Why won't my hike map download?

[BillyK1964]

Hi, All: I had gone on a hike yesterday and used my Ionic to track it. However, when I got home the map would not download. Any suggestions on how I can retrieve the map?

[USAF-Larry]

@BillyK1964, if it is not showing in your exercise log, there will be no way to download it. Did you use the Hike exercise mode, and did your Ionic show Connected to the GPS before you started your hike?  If you allowed the Ionic to use SmartTrack to record the hike, there will be no map.

[BillyK1964]

Yes to selecting Hike and yes to connecting. When I see the map on the Exercise section it looks like the map is trying to download but it doesn’t.

[Rich_Laue]

@BillyK1964 did you start the recording of your hike through the Ionic or through the Fitbit app? 

[BillyK1964]

Hi, I started recording through my Ionic. 

[Rich_Laue]

Well then where do you see this map that is trying to download? 

When starting the tracking from the Ionic there wont be a map displayed until after a sync .

[macwiebe]

Hi Billy,

I have recently have had the same issue for my last 3 hikes where the maps are not downloading. When I go on to the app, it looks like it is trying to download as yours does.

Did you find a solution for this?

Thanks.

Bev

[Rich_Laue]

Is this with both the app and on the web, @macwiebe

[macwiebe]

Sent from my iPhone

[macwiebe]

With the app on the activity it looks like it is trying to download the map, but never does. If I click on the map, it brings up stats such as steps, floors, etc. But no map or splits,etc. It also does no sync with my Runkeeper app.

When I go on the web, on the day the activity took place I see a small summary map for the hike, but when I click on the activity to get more info it opens a new Fitbit page, tries to download the info but then comes up an error message.

[Rich_Laue]

An error message saying?

[macwiebe]

 No real error message

[macwiebe]

On the day page you can see a small summary map

[worldtraveller]

I'm having the same error message when I try to open my longer hikes. Shorter hikes show up. Can any technicians at fitbit figure this one out? 

[DavideFitbit]

Hello @worldtraveller, it's good to see you around in the forums. 

I'm sorry to see about the problem you've experienced loading your maps. Before considering further options, make sure that the Fitbit app is updated to the latest version available and also try restarting the app by doing the following: 

• Logout from the application 
• Restart your phone
• Log back in and check if you're able to see the maps correctly. 

I hope this helps, keep me posted. 

[ablakwar]

Deleted, posted accidentally before I was done

[ablakwar]

I just experienced this issue last night after trying to download the TCX file from a grueling 20 mile hike. I thought that maybe it was a short term glitch and the problem would be resolved today, as is often the case with server issues and such. Here today, gone tomorrow. Not so apparently.

It seems this issue was reported in 2017 and yet there is no resolution in sight. To make matters worse, every thread I read in the FitBit community that addresses this issue, or most issues for that matter, has a moderator/expert/legend (whatever they call themselves) giving some sort of canned response. Either they are quoting the manuals, as if we are too dumb and/or lazy to read a manual (though I know some people are); or they keep saying FitBit is working on it and they'll post something when the problem is fixed. It's truly ridiculous, as most questions that people ask are concerning the same issues. This should be a clue to FitBit that you are either not making directions clear enough or you have a faulty product that needs fixing. 

This is my first and last FitBit. It works great for some things, but if it can't do what it claims without all of these hitches, then it's junk in my book. Keep it up FitBit. You're in a niche market that has many competitors that do the same thing and more, and often times better.

[worldtraveller]

I understand your frustration - my shorter hikes download - it is my day long hikes that won't. And your right I received a canned response which I had obviously already tried.
We went on a two week hiking trip last year and most of my hikes didn't download. Maybe we should have paid the extra money and bought an Apple product.
Still frustrated.

Sent from my iPhone

[karensherring]

My maps never load on the app. Very frustrating. 

[Awfulhak]

FWIW this has been a Fitbit bug for more than two years - I suspect it has always been a bug. Anything much more than 4 hours is broken. Not dissimilar to the “cant do connected gps unless your app is running” bug (which turned up around iOS 10), Fitbit don’t seem to have the development team to fix these issues. 

I would say say however that, when using the Strava integration maps do upload to Strava. I also see maps on the Fitbit web site.

I think it’s a shame that Fitbit seem to be dropping the ball with these bugs. It won’t do them any favours WRT to customer loyalty.  Their products are however still excellent in terms of features vs battery life and physical profile, so they are still (IMHO) way better than products such as Garmin and Apple.