ConnectIQ data not found in .FIT file created by Garmin device

[BeagleScout]

I am using your excellent tool in two ways

• to merge 2 activities created by a Garmin Edge 530 (accidently recorded separately)

• to merge an activity created by a Garmin Edge 530 with health data created by a Samsung watch

In both cases the .FIT files are created by a Garmin device, and exported from Garmin Connect. The post-merge .FIT files are imported into Garmin Connect.

The original activities include ConnectIQ data (flow & grit). The post-merge activities do not have the ConnectIQ data.

I select "FIT" as the output file format. When I select the "ConnectIQ" input stream I get a popup with the error: "No Developer Data found in file", and the "ConnectIQ" checkbox gets annotated with "no valid data".

I saw that another user had posted a similar problem viewtopic.php?t=126 . In his case he was exporting data from a Garmin Forerunner 735XT. Your answer was:

It’s not really an error. It simply means that your file doesn’t have any of the special ConnectIQ fields present.

Based on your post "ConnectIQ fields not showing on Merge" viewtopic.php?t=141, I think your answer may be wrong. Your post explains that 3rd party apps must include an "application_id" (to supply the mapping to the field_defintion_number), but I suspect that is not true for Garmin's own apps. If your tool is checking for the presence of the application_id (and triggering the "No Developer Data found" error if it's not there), it may fail to detect the presence of ConnectIQ data in a .FIT file generated by a Garmin app.

I tried to attach a copy of the incoming .FIT file, but it is a dis-allowed file type.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I am a big fan of your tool!

[fulmar2]

Hi there -

I think you're a little confused about the difference between "Connect IQ" fields and "Garmin Native Fields." The fields that you are asking for are "Garmin Native Fields" and they are NOT "Connect IQ" Fields. Don't worry if you're confused - it's kind of a sloppy mess... but there is a reason behind the rhyme.

"Connect IQ" Fields are fields added by 3rd Parties. These can be things like "O2 Saturation" or "Wind Speed" or other stuff that Garmin left out. However a 3rd party may feel that they can do better than Garmin, and they might put in fields such as "Power" or "Heart Rate" into a "Connect IQ" field.... even if there is an already-existing "Garmin Native Field" for the same reading. That's OK to do - in fact in the FIT code, there is even an allowance for that where you can specify the "Garmin Native Field ID Number" for your Connect IQ field. You can even specify if you prefer the Connect IQ over the Native Value if you want. Regardless of what happens, though, "Connect IQ" fields and "Garmin Native" fields are written in two entirely different parts of the file, and they are encoded completely differently. Therefore, my tool needs to process them separately!

Now that you know how these fields are written to a FIT file, the fields you are looking for are "Garmin Native Fields."... however, they aren't too commonly requested. My tool originated for people who were trying to merge together enormous tracks - like 100 days worth of activities - and they were more concerned with having a nice map than all of the performance metric data. To make the tool use less bandwidth, I only read in the basic Strava fields which are Position, Temperature, Heart Rate, Power, Cadence, Elevation. Garmin has a total of 182 Native fields (some are still blank to be assigned in the future)... but I don't read all of those in for a normal merge. If you want to import all of the extra fields, you need to check the "Parse Rarely Used FIT Fields" box as shown below:

Check This Box to get extra Garmin Field!

If you check that box, my tool will NOT ignore all of those memory sucking 182 Native Fields, and it will extract stuff such as Grit, Flow, Pedal Dynamics, L/R Pedal Balance, Time spent standing... stuff like that. You won't be able to see these streams in the "streams" checkbox area because there are too many to fit on a page! Just know that they have been loaded into memory if you check that box mentioned above... and they will pass through to the final output.

Also note that you will NOT see that checkbox unless you have selected at least one "FIT" file with the "Choose Files" button. So, it's hidden before you choose files, and it appears only after you choose at least one FIT. Also, if you upload FIT files that have been zipped up, the tool will see a ZIP file and not a FIT file... so it will not know to give you the checkbox. Keep that in mind too. Hope that helps!

[BeagleScout]

Updated to add: yep that worked! Yeah!

Thank you for this quick, and super helpful response. I had tried the "parse rarely used fields", and I thought I determined that it didn't help. Now it works.

Thanks again!