1st experiment with Courses - not good [Bug 135]

[steerage250]

I read the bit in the Montanna section about the differences between Courses and Routes, but I'm still not sure what the point of Courses is - so I thought I'd do a test. I created a 2.2km course around my local streets in Garmin Connect and downloaded it to the GPSMAP 66st. I had to re-start the GPSr to get the course to appear in the list of courses.

1. I pulled-up the course, and it took a surprisingly long time to calculate (given how simple and short the course is)
2. I displayed it on the map and it all looked fine (although I don't know why it shows as a track as well as a route (thin light blue, and thicker purple))
3. "Go" was highlighted, so I pressed Enter - and nothing much happened (ie no beep nor purple line)
4. I started moving and there was a beep and the purple line appeared - and the distance to the destination is 37.7km! It is taking me to Parkerville - a place a navigated to last week!!

Screenshots attached

scrn 1.JPG

scrn 2.JPG

scrn 3.JPG

scrn 4.JPG

[GPSrChive]

Can you share the course fit file so we can test?

[steerage250]

here 'tis

Ian

[987]

While testing on 66st 9.60 firmware i experienced something similar.

The unit is set up for prompted activity and prompted calculation method.
Set up from MENU -> Setup -> Routing. There is no separate routing set up for Courses.

It so happened that the last time i routed somewhere (FIND -> Waypoint -> Go) i used Automibile driving and fastest time.

Now i wanted to create a test course on a track in the nearby forest, hence i wanted to walk on some tracks or paths for about 600 meters.
When creating a Course in the following way:
MENU -> Course planner -> Create course -> Roads & trails added the points from the map. when done press Done.
I now enter the course and again select Roads & trails when prompted, the course is calculated, but it is calculated for AUTOMOBILE and the Course takes a detour of a few kilometres around the forest on drivable roads.

There is no Prompt to select activity type and it is not possible to change the activity at any time later for the course.
Here it would be great if the activity was selectable when creating the Course.


If i instead go into the routing settings MENU -> Setup -> Routing and select say Hiking, and then create the Course, it will indeed plan the course on some tracks and paths.


It is acceptable that the activity type is not possible to change after the course has been calculated (since the map that it was calculated on may not be present any longer or not present on a different device) but at least it should give me the option to select if the activity i plan to use for the Course. Especially since routing options are set to Activity = Promoted.

[GPSrChive]

The unit is set up for prompted activity and prompted calculation method.
Set up from MENU -> Setup -> Routing. There is no separate routing set up for Courses.

There most certainly is.

There is a new 'Course Navigation' selection available.

See the GPSrChive > GPSMAP 66 > Setup > Routing page for details.

There is no Prompt to select activity type and it is not possible to change the activity at any time later for the course.
Here it would be great if the activity was selectable when creating the Course.

It is acceptable that the activity type is not possible to change after the course has been calculated (since the map that it was calculated on may not be present any longer or not present on a different device) but at least it should give me the option to select if the activity i plan to use for the Course. Especially since routing options are set to Activity = Promoted.

If you select 'Prompted' for the 'Course Navigation' setting mentioned above, each time you navigate a Course, you will be prompted to choose 'Direct' or 'Roads & Trails' for the routing method. Selecting 'Direct' is always 'Point to Point', and selecting 'Roads & Trails' will use the routing method active for the current profile.

[GPSrChive]

It does appear that the 'Setup' > 'Routing' > 'Activity' configuration is not respected after selecting 'Where To?' > '{any course}' > 'Roads & Trails' > 'Go'.

I have requested clarification from Garmin.

If other can chime in and report their findings, 'that would be great....'

[987]

There most certainly is.

Yes, my mistake.
But as mentioned later, it will not make the unit understand if i want to go on road or on trails.

For normal routing there are two settings:
Activity: Prompted (or Automobile driving, pedestrain walking, Hiking, etc.), and
Calculation method which allows to select fastest time or shortest distance, etc.

For Courses it the option is similar to Activity set up, but does only allow to chose if it is on a network of roads or not.
If selected to be Prompted it will make issues when the actual course is calculated, because it will sometimes calculate as for driving (road but not path) and sometimes as for hiking on trails (tracks but possibly not roads), all dependent on what the last usage was.

What is missing is the selection to differentiate between the activity types in the same way as the Routing does (automobile driving, hiking, etc.)