...] ...and the high low points are back 

... I've found a way to make the Distance to Next actually display the distance to the next waypoint when following a track rather than display the distance to the next high point or low point.  You need to create a gpx track with all the elevation tags set to zero (i.e. the altitude does not change so no high/low points)...

      <trkpt lat="54.110530" lon="-2.293290">
       <ele>0</ele>
       <time>2015-07-15T00:47:40Z</time>
      </trkpt>

... now when I follow a track and look at 'Active Route' it just shows the waypoints that are on the route and no high/low points.  When I have a track format route for an Audax with waypoints created for the controls 'distance to next' will display the distance to the next control.

[321up]

... be aware though, it will find all the waypoints that coinside with the track from any gpx files that are on the garmin so it could get confusing if you have waypoints for multiple rides that overlap.

[ran doner]

... be aware though, it will find all the waypoints that coinside with the track from any gpx files that are on the garmin so it could get confusing if you have waypoints for multiple rides that overlap.

Do we know what constitutes a "waypoint that coincides with the track" ?

Is it within the proximity alarm radius ?

[tom_e]

Do we know what constitutes a "waypoint that coincides with the track" ?

I don't know, but I do know that in the case of the Oregon (which seems pretty similar) it shows all waypoints on the map anyway, so you do not want to have a large number of waypoints without meaning cluttering the area of the track.  Personally, I now clean out the Oregon waypoints when preparing for a ride so only meaningful stuff is displayed. 

As far as I can tell, this would act as a significant restriction if you wanted to have a large number of track + point marker sets stored in it at once covering the same area.

[frankly frankie]

'On or near' the Track is what the documentation says, or words to that effect.  I wouldn't expect a Waypoint more than a few hundred metres from the Track to show up as a 'Next' point - but I'm only guessing there.

      <trkpt lat="54.110530" lon="-2.293290">
       <ele>0</ele>
       <time>2015-07-15T00:47:40Z</time>
      </trkpt>

Good tip, thanks.  I guess the easy way to do that would be to create a Track without elevation data at all (eg in Mapsource),
then search/replace on <time>
replacing it with <ele>0</ele><time>

or no, thinking about it there probably wouldn't be any timestamps either so search/replace on </trkpt>

[Ningishzidda]

If you're gonna use Mapsource, you may as well create a Route with specific Waypoints.

Then you'll get 'Distance to Next' perfect.


When I build an Itinerary for TomTom, I put down specific Waypoints. Between the waypoints, TT automatically puts an instruction at each junction, and I get a 'Distance to next' for every instruction but not Waypoint if it is not at a junction. Waypoints appear as a little signpost on the screen at the place I put them.
If the next instruction or Waypoint is further than 2 miles away, the screen shuts down to save battery. A tap of the screen lights it up for ten seconds if I am curious.