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Seeing points of interest on a route is helpful – I'd like the ability to add these to a route so that specific spots can be highlighted and shared with the route (eg, a cafe stop or view point).
Yeah this is a bummer you can't add your own POI. There are some important taco shops on our ride that aren't in the current Strava layer for example. Will have to use Ride with GPS for our big ride.
I just created a course with several such custom waypoints, but neither the resulting GPX or TCX includes them. So I'll continue to waste time creating a route with course points (directions) in Plotaroute, import to Strava for the crowd sourced elevation, and then run my magical Python script to get a useful TCX.
@virtualdynamo, I don't think that GPX or TCX formats supports custom on course waypoints - that what Garmin calls course points. When you add waypoints in Plotaroute, you have to export the course in the FIT format in order to import it to a Garmin device with waypoints still intact.
I think Strava likely exports the course in the FIT format too when it sync it to Garmin. I've just tried this yesterday (by using the sync with Garmin) and that worked perfectly fine for me - exactly the way I expected. There is no need to export files or load them manually if I have a relatively recent Garmin device.
I know TCX files support coursepoints. I've been using them for years. It's standard for any "direction" entered in a Plotaroute course. No FIT file involved until the Edge does the conversion from the New Files folder when I load the TCX. Here's a TCX snippet from a Plotaroute course I recently created:
This TCX course point doesn't have the distance. Also it doesn't have the type. I guarantee that if that is imported to Garmin it won't work correctly with Up Ahead feature. I've opened a ticket with Garmin about that. Maybe that will work with Fenix 6 with "Distance to next" field, but it won't work with Fenix 7's Up Ahead feature.
Strava did the right thing by using the FIT format and syncing directly. That is the most seamless way to get courses on devices. Why doesn't that work for you? Do you want to use that TCX with a device other than Garmin?
There's no reason for course points to have distance. That would be redundant with the corresponding track point which has the distance. Like I said, I've been using course points for years, but only on Garmin Edge products. Here's a sample course point screen and the respective course points from the TCX file.
FIT files don't work for me for a number of reasons. Not the least of which is that I create a realistic Virtual Partner for courses I ride. This is a solution to a gripe DCR makes about Up Ahead doing what you suggest. Garmin Edge 1040 (with Solar) In-Depth Review "The only downside though, is that this feature doesn’t appear to utilize either the known course grade or even Power Guide to figure out the estimated times. In the example above, it shows the top at only 22 minutes away, despite being 9% and 9KM away. Obviously, that ain’t gonna happen. In talking with Garmin, the feature currently uses your average speed to date (on that activity). Obviously, if your route includes flats/descents beforehand, that’ll adversely impact it (as it did for us)."
Fenix does seem to rely on course point distance. Perhaps that was done as an optimization because Fenix has a smaller battery and a less powerful CPU. When you create a course point in Garmin Connect it gets distance assigned right away.
@Silentvoyager I'm really speaking of TCX files. Not GPX files. I’ve never seen a <CoursePoint> tag in a GPX file. I only mentioned GPX to demonstrate I've been exhaustive in my research. I apologize if it has led you to logical errors. We cannot conclude from the evidence in this thread that there are differing implementations between Edge and Fenix products or that GC assigns a distance to a course point when it is created. For reference, I have seen <wpt> tags in GPX files created by OpenRunner, they do not have distance specified, and they have never shown on an Edge. Parenthetically, Fabio’s statement about what is in a FIT file is confusing as FIT files are binary.
custom waypoints don't completely get at the need though. Because there are several public restrooms (or restrooms that OSM isn't going to add - like a Starbucks, or even my friends house for an emergency sitch) that I want to mark, but not necessarily run by. A waypoint by definition is directly on your run path, however I just want to mark "here's an option for you if you need it" during my planning. Or if I'm trying a new nutrition option, I'll want to *plan* my route along my personal POI layer containing bathrooms and water fountains. I don't need them ON my course, nor will I necessarily need them to pop up on the app (which I don't use, I use my Garmin watch). I want to see my personal POI layer in the planning / route design stage
@Former Member You personally can contribute (including adding public restrooms and Starbucks) to OSM and you should. It is crowd sourced and dependent on the kindness of mutual strangers for success. Once these POIs are in OSM and your device map is updated, you can Search for the POIs of concern, "flag" them, and then they are magically in your Saved Locations. All Saved Locations are flagged on your map. Now your friend's house is another matter.
Beyond belief that Strava maps doesn’t allow a user to add at least personal POIs to their own route. Most competitors can do this and the lack makes Strava a total no-go app for navigation vs competitors. Just an unused minor feature.
Personally, and way more useful again, I need to add nearby campsite option POIs for bikepacking/touring purposes, POIs that aren’t on the route. My research so far indicates only Ridewithgps or Google Maps can do this for me. I’ll probably go with RWGPS. Yet another subscription, so will likely subsequently cancel my Strava subscription, trying to keep all my many subscriptions under control.
Come on Strava - this thread is old and providing this functionality at even a basic level is taking way too long.
