I’ve just determined that it is technically feasible for me to write an app to do this (though I’m quite a long way off doing so). Something I’m personally interested in having, but given the lack of a current app to do this, I was wondering what sort of interest there might be from other people? Is it worth me putting in the effort to do this properly as something other people might want to have?

I should point out that at the moment you need either a Sony or an HTC Rhyme, as they’re the only phones with built in ANT+ support, but I suspect other phones might also provide support in the future (am I the only one prepared to make a choice of phone based on this capability?)

No interest then? 😥

When I first saw your post yesterday my first thought was “oo yes that would be ace” but thinking about it further I think it would have been ace when GPSes were a bit rubbish but I don’t think I really have a need for it now. Back when everybody used etrex things that would only take a day or two of history downloading it to something you had on you anyway would have been ace – I’ve taken a laptop on a camping trip before just to get the tracks off the GPS. Now though my 605 will store more tracks than I could ever need, and presumably newer ones are even better, so I have no problem waiting until I get home, however long that may be. Charging is more of a problem now (in contrast to back then, when you could just change the AA batteries…).

Mind you, I store all my GPS history on my computer; if you uploaded everything to a website being able to do it through your phone would be much more useful. I would have thought being able to finish a ride and look at your track on some website even if you’re away from home or somesuch would be quite handy.

I would have thought being able to finish a ride and look at your track on some website even if you’re away from home or somesuch would be quite handy.

Well that’s exactly what you’d be able to do with this app – I’m not sure how seamlessly integrated I could make it, but at the worst there would be a small bit of manual intervention to upload the track onto your favourite website (I think the specs are all out there so I could write something which works just like an upload on your PC with Garmin software – but I’ve not yet looked at the web side of it).

If you’re storing your GPS history on your PC, how do you view it? You see I was originally thinking of just a phone based app to view your track, before I realised it would be much easier just to upload rather than write a viewer from scratch, though I’m far from averse to the idea of doing that (or adapting something existing). I have a bit of experience in this area – wrote an app ages ago to download a Polar HRM and view the data on a Windows Mobile device using the built in IR, but technology has moved on.

aracer – Member
If you’re storing your GPS history on your PC, how do you view it?

I use Garmin Basecamp. It came free with my Garmin GPS. There are various other programs out there that will do a similar job, some free, some chargeable.
BC Feb 2012 by druidh_dubh, on Flickr

I’m also interested. I have a Forerunner, and I’m planning on buying a Sony Ericsson phone.
It would be handy if you could download a track into MM Tracker, for viewing it on an OS map.

Could it also work with the eTrex 30? I know that it works with ANT+ HR/cadence sensors, but don’t know if it allows downloading.

I’d be interested. Just how much history can you store on a 705? I’m going to be doing a long ride later this year and will have ~3months history that I’d like to back up to another device….just in case…

aracer are you talking about USB comms from the phone to the GPS? Is this feasible?

If so I would be interested, very useful for long tours. My workaround was to use the SD card to transfer data (Edge 800)

DavidB – Member
aracer are you talking about USB comms from the phone to the GPS? Is this feasible?

Not USB – ANT+ (wireless – as is used for the sensors).

As druidh says, downloading with Ant+. I’d thought this was how all Garmin Forerunner/Edge computers downloaded data, but looking into it further it seems this isn’t the case for Edge computers which use a USB cable instead, so this app would only be for Forerunners, and I’m probably asking in the wrong place. Sorry!

It should be possible to make something to work with a USB cable with the latest versions of Android (from 2.3.4) which have USB host capability, but that’s not what I’m doing – that would be even harder as it would involve custom writing drivers (at least with Ant+ the bottom levels of the stack are available as a library).

C’mon aracer, that’s what we want. Proper USB connectivety chop chop 🙂

Well if there’s demand for USB, it’s certainly not impossible. Not something I have any personal interest in at all at the moment though, so you’d have to convince me.

Now find a Smartphone that has a USB host…..

FWIW, my Edge 705 and Dakota 20 can both “share” a route/track/whatever using ANT+. I’d be surprised if the other units (e.g. Edge 800) didn’t have this facility.

Now find a Smartphone that has a USB host…..

Well as mentioned above, you should in theory be able to do it in the latest Android firmware (assuming it has USB hardware – I don’t even own a Smartphone at the moment, just developing apps for one, so no idea about this!) My understanding of USB is that as long as you don’t need power supplying, then it’s pretty straightforward to use normal USB device hardware as a host (maybe with a some pull-down resistors in the cable) – it’s just about having the right drivers – though to be honest this isn’t really somewhere I fancy going.

FWIW, my Edge 705 and Dakota 20 can both “share” a route/track/whatever using ANT+. I’d be surprised if the other units (e.g. Edge 800) didn’t have this facility.

Ah – so my app would still be useful. Seems strange they bother with the USB cable interface in that case – has to be a weak point in terms of sealing?

The USB port is used for external power and for recharge.

I’m guessing that very few folk want to connect via ANT+ as they are uploading via a PC/MAC and none of then have the wireless connectivity required. Is there an ANT+ option for a PC?

PS – I’m not trying to rubbish your idea. I can see how it might be useful on multi-day trips away from anything other than a Smartphone – but as the Smartphones themselves improve in both battery life and GPS functionality, many will not bother with a dedicated GPS at all (I still will. I believe that phones should be kept safe and dry for emergencies)

Is there an ANT+ option for a PC?

How do you mean? For the latest Forerunners it’s the only upload option – they come with an ANT+ USB dongle.

No offence taken at negative comments – I was just after a quick feeler, and at least I know it’s probably not worth the effort tailoring it to this market. Always more likely to be of appeal to runners etc. using a wrist mounted Forerunner, where you couldn’t feasibly use a phone instead. Still a long way off having anything working anyway…

Oh – and my wife has a Forerunner 110. It uses a USB clip/cable. 😆

I’ve actually written an app to upload data from my forerunner 305 to my android tablet via usb.
The protocol should be the same, so in theory it already supports the edge, but I haven’t had a chance to test it yet.

I have a video on youtube demonstrating the app, but I’m not sure I can post a link here (I’m new to this forum, I don’t want to break rules).

See them video tags ^^^^

aracer – Member
If you’re storing your GPS history on your PC, how do you view it?

I store my Garmin history on garmins website, Garmin Connect, i also have the Garmin iPhone app to view history ive uploaded or it allows you to record tracks directly using your iphone.

Since the garmin edge 605 and 705 and 800 have pretty decent on screen maps, i can only really see the need for this if youve got one of the bike computer versions which do not display a map but still record your data for upload later.

Dont think ive ever had the need to upload GPS data to view on my phone before ive got home and done it.

I’d be interested. Just how much history can you store on a 705? I’m going to be doing a long ride later this year and will have ~3months history that I’d like to back up to another device….just in case…

3 months! how exactly are you planning to keep all those electrics running that long?

Sorry. I don’t mean all in one go. I’d like to copy accross my daily history to something else without carrying a netbook. The upside of copying to android is I can then send it on/upload to dropbox etc and if I lose my 705, I won’t have lost all data to that date.

Sorry. I don’t mean all in one go. I’d like to copy accross my daily history to something else without carrying a netbook. The upside of copying to android is I can then send it on/upload to dropbox etc and if I lose my 705, I won’t have lost all data to that date.

I currently have not far off two months worth of commuting (20 miles a day) and a few weekend rides on my 605 and it’s still going strong. Is the only limit how big the card or internal memory is? In that case it’ll be years before you fill it up…

I don’t think I’ll fill the memory, more that if it’s lost or corrupt. There’s planty examples of the sd cards in 705’s becoming unreadable when they get wet (in rain) and I’m just trying to plan for that eventuality.

I’m planning on duplicating my route on a spare SD in case the primary one fails but how to manage backing history up?

If you join Strava it will upload all your rides from your forerunner.
When you get the android Strava app all your rides will be there.
You can also view your rides by logging in from any pc with internet.

I haven’t go a Forerunner and I assume you need to upload to Stava from Forerunner to the net via a PC?

I assume you need to upload to Stava from Forerunner to the net via a PC?

Yes thats right.
When you connect your forerunner to strava it will upload all your rides in the forerunners memory.
My 705 had every ride Ive ever done with it from 3 years ago and its now on the strava website.
The phone app shows a condensed version of the website.

I’m not taking a PC 🙁 Full circle; ‘if only we could upload Edge data to Android…

You can use the app as your bike computer then upload to strava via 3G.
There is no way AFAIK of connecting a garmin directly to a phone.

hugor – Member
You can use the app as your bike computer then upload to strava via 3G.
There is no way AFAIK of connecting a garmin directly to a phone.

Did you actually bother to read any of the thread? Here is a summary:

There are a couple of phones which will provide ANT+ support.

There are a few Garmin GPS’s which use ANT+.

aracer is asking about the interest in an App which will “connect” these allowing uploading from the Garmin to the phone.

Boblo is the only person so far to show interest.

Thanks. I didn’t read all the thread cause it was too long winded.
No wonder nodody has shown interest.
Just take your laptop with you or use your phone to record the data.
Why find the most complex solution to a simple problem?

While your at it could you design an app to transfer my phone contacts to my garmin, in case I forget my phone at home when I go riding.

as i dont have an ant+ device what might be handy for me is to upload my gps history from a non ant+ watch like forerunner 210 or an edge 705 to an android mobile phone via a usb cable.
however if i were really serious about having the ability to manage all this data on the go i might just invest in a cheap tablet with usb functionality (but android would be preferable)
you have to consider that at some point you have to recharge these devices and its often easiest to do this quickly via usb whilst uploading your gps history.

ant+ watch to an ant+ phone would be good but availablity and demand doesnt appear high at the moment but at some point will naturally progress to this, so doing this now seems a good move imo.

my pet hate with garmin is they dont seem to be bothered about supporting linux users with their software, ignorant and no doubt will impact their sales if they dont want to support android etc in the future

dobo – Member

my pet hate with garmin is they dont seem to be bothered about supporting linux users with their software,Good. I’d hate to see any significant development effort being diverted from the platforms which 99.9999% of their users actually use.

But to recharge an Edge via USB all you need is a USB plug for the Countries of your choice plus a USB cable (the same USB cable + adapter you would use to connect phone to Edge) so no need for extra stuff that also needs charging… Hence an apps to moce Edge data to Android would be a very usefull way of securing that data without carrying a host of extra stuff. See?

is there anyone here with an edge and an android tablet with an usb port (android 3.1 or above is needed) who would be interested in trying my app and see if it works fine with the edge too? (works fine on the forerunner)

Hence an apps to moce Edge data to Android would be a very usefull way of securing that data without carrying a host of extra stuff. See?

My 705 has every single ride I’ve ever done with it – I’m not sure why your so worried it will disappear just because you are going away on holiday. You can tell your garmin to store your rides on the microSD card slot instead of the inbuilt memory if that makes you feel more secure. Alternatively if your really paranoid you can plug your garmin into any pc and copy the history files to a usb stick/disc, or even email them to yourself! You do not need to have garmin software installed for this – you can access the files by exploring the device.

From the start:

1. I’m going away for 3 months and wish to have backups of my history, routes and mapping

2. I’m self supported touring so want to keep the weight down

3. I’m not taking PC’s or other parafernalia

4. 705’s have a mixed reputation for screwing up the sd card when riding in the rain and I’d really like to mitigate against this

5. I’m not paranoid just cautious. I work in the IT industry and understand what bullshit is spouted about data security/integrity and how transient it can be. Hence the caution.

6. Thank you for your contribution 🙂