Since I have been spending more time inside than normal I have started work on writing a Datafield for my Garmin Fenix 3 to display the categories that we post to GPSTC. I feel this would be a useful addition to those of us who have an approved GPS on the shoulder and a Garmin on the wrist. It would be a nice match for the new "No display" Motion Simple Logger
I know there are some datafields already available, I have been using several for years, the biggest problem I find with them is that the fonts are too small to read without glasses. I aim to maximize the font size wherever possible. Ideally I would like to display all 6 categories in real time, but I have my doubts that I have the processing power to do the alpha 500.
Now I am not a computer programmer. The whole process has been a real battle. Progress has been slow and frustrating, but I am starting to get some results.
I am working on the two screens in the picture. They are fairly self explanatory, the coloured bars show how close your best 5 ten second runs are. At the top of the second screen the approx GPS signal quality is displayed and at the bottom the time of the session.
I have run into many problems, one unresolved issue is the different screens and fonts all the different Garmin watches support. The more detail I put on a screen the more incompatible the graphics appear on different watches.
So this is a call out to those who may be interested. What models of Garmin watch should I support? So far I am working on Fenix 3 and Fenix 5.

For those who are not aware Garmin Datafields can be downloaded for free from the Garmin IQ store and installed on most Garmin wathces. Don't look for this yet though as it is not yet published.
I feel I have to add that this is an on the water tool only, the results are not approved for posting to GPSTC. If you want to argue about that then please do it somewhere else.

That looks awesome, Andy. Great work. I have Fenix 5 plus and Vivioactive 3. An alpha indication is not possible I assume?

Inside time well spent Andrew, looks great! Id love to try it too when you can make it available, Fenix 6s

Nicely done Andrew.
Q: How hard would it be to make a field for 500 meters, So we could check against the actual World's best Athletes times?

Only asking!

Stay safe everyone

Great work. I've got a Motion logger coming and use a Garmin FR920XT for on the water feedback. If I can upgrade to a Fenix, I'll be keen to load your Datafield

A day spent working out which watches I can adapt my code to suit. It turns out that there are many different screen sizes and shapes and each watch appears to support different fonts, they certainly do not make it easy. Eventually figured out how to draw custom fonts. I can now support the following watches.
Native font support:
Fenix 3, Fenix 3 HR
Custom font support:
Forerunner 735XT (216 by 180)
Fenix 5S, Fenix Chronos, Vivoavctive 4S (218 by 218)
Fenix 5, Fenix 5plus, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X PLus, Fenix 6S, Fenix 6S,Foreruuner 935, Forerunner 945, Vivoactive 3 PRO (240 by 240)
Fenix 6, Fenix 6 Pro, Vivoactive 4 (260 by 260
Fenix 6X Pro (280 by 280)

Picture show Fenix 6s

That screen is looking great Andrew, thank you!

My dodgy Fenix setup with hour timer. Yours looks awesome Andrew.

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tbwonder said..
A day spent working out which watches I can adapt my code to suit. It turns out that there are many different screen sizes and shapes and each watch appears to support different fonts, they certainly do not make it easy. Eventually figured out how to draw custom fonts. I can now support the following watches.
Native font support:
Fenix 3, Fenix 3 HR
Custom font support:
Forerunner 735XT (216 by 180)
Fenix 5S, Fenix Chronos, Vivoavctive 4S (218 by 218)
Fenix 5, Fenix 5plus, Fenix 5S Plus, Fenix 5X, Fenix 5X PLus, Fenix 6S, Fenix 6S,Foreruuner 935, Forerunner 945, Vivoactive 3 PRO (240 by 240)
Fenix 6, Fenix 6 Pro, Vivoactive 4 (260 by 260
Fenix 6X Pro (280 by 280)

Picture show Fenix 6s

Great work!! Can't wait to install it on my Fenix 5 when you're finished!!

Hi Andrew, could you get it to run on the Garmin Vivoactive HR.

Cheers Nudie

I see in the IQ app store for my Fenix 5, there you find an app called "Windsurf".
Not sure what it really does or how it works? Just wondering what may already be out there working for the majority of Garmin watches with GPS function, as Garmin has been around for long and so has windsurfing?

I use this one currently. It's great
apps.garmin.com/en-AU/apps/b820a772-e335-406a-85b7-2ac6a0e5b61a

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Stretchy said..
I use this one currently. It's great
apps.garmin.com/en-AU/apps/b820a772-e335-406a-85b7-2ac6a0e5b61a

I have used several of the existing apps, my favorite by far is the "Wind/Kite Surfing Datafield" by FIN151. It does the 2 sec and 10 sec really well. I have used it for most sessions for the last 2 years. However I find the text size very difficult to read. I am not aware of any apps that measure the "Hour" or "Nautical Mile"
I am currently working on passing user configuration into the Datafield. This will allow the option of logging "GPS quality" and will provide options in the future for changing say the NM to 500m (as Nudie requested)

So I have finally after much struggling managed to get something that works (on my Fenix 3 anyway). I have uploaded them to Garmin IQ, but they need to be approved before you can see them (May take 24 hours). There are three Datascreens labelled 1 and 2. Datascreen 1 is for all watches. There are two versions of Datascreen 2 depending on which watch you have.
Dealing with the limited memory of the early watches (only 16k for Datafields) has been a real nightmare. Combining that with every watch having a different sized screen and supporting different fonts plus of course me having little idea what I am doing has pushed me close to giving up on several occasions, fortunately there is not much else to do these days!
On the plus side I have managed to provide a little user configuration, which may well be expanded.
Also I have managed to provide basic logging of GPS signal strength. Don't get too excited though this is not the sort of accuracy data that GPSTC requires for posting, it is just a simple indication on a scale of 1 to 4.
Bare in mind I have only tested these on my Fenix 3, there could well be issues that I will need to resolve on other watches
Expect download links tomorrow.

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tbwonder said..
So I have finally after much struggling managed to get something that works (on my Fenix 3 anyway). I have uploaded them to Garmin IQ, but they need to be approved before you can see them (May take 24 hours). There are three Datascreens labelled 1 and 2. Datascreen 1 is for all watches. There are two versions of Datascreen 2 depending on which watch you have.
Dealing with the limited memory of the early watches (only 16k for Datafields) has been a real nightmare. Combining that with every watch having a different sized screen and supporting different fonts plus of course me having little idea what I am doing has pushed me close to giving up on several occasions, fortunately there is not much else to do these days!
On the plus side I have managed to provide a little user configuration, which may well be expanded.
Also I have managed to provide basic logging of GPS signal strength. Don't get too excited though this is not the sort of accuracy data that GPSTC requires for posting, it is just a simple indication on a scale of 1 to 4.
Bare in mind I have only tested these on my Fenix 3, there could well be issues that I will need to resolve on other watches
Expect download links tomorrow.

Will try setting up on my Fenix 5 as soon as it appears!!

I've installed both fields on my Fenix 5, but unfortunately the screens don't display correctly. They come up briefly and then are replaced by an error screen.

After a few initial issues, I have rebuilt the datadfields yet again and published new versions on Garmin IQ.
They are now available for download. Simply search for "GPSTC"
Thanks to Russel (rww) for helping me test on the Fenix 5 this morning.

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tbwonder said..
After a few initial issues, I have rebuilt the datadfields yet again and published new versions on Garmin IQ.
They are now available for download. Simply search for "GPSTC"
Thanks to Russel (rww) for helping me test on the Fenix 5 this morning.

Thank YOU Andrew. All up and running on Fenix 5 now. Looks great and can't wait to try it!!

Got it onto my watch no problems and a lap round the block on my bike to see what it showed, the data fields all looking to working fine, thanks very much for doing this Andrew

ps the watch was beeping away at me as I was cycling, Ive just checked the alerts settings for this activity and no alerts set, maybe its an issue in my general settings.

The datafield currently beeps each time you improve any of the categories. So early in the session it beeps a fair bit. If it turns out that this is annoying I will turn it off, make it user configurable, or perhaps not beep for the first 10 minutes of a session.
Glad it worked well for you .

Just finished writing the Vivoactive HR support, it is a little different due to the screen shape.

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tbwonder said..
The datafield currently beeps each time you improve any of the categories. So early in the session it beeps a fair bit. If it turns out that this is annoying I will turn it off, make it user configurable, or perhaps not beep for the first 10 minutes of a session.
Glad it worked well for you .

Just finished writing the Vivoactive HR support, it is a little different due to the screen shape.

Just had a foil session with it in super light conditions. It worked great and the watch display pretty closely matched what ended up on KA72. It beeped pretty madly at first as it recognised every improvement in PB for that session but soon went quiet. It was actually great to have it beep when a new PB was achieved. With the foil being so quiet I could hear it clearly during my runs. Not sure you would hear it on a slapper in chop though. Well done, Andy!!

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tbwonder said..
Just finished writing the Vivoactive HR support, it is a little different due to the screen shape.

Thanks for catering for the VAHR Andrew, works well for me. Look forward to testing it out over the weekend.

Gave it a bit more of a workout this morning on the foil. Worked great with all indicators pretty close to what appeared on KA72. The 2 sec read a bit low on the watch but this was always a common ocurrance with the Fin151 data fields. Loving the PB beep! Listening for it during the faster runs.

After further testing I have made some improvements to Datafield 1.
I found that the 2 Sec Run field was resetting before I could read it. So I have modified the code that picks up the gybe at the end of a run and added in a user configurable "Speed Genie" similar to the GT31.
On start up the Speed Genie that you have set will display in the "2Sec Field". The defualt is set at 12 kts.
New version is on Connect IQ V1.1.2

The next logical step is to try and code the alpha 500. This is far more difficult as all the other categories can be derived from distance travelled and speed. In order to calculate the alpha the position of each point needs to be recorded and the distance between the current point and all the recent points needs to be calculated every second.
The first problem is to try and define what an alpha actually is? We all know what it is but defining it exactly in code raises a few questions. How long is an alpha 500? I think KA72 defines it has a gybe with a length of 100 to 500 metres, in reality all the best gybes are very close to 500m. But I thought I should try and measure them all although this does mean more processing.
Then I thought it would be nice to also measure all those gybes that do not quite get back to inside the 50m circle. So I am thinking of something like this:


A page with two columns for Best of session and last alpha, then three rows showing the best 50 metre alpha, the best 60m alpha and the best 70 metre alpha. The 60 and 70 could be user configurable. As the example shows the higher radius alpha will produce faster speeds.
So when practicing alphas the user would be able see if those alphas that just missed out on the 50m radius, which I think would be interesting.

In testing I am comparing the results to the gybes measured on the "Motion". I think the "Motion" may only be recording 500m alphas. Does anybody know for sure?

Great work
i have the first 2 data fields and they seem to be working fine on my Fenix 6.
question I assume you can only add 2 iq data fields to an App?
if so would the Alpha be another data field
or will you roll all of the data fields into the one app?
keep up the great work

I would love to roll the three into one app, but my current skills do not allow this. Apparently I would need to do all the code for FIT logging, timing, start, stop, lap etc etc.
So I am combining the alpha into Datafield 1. It will switch between displays depending on certain things yet to be decided. I only have a fenix 3 which will not support this new field due to 16k limit on Datafields, so I have no way of testing it except on the simlator.

Good test of data fields on Fenix 5 in light wind session. Great correlation with ka72 results from GW52!!

I wouldn't mind getting something to replace the GW60, which is sure to die or fall off my wrist soon. I'm just not sure that comparing the results with the above watches against KA72 makes sense. Doesn't KA72 just analyse and summarize data out of the watch? Wouldn't it be better to compare to data from GW60 or GT31?

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rww said..
Good test of data fields on Fenix 5 in light wind session. Great correlation with ka72 results from GW52!!

Does anyone know how to recall the data screens And the results
after you have exited the app?
apart from downloading the file into another program
then reading the track?

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remery said..
I wouldn't mind getting something to replace the GW60, which is sure to die or fall off my wrist soon. I'm just not sure that comparing the results with the above watches against KA72 makes sense. Doesn't KA72 just analyse and summarize data out of the watch? Wouldn't it be better to compare to data from GW60 or GT31?

The GPSTC results are actually from my GW52 after processing through ka72.