Quick Strava Question

adskis
adskis Posts: 85
edited November 2012 in Commuting chat
Being relatively new to this Strava thing I have a question.

I use the GPS in my phone to record my rides for Strava, but sometimes the red line that appears in Strava after the ride is not quite on the road I was riding on. It is just off to one side. This means that Strava doesn’t think that I have ridden through a particular segment I have been hunting.

This seems to be fairly consistent on one particular road, but only for my rides. I have looked at others and their red line is right on the road, and my line on other roads is spot on.

What is going on? Please help.

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Comments

  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    Phone GPS is innaccurate I guess
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • daddy0
    daddy0 Posts: 686
    What phone do you have?

    Is the problem always in the same area, or random?

    (its probably the phone)

    Also, do you make sure you get a GPS signal before you start out?
    https://cyclejames.wordpress.com/
  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    Phone GPS is pretty crap basically
    Rose Xeon CW Disc
    CAAD12 Disc
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  • adskis
    adskis Posts: 85
    The phone is a Sony Xperia Go and I have this app called Sat-Fix that locks about 7 or 8 sats before I load up Strava and go.

    It seems to happen on the same rural road but either side of that road it seems fine, but it does happen at other times less often
  • mtb-idle
    mtb-idle Posts: 2,179
    one word....



















    ....GARMIN
    FCN = 4
  • pitchshifter
    pitchshifter Posts: 1,476
    MTB-Idle wrote:
    one word....



















    ....GARMIN

    I have had more problems with my Garmin tracking roads than my iPhone ever did...
  • daddy0
    daddy0 Posts: 686
    dhope wrote:
    Phone GPS is pretty crap basically

    Some are better than others. My Galaxy S2 seems to be accurate(ish), but can take a while to get a signal - I guess its waiting for a decent signal. The worst thing it does is not track the speed accurately, but this is when I'm going about 58mph* 8) in an area which is a bit of a GPS black spot.

    * I'm probably not doing 58mph, normally I get about 48-50mph down this hill, still fast enough to wake me up every morning :D
    https://cyclejames.wordpress.com/
  • pastryboy
    pastryboy Posts: 1,385
    It happens.

    You can fix it with this:

    http://strava-tools.raceshape.com/snap/
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    pitchshifter wrote:

    I have had more problems with my Garmin tracking roads than my iPhone ever did...

    Do you really? Much of the time I reckon if my Garmin is off "the road" I think it's more likely that the map is wrong - most of the time it records accurately which side of the road I'm on.
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • EKE_38BPM
    EKE_38BPM Posts: 5,821
    Daddy0 wrote:
    * I'm probably not doing 58mph, normally I get about 48-50mph down this hill, still fast enough to wake me up every morning :D
    ...and to ensure a good night's sleep at night!
    FCN 3: Raleigh Record Ace fixie-to be resurrected sometime in the future
    FCN 4: Planet X Schmaffenschmack 2- workhorse
    FCN 9: B Twin Vitamin - winter commuter/loan bike for trainees

    I'm hungry. I'm always hungry!
  • bigmat
    bigmat Posts: 5,134
    My Garmin is disappointing. Takes forever to get a satellite located, and then doesn't keep a consistent line all the time. Still better than phone though. That Race Shape / SNAP web page is useless as well, spent ages trying to "polish" a ride last night and it just couldn't do it.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/41991871@N ... otostream/
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    BigMat wrote:
    My Garmin is disappointing. Takes forever to get a satellite located, and then doesn't keep a consistent line all the time. Still better than phone though. That Race Shape / SNAP web page is useless as well, spent ages trying to "polish" a ride last night and it just couldn't do it.

    Do you keep it still when it's acquiring lock? Makes the world of difference. I stick the Garmin in the open whilst I get myself sorted on the bike (tyres, lights, lock whatever) - only takes it a minute
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • bigmat
    bigmat Posts: 5,134
    meanredspider wrote:
    BigMat wrote:
    My Garmin is disappointing. Takes forever to get a satellite located, and then doesn't keep a consistent line all the time. Still better than phone though. That Race Shape / SNAP web page is useless as well, spent ages trying to "polish" a ride last night and it just couldn't do it.

    Do you keep it still when it's acquiring lock? Makes the world of difference. I stick the Garmin in the open whilst I get myself sorted on the bike (tyres, lights, lock whatever) - only takes it a minute

    Thing is, it takes at least a couple of minutes to get a lock even when still, often 3 or 4 minutes. I'm a busy man, I'm not going to stand in the cold and wait for that. Even when it has a lock, it takes a few minutes for the distance to start adding up - I wonder if its a bit of a dud / needs a firmware update or something. Leaving it outside is something I could do when leaving home in the morning, but not really ractical leaving work in the evening.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/41991871@N ... otostream/
  • meanredspider
    meanredspider Posts: 12,337
    BigMat wrote:
    Thing is, it takes at least a couple of minutes to get a lock even when still, often 3 or 4 minutes. I'm a busy man, I'm not going to stand in the cold and wait for that. Even when it has a lock, it takes a few minutes for the distance to start adding up - I wonder if its a bit of a dud / needs a firmware update or something. Leaving it outside is something I could do when leaving home in the morning, but not really ractical leaving work in the evening.

    Sounds like there's something very wrong with it unless you're trying to get lock between tall buildings or something. I've had 3 different Garmin devices and none of them took more than about a minute to be ready to go provided they had a reasonable view of the sky.

    Garmin do a pretty good warranty exchange scheme for devices outside the 1 year warranty. Even when my 305 Forerunner was run over, they only wanted £50 to replace it.
    ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH
  • adskis
    adskis Posts: 85
    Thanks for all your advice guys.
    Is there such a thing as GPS+1. If not, then there is now. (Christmas is coming)

    Oddly, it worked perfectly last night.

    Still didn't get the segment though. :D
  • mtb-idle
    mtb-idle Posts: 2,179
    Garmin's are more accurate than phones as Garmin updates every second and phones only update every 3 seconds.

    Phones therefore will 'straightline' a route more than a garmin will. Perhaps not quite so important on the road but off road it means that some people take their phone and a garmin with them as the phone always reports a quicker speed so they can gain KOM but the garmin records the trail properly for future reference and ease of route following.
    FCN = 4
  • deadhead1971
    deadhead1971 Posts: 338
    drunk-iphone-track2.jpg

    I documented the difference between an iPhone 4S and a Garmin Edge 800 - same ride, same day, same time, me and my mate Paul.
    Decide for yourself -http://www.scarletfire.co.uk/2012/07/iphone-gps-fail
    Alan
    http://www.scarletfire.co.uk

    The Ultimate List of Strava Add On Sites!
    http://www.scarletfire.co.uk/strava-sites
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    deadhead1971 wrote:
    drunk-iphone-track2.jpg

    I documented the difference between an iPhone 4S and a Garmin Edge 800 - same ride, same day, same time, me and my mate Paul.
    Decide for yourself -http://www.scarletfire.co.uk/2012/07/iphone-gps-fail

    One day does doesn't prove a theory phone manufactures and cycling computers manufactures have access to the same GPS chips, and it shows phones are closing the gap.

    To be honest on my Strava feed i don't notice any correlation between the device used and the data. All devices spit out spurious and improbable data. Or simply fly like a crow.... And the next day they are fine.
  • twist83
    twist83 Posts: 761
    Not sure if it is the same for Android handsets however turning on Wifi on an iPhone increases the GPS accuracy for Maps so I assume it has a similar effect in Strava.

    To be honest I have not noticed any difference between iPhone or Garmin 500. In fact the 500 got lost more off road than the iPhone....

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