MapMyWalk distance not matching Fitbit

[wordgrl]

"Map my walk" clarified I walked 3.25 miles with gps...my flex says way less...can anyone help solve the issue? 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[Shroz]

Hi Wordgrl,

I'm a fairly new user of Flex, and I've compared and noticed the discrepancy between GPS distance and Flex steps distance. For example, a tall person may achieve 5 miles in 10,000 steps. Whereas a shorter person may achieve a distance closer to 4.5 miles. I think that you'll get more accurate step distance results if you enter your unique stride length.  Here's how...  From your PC, open the fitbit dashboard. On the right upper-portion of the dashboard screen, click the gear cog wheel, then click settings. You will now be on the 'Personal Info' page. Scroll down to the 'Body Info' category. If you are a walker, enter your 'Stride Length'. If you are a runner, enter your 'Running Stride Length'. Cheers!

[Shroz]

Here is some useful information...   Progress in a walking program is typically based on either distance or number of steps. Although more advanced pedometers calculate distance, the basic devices only provide total steps. If you know a person's average stride length, you can convert steps into approximate distance. For walking programs and pedometer measurements, although the measurement is referred to as stride length, it is actually the step length that is used. The American College of Sports Medicine reports that there are approximately 2,000 steps in one mile, so the average step length is 2.6 feet or about 31 inches. Average stride length depends on many factors, including gender. The average step or stride length for women is smaller than for men. According to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, a woman's average step length is approximately 26 inches and her average stride length is 52 inches. A man's average step length is approximately 31 inches and his average stride length is 62 inches. For walking programs, women are encouraged to use an average step length of 26 inches and men are encouraged to use an average step length of 30 inches. Information Source...  http://www.livestrong.com/article/438170-the-average-walking-stride-length/

[dzierhart]

I have an Ionic Fitbit, which is equipped with gps, and I get a significant difference than with MapMyWalk, like a half mile over a 5 mile walk. 

[Bfields98]

I'm glad this came up. I have the fitbit one. I did a 4.66 mile walk this morning. I only got 3.15 miles recorded out of it on my fitbit. Later today I did a 4.99 mile walk and got 4.75 out of it recorded on my Fitbit. 

[RobertoME]

Hi there @dzierhart and @Bfields98 good to see you here in the Fitbit Community and thank you for bringing your concerns to this thread. Something that is worth to mention here, is that between comparison the distance will never be exactly the same, both apps will differ from one result to the other.

Also keep in mind that not all activities are recorded with GPS, so in those instances the amount steps determined the overall distance; I know you are well aware of this, but is worth to mention as well.

Note that when you're tracking an activity with GPS, Fitbit calculates your distance using GPS data rather than steps. 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.

Hope these quick tips, get you back on track. See you later!