Support for recorded track segments

[giacomociani]

Hi all,

unless I'm missing something, Locus doesn't really have support for recorded track segments, i.e. for dividing the track of a single activity (that should thus be a single track) in several subtracks each with it's own statistics. Before I put this as a feature request in the helpdesk, I'd like to check that I'm not overlooking some function that is already in there (and to hear comments, if any). My Garmin Forerunner has this function, as I suspect many other (if not all) dedicated GPS devices, and I find it extremely useful: it is called "lap", but it is not quite the same as Locus' lap.

Usage scenario: an hiking trip.
- I leave in the morning and start the recording
- when I reach the hut when I plan to have lunch, I mark a "lap"
- then I decide to leave the backpack at the hut and do a small detour to a nearby peak: I mark lap again and leave.
- once on the summit, I mark lap again and start descending
- at the hut, I recover my backpack, mark lap and start descending

Back at the base, I can easily see different statistics for all these segments: going up or down, with or without a backpack. And also how long I stopped for lunch.

There may be many other way you want to break up you trip, but the base concept is that this systems allows you to divide the trip in different segments for which you can access different statistics, without the need to record a different track.

It seems to me that Locus has two system that coudl work perfectly together... but they don't:
- laps: these are close to what I'm asking, with the only (and huge) limitation that they can only defined as regular distance intervals. So they are _strictly_ laps, that only make sense if you are doing something in a circuit. Also, they are not "embedded" in the track, but calculated on the fly when you compute the statistics.
- trackpoints: if I got this right, the only function of this is to mark a point that is "embedded" in the track, rather than being saved independently. I think the way to go would be that of allowing the statistics to be computed for each segment defined by these trackpoints.

Does all this make sense? Am I missing an obvious way of obtaining the result I describe here?

Comments and suggestions welcome.

[voldapet]

Hi,

your description is of current functionality is correct.
thank you for very detailed description what you want to achieve with Locus. It makes sense and I can understand you. Unfortunately we aren't planning similar improving in close future. However you can create new feature request and perhaps the num of votes will change our opinion.
Thank you

[giacomociani]

Padavan,

thanks for the answer. I'll posts a feature request in the helpdesk.

Giacomo

[michaelbechtold]

Hi Giacomo,
I could not spot your feature request. Would you mind posting the link here ?
Your scenario is well known to me, and I consider current lap feature pretty much useless. So I strongly support your case.
Cheers
Michael

[giacomociani]

Hi Michael,

it turns out there was already a very similar feature request (actually for an even more powerful and flexible implementation than the one I proposed).

http://help.locusmap.eu/topic/statistics-for-segments-on-a-track-%E2%80%93-statistical-data-between-two-arbitrary-waypoints-on-a-track

So I just added my vote there, and linked this post in further support of the case :-)

[michaelbechtold]

Yes, found it earlier today, too, and voted of course :-)