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Straight Line (Interpolation) between 2 merged files / section

Posted: Sun Sep 05, 2021 8:17 pm
by RienSte
Hi all,

I am facing the issue, that I can see straight lines (i.e. connections) between the last data point of one file and the first data point of the following consecutive file, when I choose "time based" visualisation of the graphs in Garmin Connect.
This might be somehow correct, as the x-axis shows the elapsed real time including the breaks (between two recordings). But to be honest... I would prefer to have the x axis based on the elapsed time during the workout. So that the break between the two files is removed. Because then it would also match the total elapsed workout time. As implemented now, I can see my activity last for 43 mins but in the graph the x-axis goes up to 1 hrs 11 mins, because the break is also visualized.

Here you can see a screenshot of the problem:
Image

Is there any way to remove those non relevant parts of the merged files? Maybe provide an option for it?
Thanks a lot in advance for your support and also for your great work here!!!

PS: I donated, so I am already using FIT files :-)

Side note: fitfiletools do it this way, there the x axis looks better, so there should be a way to do it... but btw: they mess up the distance axis, and dont respond to any mails, this is why I came here.

Re: Straight Line (Interpolation) between 2 merged files / section

Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:07 pm
by fulmar2
Hi There-

The only way to remove these "time gaps" is to actually delete the time. This would make your activity unrealistic in the real-world sense of time. For example, if you began an activity at 1:00 PM and rode for 15 minutes, stopped for 20 minutes, and then rode again for another 10 minutes, that would be a total activity time of 45 minutes. In the "real world", your activity time would end at 1:45PM. If we were to literally remove the stopped time of 20 minutes, we would have to shift all of your time stamps to take up the space left by the 20 minute deletion. If I did this, your activity would end at 1:25PM instead of 1:45PM. You can see how that would work? These tools are designed to be used in Strava (not Garmin Connect per se), but I'm open to giving users the option to "delete time". This would be inaccurate for Strava, but I guess it wouldn't be problematic for indoor training rides and rides that don't occur in the "real world." The area where this would become an issue is if a user stopped for a rest in the middle of a Strava segment, and then resumed riding. By being able to delete time, the user could theoretically be "cheating" on Strava. Although this feature could be put to good use for trainers, I debate as to whether or not it will always be used ethically. I'll keep thinking about it, though.

Re: Straight Line (Interpolation) between 2 merged files / section

Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2021 6:35 am
by RienSte
Good morning,

thanks a lot for your quick response.
I totally understand your points and the more often I think about it, the more consent I am with this solution, because - as you said - it matches the reality. Anyway... an option to choose either to merge the files for Strava (i.e. with breaks) or Garmin Connect (i.e. without) would be really nice. I read a story somewhere here in the forum of a guy doing a long distance hike spread over months. Imagine the graphs with (e.g.) 2 months of a break between the sections. You couldn't read anything out of it.

Just another thought:
If you "hard-pause" an acitivity on Garmin watches (like the Forerunner series) ==> means stop the activity and choose "resume later" => the final file (which then is nothing different than a merge of several legs) also does not include the timestamps of the break. So the first data point of the next leg follows right after the last one of the previous leg.

Looking forward to the results of your internal discussions. And thanks again for your efforts :)

Cheers,
Stephan