Ionic GPS track right, distance is wrong

[SalemChilly]

I had 2 trips on Pittsburgh river paddling, GPS all tracks accurate route. However, in my second trip, the distance is way off. 

I was not able to edit the first trip (accurate one), but I was able to edit the mileage of the second trip (inaccurate one) 

Question: Why GPS route is correct, but not the distance? Inaccurate DistanceAccurate Distance

[MkeRunnerGirl]

It's a state park map, and literally every other map you can find. If every
other brand of tracker is giving the same exact distance, but the Ionic is
off, my bet is going to be on the Ionic being wrong.

Even today, I ran and my Fitbit said exactly 5miles. I used Google
pedometer online to measure distance and it was off over 1/2mile. It's
consistently off the same amount.

[Whistler888]

Here is some GPS data pulled from Strava in bike mode:

Fitbit 7.8mi 5419ft elev gain

Android 7.5mi 5415ft elev gain

Fitbit 13.8mi 9656ft elev gain

Android 13.7mi 9277ft elev gain

For my purposes is close enough.  But for others maybe not.

[MkeRunnerGirl]

Were you biking or just had it in bike mode while walking or running?

[WiggyOne]

I've been walking every day and the fitbit is consistently wrong. I'm going to try the bike mode today, but I'm concerned that my steps won't be registered which is one of my biggest metrics for my activity during the day. Why can't fitbit FIX this issue?!?!

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

[Whistler888]

For any walking hiking running found that using the Run mode with pause gives somwhat similar results to my other devices.  But you can chk yourself by wearing or carrying other GPS devices with you to compare and validate firsthand.

Seems the slower you go the more off the Ionic track and distance becomes.  Faster is more accurate.  We use GPS Timex Garmin Glo Apple Android depending on the circumstance.  Interestingly the Ionic calc 7.36mi yesterday while Strava calc 7.5 based on the same Ionic GPS data.  So there must be some variance in how the same GPS track is interpreted by different apps.

Some smooth data points to give cleaner looking results and maybe more consistent results -> while some like the Ionic use more rough raw data points judging from its walking and hiking tracks.  They are much more skewed.  Personally would not rely on the Ionic data over my other devices.  But as noted it is close enough for my purposes.  For more remote hikes we use the Garmin Glo linked to my Air 2 for greatest accuracy.  That way the GPS does not drain my phone at all and have a visible live track for hours and hours.  Much safer by far -> if into that sorta thing.  Just carry a big 20000 ext battery and can go for days.

The key for me is the Ionic is the only watch device we have that has Music GPS and Strava integration on my wrist.  We do sprint intervals or quick runs or hikes or walks -> so the Ionic is much better vs lugging a phone around,  The accuracy compromise is ok as noted -> and the GPS data more just for general interest.  But of course your YMMV.

[Fika83]

definitely the bad gps is problem I walked to the job and start it 1 km and lost the connection twice after 5 s connection is comeback. Open area there are no buildings around when I run with friends throug the  city one has Fenix ​​3 the other old Vivoactive 2 there is no problems. I thought how they represent it as premium watch Adidas sport edition that kind of stuff  shouldn t happened.

[SunsetRunner]

Ionic GPS, when it works, isn't any worse than other devices. Today I took 3 bike rides and tracked the route with my mobile phone ( PolarBeat app, power saving off, highest accuracy ), Suunto watch (GPS+GLONASS, high accuracy settings) and Ionic. One thing I had to do was exporting TCX files and trimming them to match begin/end timestamps as it is quite impossible to turn all the sensors on and off exactly at the same time. I noticed that the Ionic, when I'm not moving, generates some noise ( looks like a drunk fly trying to find the way out ). This could be happening during "Connecting..." phase or simply Ionic may have a problem in case we don't actually change our position. Here's an example:

You can see that the data points are all over the shop and during that time I was not changing my position ( I was preparing my bike to ride, lights, unlocking etc. ). The data points however cover quite a large area. Other sensors didn't show similar noise.

Another thing I could see was that stopping exercise ( when you see the option "End" and "Resume" ) still collected data points. I sometimes forget to press "End". Bit of a surprise but ok. I trimmed that, too.

Then the distances I ended up with are:

Suunto - 4.8km

Ionic - 4.8km

Polar - 4.7km

Worth noting that no single route is 100% accurate. Suunto seems to be the most ideal but even in this case sometimes data points are misaligned. I would have to apply more math to the data based on a manually designed "perfect" route. Not going to waste my time for it.

Interesting thing is that same route in my Dashboard shows 4.74km but with mygpsfiles tool, it's computed as 5.2km before trimming to match timestamps. I think the difference here is because mygpsfiles doesn't filter out the noise ( drunk-fly noise ) which occurred at the beginning and end while Dashboard probably tries to smoothen erratic data ( we will never know that, Fitbit never reveals anything ). It may also mean that the algorithm used by Fitbit is different ( although in the past I used 3 different algorithms and the difference usually was marginal ). In the case of cycling, I think it's good enough especially that cyclists rather cover larger distances than runners and even 500-600m difference won't be as significant fora total distance of let's say 50km. I would even accept slightly larger error due to the way GPS works. Below just a snapshot of one arch where I was following the cycling path ( broken blue line ). As you can see no GPS sensor nailed it. Suunto is the closest ( even "touched" that path 😄 😞

Pink - Suunto

Orange - Ionic

Blue - PolarBeat ( mobile GPS )

No GPS is perfect but still, I'd rather have distance based only on GPS data rather than artificially beautified. Ionic GPS, when connected, does as good a job like any other.

[Fika83]

Both things and it seems that in bike mode there is no interruption , but the same route seems to me that it was okay in bike mode there was no interruption and it was shorter, in run mode I m walking more because interraption the same route. But in bike mode I don t have parameters as I have in run It s note the same thing. But how to explain that I Don t have interraption in bike mode and have in run mode. I have yet to try to confirm this. 

[SunsetRunner]

@Fika83 that's why I don't use Ionic for running. I don't like the way the parameters like distance and pace are calculated and as long as this won't be fixed ( my stride is not fixed length during running so should not contribute at all ), they don't match reality. This I think affects the pace, too. For cycling, it's just my supporting device as it doesn't deliver any useful data comparing to other apps and devices I use.

[SantiR]

Hello everyone! Thanks for your participation on this thread regarding the distance calculated when using GPS on Ionic. Thanks for sharing all the different experiences and situations you have had so far with this. I' also glad to read that some of you have had good results while using GPS on Ionic. 

I appreciate all of the suggestions and details you have shared about this. I'm sure this is very helpful for a lot of users. 

Please feel free to vote for the following Feature Suggestion:

• Make Run Distance Based Only On GPS Data (Optional)

The more votes, the better. You can also leave a comment sharing your thoughts and feelings about this.

Also, if you are experiencing trouble connecting to GPS; feel free to check this article for details on that.  

Check this article to learn how to use the Fitbit app to capture GPS data and check this other one about GPS accuracy. 

Hope this helps. Keep me posted! 

[bmw54]

---

@MarreFitbit wrote:

If you begin moving before you get a GPS signal, the tracker will calculate distance using steps and stride length as described above until a GPS signal is found. Once the GPS signal is found, Fitbit uses both GPS and step rate and stride length to compute distance for lower error.

---

I've added italics and bold-face to her second sentence because it is, perhaps, the most honest and revealing statement we've seen regarding fitbit's Run app. 

In particular, this is the first time I've seen a reference to error handling. All along I've suspected fitbit software contains logic to correct for what they perceive as error. And, since they don't beta test their products or field test them with actual competitive runners, the logic has been 'correcting' away accuracy from what I always thought was a halfway-decent piece of measurement hardware.

None of this will change. The Ionic will not be improved. Because competitive athletes are not in Fitbit's marketing strategy. They're too narrow a niche for a company that sells the hope of fitness. 

[Whistler888]

Did this quick test today to check variance on the Ionic.  See pics.  Exact same route down a hill 1.51 -> then up the same hill 1.41 under the same weather conditions.  Down was in run mode and up was in bike mode.

Interestingly Strava calc 1.5 miles for both.  So that reflects different apps do indeed process the same GPS data in different ways.  The Ionic had weird gaps in the track when it auto-paused and restarted -> while the Strava track was continuous.  Positive was that the Strava numbers were consistent.  Oh as well the pace was much faster on the Strava due to a different more accurate moving time calc.  So many variables and variances here to contend with.

Ok now to head off for NYE party time.  Have a safe evening all.  Plus polar bear swim tomorrow.  Haha.

[Rich_Laue]

I took a walk yesterday, both Google and Fitbit where off from reality. It was a very cloudy day.Google

Fitbit

 Note I walked around the perimeter strutting near the water

[SantiR]

@Rich_Laue @Whistler888 @bmw54 I hope you're doing well! Thanks for taking the time to share your experience on this thread regarding the GPS functionality. I'm sure your posts will be helpful for other users too. Thanks for sharing the screen shots.

Feel free to check my post here for more information on GPS functionality on Ionic.

Keep me posted! 

[JJRider]

Many opportunities over the last year (at least 50) to track both road and mtn bike rides in bike mode. The Ionic GPS is NEVER accurate. 2 examples over the last 2 days on the same trail in opposite directions: Published trail length - 5.1 miles. Map My Ride on Galaxy S7 - 5.2 miles and 5.08 respectively. Ionic - 1.46 and 3.6 miles respectively. The closest it has ever been is always about half a mile under actual distance. Since 1 of the main reasons I got the Ionic was to track bike rides, this has been frustrating and disappointing. I would expect better from a $200+ device.      

[MkeRunnerGirl]

I agree!!

[mosAustin]

I track my commute in bike mode on an Ionic, and it's often off on the distance, although the map is correct.  This morning, Runkeeper showed 11.02 miles, which I think is the accurate distance.  Fitbit Ionic shows 9.09 miles.  Oddly, the Ionic reported to Runkeeper, and so Runkeeper shows the activity twice, once with 9.09 distance and once with 11.02 distance. The speed is corresponding wrong, with Fitbit reporting average speed of 7.3 mph and Runkeeper 10.08 mph.  

[Yagi87]

I have the same issue my Fitbit is always 0.8km under everyone elses some have the same device as me a Ionic but some Garmin apple etc.. I have contacted Fitbit today as was told they are aware of the issue and are working on it no offer to swap/exchange it 🤬 isn't the word!

[Forest64]

I've been using the watch for about a month, running 40-50 miles a week.  I still bring my I-Phone w/Strava along, sometimes because I just need to have a phone, but mostly for the accuracy issue.  The Ionic seems to record me up to 15 seconds/mile slower than Strava, and for no good reason I can see - the device locks onto GPS much faster than the Garmin I used to use and the tracks are no worse than Strava's. On today's 10 mile run, IPhone/Strava and Ionic were clicking off the half miles right on cue.  Ionic however measured pace anywhere from 2 to 15 seconds slower per mile, and this is consistently the case in different terrain, different paces, and different distances.

For easy runs where I just want to listen to music and keep track of how far I have gone, it is a nice watch and I love not having to carry the phone.  If you are trying to lock in a specific pace and need accurate splits, not so much. 

If someone can explain why this is "Solved" per the thread title, I would definitely like to hear the solution.

[MkeRunnerGirl]

Yes! A few runs ago, my cousin commented how our pace was so much faster
than when I run with the dogs, but on my Ionic, it definitely wasn't
reading as faster!