Substantial discrepancy in route elevation between reality, route creation, and saved route
A saved route often has around 25% (or at least 1k') more elevation gain/loss than the same route shows in route creation mode. Editing the route shows a much lower number than the saved route, and toggling between them is consistent. A trustworthy barometric altimeter regularly shows both of these as exaggerated, although the route creation numbers are closer to reality. A) Why is there a discrepancy between route creation and the same route once it's saved? B) What can be done to decrease the substantial error as compared to the actual profile? What source is being used for elevation, and can it be sampled at a higher frequency along the route? Aggregate elevation is a very important part of route design and selection for me. This does not seem to be specific to the web or ios apps, so I'm posting this in General Discussion
-
Hi,
I opened a bug report for the graph values not matching between the details page and edit page -- sorry about that!
If you recorded a trip where the elevation was drastically different from the route you created, would you be able to share that with me, along with the route in Gaia GPS?
0 -
Thanks! To make sure I've communicated clearly: It's not the absolute elevations on the graph that differ, but the cumulative elevation gain/loss for the route.
As far as recorded-activity discrepancies, the data I'm comparing to usually comes from my Garmin Fenix 3's barometric altimeter. I can provide gpx/tcs/fit files or links to strava activities. If that helps, I'll compile several — this is a systematic enough problem that it won't be hard to find some that are substantially off. Just last night I went for a run that gaia said was 5100' gain/loss but my watch said was 3100' — and I even added an extra climb that wasn't in the route (and that discrepancy fairly common all over my state, and not just in one general area). If I choose edit on the route, it says ~3700', which is much closer to what my watch said, if a little exaggerated. [edit: I just updated the gaia route to reflect the added climb, and now it says 5400' and the edit screen shows 4200']
0 -
GPX tracks would be great for comparison. You can email those to support@gaiagps.com and ask for Ashli and I'll take a look!
0 -
Following this thread for updates. For me, the cumulative Track elevation is much much lower than the Route. Use the iphone to record the track, and working with Routes and track files on gaiagps.com.
0 -
Seven years later, as this was never addressed: I still use Gaia for route creation and maps, I don't trust the elevation gain functionality at all. If I need accurate elevation gain, I use Strava's mapping tools. This is a very easy bug to repro since it doesn't even actually need a gps file: Cumulative elevation in route creation mode should be exactly equal to the cumulative elevation on the saved route, entirely within gaia. It is not, ever. I'm not sure about this but having built a gis app, my guess is that this has something to do with sampling resolution while in creation mode vs view mode, elevation data resolution, and routes that follow elevation contours around ravines and ridges. Specifically, if one of those views uses a low resolution sample of the route, draws straight lines between those sampled points, and generates or retrieves profile data using those points as a polyline, elevation will be exaggerated for any route that follows contours.
2 -
jbr,
I'm wondering the same. Rode a 20.5 mile loop on Saturday and my Suunto Peak 9 Baro watch shows the elevation gain at 2,460 and after transferring to Strava the same.
I created the same exact route in gia using their website (not an app), the route shows 2,935 of elevation gain. Then I imported the Strava gpx file into Gaia and that route shows an elevation gain of 1,980 ft. What gives? I'm starting to wonder if i went uphill at all?
2 -
Persistent problem. I simply don't even look at elevation on any route I create, it is worthless information. It is always too high, significantly off. My tracked elevation seems reasonably accurate, and VERY different from the route. Apparently this goes back YEARS and gaia hasn't fixed such a basic problem. Is all trails any better?
2 -
Yeah. This is bad. Might be time to switch map apps. I mapped a route and there is a 1,600 foot difference in the editor view for the route vs the saved route when you click on it.
1
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
8 comments