Garmin "Segments"

blackpoolkev

Having just read a recent update on Garmin Connect, it seems they are introducing "Segments". I wonder if they are paying homage to the mighty Strava or will it have a different twist?
It seems you can't go out on your bike nowadays without some virtual rider disappearing into the distance .

Mikey23

Could be some copyright issues...

sloppyschleckonds

Mikey23 wrote:

Could be some copyright issues...

Why's that Mikey?

BrandonA

Mikey23 wrote:

Could be some copyright issues...

Strava weren't even the first to implement this type of thing.

charlie_potatoes

Terry's Chocolate Orange had segments years before Strava

smoggysteve

What would be the point? Will be the same times on the same segments by the same people on a different website.

apreading

Not sure if its good or bad news, but there seems to be lots coming:

garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2014/01/ces-announcement-garmin-connect-redesign-.html

Today we are excted to announce a complete overhaul of our free online fitness community, Garmin Connect. The new Garmin Connect has a completely updated look and feel, with improved navigation and a customizable widget-style dashboard. The updated fitness features include enhanced reports to track performance over time and free training plans that can be sent straight to compatible Garmin devices. With the all-new segments and leaderboards feature, users can run or ride against past efforts or against others to see how they stack up against the competition.

The most noticeable update to Garmin Connect is the look and feel of the interface. The new dashboard, organized by widgets, is completely customizable, so users can choose what information they want to see. There is an updated reporting function to analyze progress such as total distance or average lap pace over time.

With the new Garmin Connect, the free fitness community becomes even more social, allowing users to connect with friends, pros and even foes for some friendly competition with the new segments and leaderboards feature. Users can search for segments created by other users, and virtual leaderboards allow users to rank themselves against other athletes who have completed that segment. A heat map overlay shows how busy an area is, or what types of activities are most popular there. The new Garmin Connect also makes it easy to share progress on popular social media platforms.

The new Garmin Connect will be rolled out in phases during Q1 of 2014. The Garmin Connect mobile app will also be updated to reflect the new look and feel of Garmin Connect.

chris_bass

Charlie Potatoes wrote:

Terry's Chocolate Orange had segments years before Strava

rather uninterestingly did you know that the pieces of an orange are sectors not segments! isn't maths fun!

rolf_f

apreading wrote:

Not sure if its good or bad news, but there seems to be lots coming:

It's good news for me. I'm not really keen on Strava - the possibilities of new applications with a better ethos would be nice. Mind you, what's the betting that the Garmin site will just be Strava with different badging anyway? The relationship between Strava and Garmin seems a little cosy already.

keith57

Not a big fan of companies that just copy others ideas and don't innovate themselves (Samsung anyone?) Garmin make reasonable to good hardware, I've had lots of Edge GPS units over the years. Their software always lags by months or years; or worse still, never really matures fully, and then they bring out a new model full of new bugs!!

Strava has a great on-line community where I live and no-one uses Garmin connect in my peer group :-) So Garmin's copycat strategy will never impact on what I and my ridding mates get up to. It's almost the 'new Facebook' as far as I'm concerned ;-) Oh - and Strava events, e.g. the Festive 500 have a huge world-wide following too. YMMV

apreading

Thing is, I dont want to compete against others, dont care how fast they are doing segments etc. I just want to record and track my own events, set my own goals and measure working towards them and see routes that other people have done in an area - pretty much everything that the old Garmin Connect did - only thing I really wanted was to customise my dashboard to remove stuff I am not interested in and include more on personal goals and to be able to upload a route and customise it without having to load it as an activity, convert it to route then delete the activity.

My worry is that in order to include a load of 'community' stuff that I dont want, they will make a mess of the bits that I do use and value.