Strava Elevation Revelation
nbalcombe
Posts: 87
So I was doing a ride the other day when I noticed that my Garmin had stopped recording elevation. Despite a fairly lumpy ride it had been stuck around the 300m mark which didn't seem right to me. Sure enough, when analysing the ride on Strava, the second half of the ride was recorded as almost flat with some small digital like changes in elevation.
Then I noticed a little button next to the elevation that allowed me to fix the elevation based on GPS expected data for the route. Bingo, elevation fixed. It doesn't take much to impress me but this is a really cool feature that I never knew existed.
Then I noticed a little button next to the elevation that allowed me to fix the elevation based on GPS expected data for the route. Bingo, elevation fixed. It doesn't take much to impress me but this is a really cool feature that I never knew existed.
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Comments
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This is a feature of most of those kind of sites, Garmin Connect included. It's good if the recorded data is garbage, but can be woefully off in certain circumstances. For example if you riding up a steep-sided valley and your GPS positioning isn't spot on the road, a small offset to the side of the road can lead to an assigned elevation for that point way higher or lower than reality; if this happens all the way up a long climb or repeatedly over a ride, the cumulative effects (i.e. inaccuracy in elevation gain) can be massive.
Out of interest, were you using a device with a barometric altimeter and was it raining? The symptoms you describe sound like when I've been faffing with my Edge 800 in the rain, some water has covered the holes for the barometer and you just get the occasional big spike in elevation when the water shifts for a second and the air pressure equilibrates.0 -
One thing I've always wondered about is the issue of distance and hills -- GPS map 2D view -- you know, trigonometry, length of hypothenuse etc. Is that taken into account when these devices and/or map services (eg Strava) tell you how long your ride was? I suspect not. If you cycle up and down a mountain you've travelled a lot further than it would look like from a bird's eye view. (Not sure why I'm bothered about this seeing as I live in Suffolk so wouldn't make much difference, but it's just something I'm curious about.)0
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One thing I've always wondered about is the issue of distance and hills -- GPS map 2D view -- you know, trigonometry, length of hypothenuse etc. Is that taken into account when these devices and/or map services (eg Strava) tell you how long your ride was? I suspect not. If you cycle up and down a mountain you've travelled a lot further than it would look like from a bird's eye view. (Not sure why I'm bothered about this seeing as I live in Suffolk so wouldn't make much difference, but it's just something I'm curious about.)
The map is 2D, the GPS plot is not!www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes0 -
Out of interest, were you using a device with a barometric altimeter and was it raining? The symptoms you describe sound like when I've been faffing with my Edge 800 in the rain, some water has covered the holes for the barometer and you just get the occasional big spike in elevation when the water shifts for a second and the air pressure equilibrates.
So it's not just me then...
I was slogging up whinlatter on the Fred Whitton and my edge 800 was reading a -7% slope :?Advocate of disc brakes.0 -
I was out in a thunderstorm once and I got up to 250% gradient showing at one point!www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes0
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Elevation correction is useless in the mountains as it over estimates reality by about 70%!
Last year's Eatape was about 4,500m climbing. Elevation correction put it at over 7,000m! :shock:
It is a bit more accurate in the flatter UK though!0 -
Elevation correction is useless in the mountains as it over estimates reality by about 70%!
Last year's Eatape was about 4,500m climbing. Elevation correction put it at over 7,000m! :shock:
It is a bit more accurate in the flatter UK though!
That is my experience. On hilly rides in Mallorca I often see 30 or 40% increases with elevation correction from my Garmin recording. In the UK it generally goes down as opposed to up.0 -
Out of interest, were you using a device with a barometric altimeter and was it raining? The symptoms you describe sound like when I've been faffing with my Edge 800 in the rain, some water has covered the holes for the barometer and you just get the occasional big spike in elevation when the water shifts for a second and the air pressure equilibrates.
So it's not just me then...
I was slogging up whinlatter on the Fred Whitton and my edge 800 was reading a -7% slope :?
Mine does that sometimes, usually when descending in the wet...
Looking at the bottom of the 810 there's a little hole towards the front which I guess might be the barometer which would explain it.0 -
Out of interest, were you using a device with a barometric altimeter and was it raining? The symptoms you describe sound like when I've been faffing with my Edge 800 in the rain, some water has covered the holes for the barometer and you just get the occasional big spike in elevation when the water shifts for a second and the air pressure equilibrates.
So it's not just me then...
I was slogging up whinlatter on the Fred Whitton and my edge 800 was reading a -7% slope :?
Mine does that sometimes, usually when descending in the wet...
Looking at the bottom of the 810 there's a little hole towards the front which I guess might be the barometer which would explain it.
On my Edge 800 I think it's the holes in the bottom of the quarter turn mount that are also used for the speaker. I've only had major issues when I've taken it off the mount and rain has made it underneath, otherwise it's usually well sealed off.0
