FAQ: The moving time for my activity is not correct
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 5:03 pm
I get a lot of questions about the Moving Time / Total Time in an activity merged by GOTOES. Let's look at the problems and solutions.
Possible Problems and Solutions
How to tweak Moving Time
Possible Problems
Possibility 1: Insufficient Point Density
I spent some time trying to figure out a way to coerce Strava into displaying various options for moving time vs elapsed time. It turns out that Strava will override the information embedded in my TCX output files based on criteria that they explain in this help page. That applies to Real-World files from GPS devices with a clear outdoor signal taking a reading every one to three seconds. If you are using the "Add Timestamps to GPS Tracks" tool on a track with infrequent points, or if you are using a trainer activity, you may want to select the checkbox that says "Interpolate Files (add trackpoints)". Selecting this option will make your file much larger, but it will put in a trackpoint for every second. My tool just does linear averaging between points to increase the density - so nothing fancy. If the point density is low, Strava will consider the time between points to be stopped time, and this will mess up your average speed. By putting in more points, my tool can override this quirk of Strava.
Possibility 2: Lack of "Breaks" in the track
Strava uses two ways of determining if you are stopped: They either trust the stopped time in the file, or calculate their own version of stopped time based on their "minimum speed to be considered moving" algorithm. If you upload a GPX file, it is not possible to insert laps or breaks - so Strava will always have to use "minimum speed to be considered moving". In TCX files, you can insert breaks in the files... and in FIT files, you can directly specify start and stops. In my tool, I have added the option to "Ignore Big Gaps" (though technically, the gaps can be small too). The way this feature works is that you specify the size of the gap (in time or in distance), and if a section of track exceeds the value you specify, my tool will insert a start/stop in that region of your export. Since you cannot embed breaks in GPX, this option does not exist for GPX. If you export as TCX, Strava MAY respect these breaks. Strava should definitely respect the breaks if you export as FIT. Note that the FIT export option is only available to active donors.
How To Tweak Moving Time
It is possible that there are not any inherent problems in your GPS files like those mentioned above... Before we start, you need to understand the limitations of the different file types.
Possible Problems and Solutions
How to tweak Moving Time
Possible Problems
Possibility 1: Insufficient Point Density
I spent some time trying to figure out a way to coerce Strava into displaying various options for moving time vs elapsed time. It turns out that Strava will override the information embedded in my TCX output files based on criteria that they explain in this help page. That applies to Real-World files from GPS devices with a clear outdoor signal taking a reading every one to three seconds. If you are using the "Add Timestamps to GPS Tracks" tool on a track with infrequent points, or if you are using a trainer activity, you may want to select the checkbox that says "Interpolate Files (add trackpoints)". Selecting this option will make your file much larger, but it will put in a trackpoint for every second. My tool just does linear averaging between points to increase the density - so nothing fancy. If the point density is low, Strava will consider the time between points to be stopped time, and this will mess up your average speed. By putting in more points, my tool can override this quirk of Strava.
- Notice the difference in point density between the top track (blue dots) and lower track (also blue dots). In the upper track, Strava may think you are "stopped" between the points.
Possibility 2: Lack of "Breaks" in the track
Strava uses two ways of determining if you are stopped: They either trust the stopped time in the file, or calculate their own version of stopped time based on their "minimum speed to be considered moving" algorithm. If you upload a GPX file, it is not possible to insert laps or breaks - so Strava will always have to use "minimum speed to be considered moving". In TCX files, you can insert breaks in the files... and in FIT files, you can directly specify start and stops. In my tool, I have added the option to "Ignore Big Gaps" (though technically, the gaps can be small too). The way this feature works is that you specify the size of the gap (in time or in distance), and if a section of track exceeds the value you specify, my tool will insert a start/stop in that region of your export. Since you cannot embed breaks in GPX, this option does not exist for GPX. If you export as TCX, Strava MAY respect these breaks. Strava should definitely respect the breaks if you export as FIT. Note that the FIT export option is only available to active donors.
- Another way to force Strava to display the proper moving time / stopped time / elapsed time on an export from the GOTOES | Strava Tools
How To Tweak Moving Time
It is possible that there are not any inherent problems in your GPS files like those mentioned above... Before we start, you need to understand the limitations of the different file types.
- GPX - GPX files were invented long before people were using GPS devices to record their sports activities. As such, there is nowhere to store information like moving time (or even total time) in a GPX file. This means that websites like Strava and Garmin Connect will ALWAYS calculate your moving time for GPX files based on their proprietary algorithms. These are based on a "minimum speed to consider moving." That speed is calculated from a GPX File based on the distance between two consecutive points, divided by the time for those two points. GOTOES has NO CONTROL over moving time for GPX files because there is not a place where GOTOES could store that information.
- TCX - TCX files were invented in the early days of using GPS devices for sports activities. They were quickly superseded by the FIT format, but they do allow us to store moving time. The problem is that TCX files are textual, and can easily be manipulated. Therefore, Strava has decided to apply their own algorithm (see above for GPX files) and override any non moving time in TCX files. This means that GOTOES has NO CONTROL over moving time for TCX files uploaded to Strava - because Strava will recalculate the moving time.
- FIT - FIT are currently the standard format for sports activities, and they can include all sorts of data, including stamps when your device is stopped as well as when you start. Websites like Strava and Garmin Connect do respect these start/stop times and they use them to mathematically calculate your total time as well as your moving and non-moving time. If you never push the stop button on your GPS (or if you have auto-pause disabled), Strava will then OVERRIDE and recalculate your moving time using the algorithm mentioned above for GPX/TCX files.
By default, GOTOES does NOT insert start/stop times into your FIT files. This means that Strava will be calculating your moving/total time using the methods mentioned above. If you want for GOTOES to try and insert stopped time, you have several options:
- You want to exclude a ferry ride or a long period of time that you spent at a cafe. In this scenario, you would want to use the "Ignore Big Gaps" checkbox. You can choose to ignore big gaps of distance (like the ferry ride) and/or big gaps in time (like the cafe). Just set the distance / time to ignore and GOTOES will insert the starts and stops into your TCX or FIT output. Remember that Strava will probably recalculate if you're exporting from GOTOES as TCX. See image below on how to toggle these settings:
- You want to exclude non-moving time when you stopped for traffic lights or took a short break. In this scenario, you would want to use the "Try to Insert Stopped Time" checkbox. If you do this, you will also want to specify a "Minimum Speed to consider moving". In this scenario, GOTOES will measure your speed between each point. If GOTOES finds more than a few consecutive points with speeds that are below your minimum threshold to be considered moving, GOTOES will insert a stop stamp that persists until your track speed increases above your minimum threshold to consider moving. If you put a very low threshold to consider moving, you will have have less stopped time. If you put a very high minimum threshold to consider moving, you will have more stopped time. See image below on how to toggle these settings:
- You want to exclude a ferry ride or a long period of time that you spent at a cafe. In this scenario, you would want to use the "Ignore Big Gaps" checkbox. You can choose to ignore big gaps of distance (like the ferry ride) and/or big gaps in time (like the cafe). Just set the distance / time to ignore and GOTOES will insert the starts and stops into your TCX or FIT output. Remember that Strava will probably recalculate if you're exporting from GOTOES as TCX. See image below on how to toggle these settings: