FIT and waypointsFORUMS HOME SEARCH FORUMS

If I use a tool to convert a FIT file I've downloaded from here to a GPX file, it loses the waypoints.  Is this because of the conversion process, or do you strip waypoints out of FIT files?  If not, are they added as course points according to the FIT spec?

Really struggling to get my Garmin Fenix 3 to show waypoints and going to try directly loading a FIT file to see if that works.

It's better to try to use the fit file format on garmin devices. Ive tested on FR735xt and fenix5x without problems with turn by turn waypoints.

Thanks, I've tried the FIT file but it gives me turn-by-turn waypoints rather than the ones I defined on the course.  I can see the former being useful for general running, but I want to use the waypoints to define the checkpoints in a race rather than the next turn.

Just to clarify I'm after POI waypoints rather than directional ones

From last week there are a couple of poi's available in fit to put on the route. See this post: https://www.plotaroute.com/mobile/posts/1368/D/1

Can't be used for general poi off route, but for race poi for me, I think they are great.

Thanks Peter, will take a look

So they are in addition to the direction waypoints?  I'm looking for POI waypoints only, so in FIT course file spec speak POI waypoints to be Course Points and everything else to be a record.

Go into settings. Set Generate directions to No.

Create a course.

Open the directions dialogue and add course points without turn sign, but with the symbols you want. Maybe a food, water station or other fit file supported symbol according to the other thread. 

Save to fit and transfer to watch.

I've opened up the file (using the FIT SDK) and it's not added my POI waypoints that are on the course, it's instead put 4 directional waypoints in...wonder how it worked those out?  Anyway now I've got the ability to edit the CSV file and convert back to FIT, I can do that as a workaround.

And you can also provide a short text in the notes field that show up in the 'next waypoint' data field on watch. I think my fenix5x support 15 char.

Strange. Sometimes I get a gray turn symbol, like disabled, when I add turn points before I have set one. If you go in to the turn point, do you see a gray turn symbol? If so, can you try to explicitly disable it? Just choose the center 'none' turn point.

I'll post up the gpx and fit file so you can see.

Ok, think I've worked it out.  With the attached (PAR = plotaroute.com):

1. PAR - Fenix 3 - Summary.csv - plotting of all the waypoints across the different files (see notes below)
2. PAR Map.png - Screenshot of the route from PAR with the directional waypoints marked manually together with the POI waypoints I'd expect to see in the FIT file
3. Test_Route_From_Home DIR.gpx - Export from PAR with waypoints as directions
4. Test_Route_From_Home POI.gpx - Export from PAR with waypoints as POIs
5. Test_Route_From_Home.csv - FIT SDK conversion of the below FIT file to CSV
6. Test_Route_From_Home.fit - Export from PAR as FIT

So it looks like PAR doesn't add coursepoints to the FIT file for POI waypoints and only adds directions, ultimately I'm looking for a FIT file that mirrors the Test_Route_From_Home POI.gpx file.

PAR - Fenix 3 - Summary.csv notes:

• WP name - The name of the WP as it appears in the source
• Source - Where I found the details on that specific WP.  PAR Web - the route on plotaroute.com, the others refer to the files above.
• Also in - Where that WP also appears in other sources
• Lat/Long (Dec Deg) - the Lat/Long in decimal degrees
• Lat/Long (Semi Circ) - the Lat/Long in semi-circles (as they appear in the FIT file) 

I think if I understand correctly Callum, you'd like the downloaded course file to contain coursepoints for any labels and symbols you've added directly to the map, as well as those atatched to the route via the directions. We don't currently include these in TCX and FIT course files, as these aren't part of the route, so could hinder navigation. Course files don't really support waypoints like this, in the same that GPX files do. If you want to include a waypoint of some sort in TCX to FIT files that you download, you would need to add this to the list of directions, so that it gets added as a coursepoint at the correct place along the route.

John

Hi John, kind of.  The scenario is this...I do hiking and ultra-running so am usually reading a map or running paths I can match to the breadcrumb trail on my Fenix.  In these conditions I don't find directions useful as it's rarely "turn left here" or "bear left here".  There are however, in races/events/challenges, checkpoints along the course where I know I'm going to be able to re-fuel, or summits that I know I need to reach, etc.  In these cases I find it really useful to know how far the next "POI" checkpoint/summit/etc is, rather than knowing it's going to be 1km until I turn left; I know the latter because I can see the breadcrumb on my watch and can see that on my map.

So in summary I need a FIT file that only gives me what I put on the route via PAR....a route and POI waypoints.  Not directions.

In FIT spec language I want the course-points to reflect the POI waypoints and the records to reflect the route.

In fact the FIT spec example (in the SDK) for a course-file shows exactly this, a route (records) with laps (laps) and POI waypoints (course_points) for halfway, start, finish.  It does not mention directions.

Does that make sense?

Also, I ommitted, in races these checkpoints have cut-off times where if I arrive after that time I'm classed as DNF - did not finish.  Having these checkpoints as course-points means my Garmin gives me estimated time to arrival at each one.

Maybe I'm wrong...

I think the main issue here is that directions are added on the map along the route with a symbol that is supported in fit, but anyway the result in the file is a turn symbol.

In my tests I saw that if a turn point has both a direction and a symbol, then the direction is saved to file. Because the direction is behind the other symbol on the map it can be difficult to seewhen there is a combination of the two.

One solution to simplify would be to do it the other way around. Show symbol, not turn, if both are present.

I've seen that sometimes when I add a turn point and automatically get a gray turn symbol, like disabled, and then add a poi symbol, the turn symbol is acitvated when saving the turn point. It's likel intermittent and I can't  find a way to constantly reproduce it...

Hi Peter, I checked the long and lat and the directions match none of my waypoints, so it's not a symbol issue.  The issue is that the FIT file doesn't contain POI points but does contain directions.  I want the former but not the latter.

If you want the FIT file to contain coursepoints for POI's but not directions, you can do this by deleting any directions from the route and adding any POI's you want to the directions list instead (rather than adding them as annotations on the map).

John 

Brill thanks John, will do.