Generate meaningful TCX for swimming data

[fetcheveryone]

The TCX for a pool swim using a Fitbit Ionic (and possibly other models) is missing virtually all detail (only useful data is the activity start date).

Please can we generate a simple TCX that reflects the length splits. This would involve generating a set of <Trackpoint> nodes that look like the following:

<Trackpoint>
<Time>2018-08-08T10:21:42Z</Time>
<DistanceMeters>25</DistanceMeters>
</Trackpoint>

<Trackpoint>
<Time>2018-08-08T10:22:11Z</Time>
<DistanceMeters>50</DistanceMeters>
</Trackpoint>

<Trackpoint>
<Time>2018-08-08T10:22:34Z</Time>
<DistanceMeters>75</DistanceMeters>
</Trackpoint>

etc...

The Fitbit user who first brought this to our attention bought the watch in the hope that she would be able to export her data to her favourite website to analyse her splits on long-distance training. A lot of our users (30,000 monthly unique visitors) make their tech purchasing decisions based on the capabilities of the manufacturer's platform to export that data for detailed analysis. Garmin and TomTom watches already offer this. If Fitbit can make this happen, we'd be sure to share it with our users. It may not be directly relevant to our runners and bikers, but it would be a great example for us to highlight how Fitbit is a malleable platform that responds to user needs.

Thanks for reading!

Ian W.

Moderator edit: Removed personal information.

[JohnnyD1968]

Hi Ian

if Fitbit made adjustments to the swimming app can they also add in a working Heartrate monitor  like all the other fitness trackers have ? And also a simple way of uploading it to other platforms like Strava as at the moment all you can do is manually add this to Strava ??? It’s not that difficult 

many thanks. 

[fetcheveryone]

Thanks for your upvote Johnny. I guess those changes are outside the scope of this particular request, but I know from my experience developing Fetcheveryone.com (which gives you a lot of what Strava does, but all for free), the Fitbit API tools do offer a lot of opportunities to import data to third-party sites. When the data is available, we've certainly had no problem importing it.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @fetcheveryone, nice suggestion. Thanks for adding all those details, we look forward to see a lot of votes and comments here. 

[Shanionie]

We keep asking for split times...........

[fetcheveryone]

@Shanionie for swimming specifically? If it's a more general request for any GPS file, a lot of third-party sites (including Fetcheveryone) can derive splits from the basic GPS trace.

[fetcheveryone]

@Shanionie have looked at your other posts, and it looks like you're talking about swimming data. If you're looking at alternative watches, my wife uses a Garmin 910XT, which does great multi-sport data. A bit chunky, but solid with it, and you can find them new on Amazon for £130ish.

[mommabeany]

Split times would be great. But just getting an accurate total for lengths of the pool would really be nice. I get an odd total more often than not. Starting and finishing on the same side of the pool would mean I should always have an even total lengths. I'm disappointed my swims don't automatically post to Strava. So far the only activity I see that posts to Strava are manually started runs. The Charge 3 isn't doing even close to what I thought it was supposed to do. 

[JohnnyD1968]

It does seem that if you slow down near the end of a length (someone in the way) it starts another length, this is on the ionic, fit bit could soon be losing a lot of custom if they don’t get their act together !!!!

John Davis

[SunsetRunner]

when can we get this feature?

[MaryM1196]

I bought the Fitbit Versa specifically to track pool workouts and then load them to Strava. Disappointed after spending over $150 that you cannot do this! 

[SunsetRunner]

Same here: I bought the Fitbit Versa specifically to track pool workouts and then load them to Strava. Disappointed after spending over $150 that you cannot do this! 

[Nolefp]

agreed, important!

[C_R_Hemingway]

It would be great (and expected in a $250 ionic) that swim data is syncs to strava

how many people are now taking to open water swimming - an element of GPS tracking would be great even if a little sketchy - but heart data,duration etc would be great to sync 

come on Fitbit !! 

[RazzleTom]

Any suggestions or repeated inquiries will fall on deaf ears at fitbit. Anything to do with lap times or uploading to Strava will yield nothing.  Unbelievable and true. 

[Brendothejet]

It would be great to hear something from Fitbit. Silence is deafening on this issue. 

[JMBreitenbach]

Have been using my Fitbit Ionic as an easy way to sync my workouts as I train for a full distance triathlon. Today, I used it for a swimming workout (had been skeptical about using it in the water). During the workout everything worked much better than I had expected. 

Only when I got home did I realize that it wouldn't sync with Strava like all my other activities. ...bummer. 

Looks like I'll be looking for a replacement that can export swim workouts and go back to my Garmin for run/cycling. 

Fitbit has a really decent watch with the Ionic, but it seems like it's really just a fancy step counter and not really a multisport watch. 

[JakeStrava]

Please, support swimming better. It's really annoying not being able to get this data into strava. 

I'm starting to look for a new watch to do this now. 

[fetcheveryone]

Strava fans - check out Fetcheveryone - there's no paywall, and the analysis is pretty awesome. I am, admittedly, biased 🙂

[amlana]

If I knew Fitbit had so many pitfalls like this one and some others (e.g. bugged resting heart rate algorithm), I’d definitely buy a Garmin instead. What a disappointment. 

[rbeliveau]

I'm very surprised this is still an open item with Fitbit. 8 Months since this was reported and we still can't even export the results. Swimmers and triathletes have, at the very least, some basic demands when it comes to features like this and I would hope Fitbit can catch up with other popular brands that can handle this. 

[keamy]

Please add this feature! Thanks.

[Crypticity]

Just to add another upvote. Just started to swim as a rehab after getting injured when running. Had just thought that fitbit would send swims/split times to Strava. Astonished it doesn't. It shouldn't be rocket science. (Still astonished that cadence is not part of Ionic's capabilities, too for that matter.)

[MaryM1196]

I'm not impressed with Fitbit:(

[StillLateStart]

I use the excellent Fetcheveryone site, and it would help me lots if useful non-GPS data saved to my Fitbit account (using my Charge 3) could be exported to my Fetch training log. I'm thinking of things like time and activity. Here's an example: Fitbit will record my 45 minutes on an elliptical trainer, but the file it generates for importing into Fetcheveryone here (see the 'import from a watch' box) does not include either time spent or type of activity done. So I have to enter the data manually.

Fitbit people, what's the plan on improving this? Thanks!

[rbeliveau]

I sold the fitbit ionic and bought a Garmin Forerunner 935 to handle
swimming. Fitbit is way behind the competition when it comes to swimming /
triathlon watches.