Distance Measurement Accuracy
AndyBrowning:
How much do you think elevation change contributes to the Garmin error? It's just one more variable that has to be measured by the GPS and factored in to the distance calculation.
adam:
Quote from: Paul Petersen on May 20, 2009, 10:39:59 am
They are certainly better than what I used before, which was simply a stopwatch and a base assumption for pace. When I started mapping out my old courses, I soon found that most weren't as long as I thought they were!
Amen. I quickly learned that a common "4 mile loop" was more like 3.7...
Paul Petersen:
Quote from: AndyBrowning on May 20, 2009, 02:45:31 pm
How much do you think elevation change contributes to the Garmin error? It's just one more variable that has to be measured by the GPS and factored in to the distance calculation.
Not much.
Jon Allen:
Quote
Not much.
Paul- what about on something like Logan Peak Run, where you have 7200 ft up and down? That amounts to almost 3 miles of vertical- does the garmin include that?
Paul Petersen:
There is very little net effect, even for large vertical gains. I did the math a few years and was surprised to find this out. For Logan Peak, all of the trees, rock faces, and obstructed sky does enough damage on its own. But even a Garmin is still a much better way to measure a trail like that than trying to map over an aerial photo or topo map. The first time I measured Logan Peak, I used topo maps and aerials, and it came up a few miles short, since none of the switchbacks showed up. At least a garmin will attempt to capture that.
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