Matching routes

4 watchers

ChrisHB Mar 2013 10:58pm, 3 Mar 2013 8,545 posts	0 ChrisHB I suppose we all have a number of running routes we use repeatedly. Anyone who doesn't have a GPS can see in the route list how many times they've run a route and their best and worst times. It's quite sensible then to use the "compare two runs" feature. Not so for GPS users. Every run has its own route recorded. I think it's technically possible to say that one GPS-measured route is the same as another. To reduce the processing time needed, Fetch could first of all compare only routes of the same length, and finishing at the same point. (Finishing, not starting, because a GPS often starts a run a few hundred metres away from the true location). Would there be much support for requesting this feature as a site enhancement?
McGoohan Mar 2013 11:14pm, 3 Mar 2013 6,965 posts	0 McGoohan I've got a shedload of routes which are essentially the same and presumably taking up a lot of database space. However, I guess each one is a bit different and it all depends 'how different'. Sometimes I cut this or that corner, sometimes go down a different street. And I suppose it depends on what constitutes the same length. Because of my detours/corner cutting the distance comes up slightly different too each time. I guess there'd have to be a reasonable deviation allowed between distances for the runs being compared.
ChrisHB Mar 2013 11:22pm, 3 Mar 2013 8,546 posts	0 ChrisHB Maybe the user would have to assent to or decline the suggestion that one route is the same as another. Before I had a garmin I would take great care always to run an exact route.
geordiegirl Mar 2013 6:27am, 4 Mar 2013 6,310 posts	0 geordiegirl I often wonder if I deleted the route garmin has uploaded will I lose that data?
paul the builder Mar 2013 3:04pm, 4 Mar 2013 3,342 posts	0 paul the builder I can see what you're getting at Chris - although personally all my 'same' routes will have different details as I (say) run up a side street to cross it behind exiting traffic and then back down it again, or cross the road at a different time and so get the inside/outside of a bend - things like that. So it wouldn't appeal to me, your idea (nice though it is).
Keefy Beefy Mar 2013 3:34pm, 4 Mar 2013 8,322 posts	0 Keefy Beefy I have one route that I do enough the same every time that I'd be happy to call it exactly the same every time. There is no way to significantly vary it (unless you like doing out-and-backs down dead-end residential streets) apart from the point where you cross one road (which makes no difference really). I run it so often because it's the only route I can run in the evening due to the street lights. I probably run it 25% of the time that I run. I don't upload via GPS very often but the last time I did I wondered about Fetch storing all these almost identical routes for every user. I also thought how useful it would be to have all the Loudwater runs I do listed under the same route.
southcoastclaret Mar 2013 7:00am, 5 Mar 2013 168 posts	0 southcoastclaret You can already do this. When you upload your run, just click in the route box and choose the name of the route you have just run. It will record all your GPS and heart rate details and then keep all the data so you can compare times and see how you are progressing. If you run a route for the first time and you think it is going to become a regular, just edit it and change the name to something more memorable/descriptive.
Keefy Beefy Mar 2013 8:08am, 5 Mar 2013 8,323 posts	0 Keefy Beefy Woah...
redeaston Mar 2013 8:11am, 5 Mar 2013 349 posts	0 redeaston I did not know you could do that. I just presumed you would loose the data for so me reason. I do tend to run the same routes often and now have millions of the things listed so this will help cut down the number I have going forward.
Keefy Beefy Mar 2013 8:35am, 5 Mar 2013 8,324 posts	0 Keefy Beefy God bless you, southcoastclaret.