garmin tcx correction

[bonj2]

on my last two rides my garmin turned itself off part way through the ride (navigating and recording). turning it on again it continues with the navigation ok, and carries on recording (see below), but does produce a blip in the recording such that motionbased or training center won't recognise it.
Anyone else ever had this?

But, on closer investigation, it appears it has logged all the trackpoints. BUT: it has bodged up the formatting (non-technical people look away now): what it's supposed to do is put lots and lots of Trackpoint nodes inside a Track node. But when it comes to the 'blip', what it looks like it's done, is while in the Time node, instead of just writing the time and closing the time node, it's started a new Track node, then started a new Trackpoint node, then started a new Time node, THEN written the time. so instead of <Track>.......<Trackpoint><Time>[the time]</Time>...[position]...</Trackpoint>,
it's gone
<Track>.......<Trackpoint><Time><Track><Trackpoint><Time>[the time]
!
and it hasn't bothered closing the rogue Track,Trackpoint,Time nodes that it's started inside the Time node, so what I've had to do is correct them, view it as xml inside internet explorer, locate them, navigate to that position in a text editor and remove them. Save, rename back to tcx and it works fine!

So a bit of a mystery... (1), why it turns off when its battery hasn't run out, (2) why does it start a new <Track> node and why does it always do it inside a <Time<> node?

 

[ufkacbln]

You are not unique in this.

It was a problem with early 205 and 305 units and itwas hoped it would be cured withthe 605 and 705

It would appear to be a "contact" problem, and there are a couple of fixes on the internet, but all involve resoldering battery contacts - which invalidates the warranty.

http://www.fixya.com/search/p483439-garmin_edge_305_gps_receiver/unit_turns_off

http://www.fixya.com/support/p914746-garmin_edge_705_handheld_gps_receiver

These are typical responses

HAving said that there was a suggestion on the MotionBased Forum that a hard reset and upgrade to the software solvedthe problem.

Finally = have you tried different software to download. I use SportTracks and Training Centre after problems with MotionBased., but I quite often get corrupted files on one but not the other...

 

[bonj2]

hmmm... if it's a contact problem I don't see how hard reset and software update would stop it switching off, or do you mean that it just enables it to cope with it and not "corrupt" the file when it does?

I like motionbased as it gives good stats and enables you to view the route in google maps, imho the best mapping software there is. It would be, they've got more developers working on it than anybody else; fwiw i work with map rendering code at work and it's hard to get it anywhere like the speed of google even with locally held data, so i know that the speed google maps renders over the internet is damn hard to achieve...
so anything that can use google maps wins hands down... i often find myself switching between it and mapsource when planning a route.

 

[jimboalee]

When I'm out on a ride ( with 605 ) and it is switched off at a cafe stop, it will record two history files.

My method of stitching them together is by changing the extension to something MS Excel can import .mxl ?? or was it .mlx ?

When they are both on a spreadsheet, I cut and paste to make one ride.

Time values that are imported from the re-named history file are 'time of day', not the elapsed time of the ride, so it's easy peasy.

 

[bonj2]

When I'm out on a ride ( with 605 ) and it is switched off at a cafe stop, it will record two history files.

My method of stitching them together is by changing the extension to something MS Excel can import .mxl ?? or was it .mlx ?

When they are both on a spreadsheet, I cut and paste to make one ride.

Time values that are imported from the re-named history file are 'time of day', not the elapsed time of the ride, so it's easy peasy.

are you thinking of xml...

 

[jimboalee]

Yup.

Change the extension. click OK to the warning dialog box and drop it in cell A1 on the empty sheet.

You'll delete loads of columns before and after the important data.

Insert a column after distance and do a subtraction to get d distance. Fill the column.
Do another subtraction to get d t.
Instantaneous speed is dd/dt. It is in m/s, so needs to be converted to mph.
Another subtraction gets d elevation, and de/dd gets %slope.

Plot a chart of instantaneous mph vs % slope and you see a mess of spot points which vaguely look like a crescent shape.
Filter out all the outliers and perform a polynomial curve fit to see your mean climbing speed vs gradient.

Repeat this procedure after every ride longer than 15ish miles up and down some hills, and you can assess your climbing. It will improve

 

[bonj2]

Yup.

Change the extension. click OK to the warning dialog box and drop it in cell A1 on the empty sheet.

You'll delete loads of columns before and after the important data.

Insert a column after distance and do a subtraction to get d distance. Fill the column.
Do another subtraction to get d t.
Instantaneous speed is dd/dt. It is in m/s, so needs to be converted to mph.
Another subtraction gets d elevation, and de/dd gets %slope.

Plot a chart of instantaneous mph vs % slope and you see a mess of spot points which vaguely look like a crescent shape.
Filter out all the outliers and perform a polynomial curve fit to see your mean climbing speed vs gradient.

Repeat this procedure after every ride longer than 15ish miles up and down some hills, and you can assess your climbing. It will improve

ah, good tip, cheers.