Anyone find the GPS on mapmyrun inaccurate?

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  • Kacy
    Kacy Posts: 43 Member
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    I have never had a problem with my mapmyrun gps. It aways has almost the exact same reading as my garmin watch. I did find that Nike+ was never accurate with distance.
  • jsmcintyre
    jsmcintyre Posts: 26 Member
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    I never had a problem with MapMyRun, but I have also used JogTracker, and that worked as well.
  • nascarbrat
    nascarbrat Posts: 1
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    Could it be the server we are using? I have AT&T and my brother has Verizon and we walk the same trails....his GPS works great mine is off by almost 1.5 miles....we both use mapmywalk.
  • jacknife76
    jacknife76 Posts: 4 Member
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    I have trouble with mapmyrun and Endomondo. I just drove my last run in the car and mapmyrun was off by 0.7 mile! I assumed it was my phone or signal-- when I run, the route on the map looks like I backtrack, run across the street, zigzag.... When I am running in a straight line. Tonight when I drove it, I used both apps and turned on cycling, to be most accurate with the car. It was almost exact! And the route lines were completely smooth. No zigzags to be found.
    Hmmm. So it can't be the signal, can it? Does the bouncing up and down affect it that much? I wouldn't think so.
    Weird!
  • gregjeffries1959
    gregjeffries1959 Posts: 1
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    Absolutely! Started using the app in June 2013 to prepare for the Philly marathon in November. I first noticed a problem when I ran a 1/2 marathon in September and Map My Run measured my distance at 13.5 miles. Because I did not believe the variance was large, I shrugged it off. However, during the marathon, it was over 2 miles off! I began revisiting my runs on MMR and discovered all of them were off. I was actually pacing between 9.30-9.45 min/mile, not 8.45-9 min/mile that Map My Run led me to believe. As such, the app completed overstated my training performance and I finished the marathon at a 9.43 min/mile.

    Still, the app was friendly companion during training and I don't regret the experience. I will however move on to Nike Running or a gps watch.
  • davidmac69
    davidmac69 Posts: 5 Member
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    It's probably not the app, it's probably the phone. The GPS function in phones is mostly an afterthought and is designed to find your location once in a while when you pull up the map and are trying to find an ATM. It was never intended to create a constant track even though it can be used for that to a certain degree. They aren't even really that accurate (+/- 50 mostly) which can mean lots of fake locations that add up to distance you never traveled.
  • fullersun60
    fullersun60 Posts: 5
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    This discussion came up in my running club lately. The consensus was that apps in general are not as good as Garmin at tracking distance and seem to be most off on hilly routes.
  • cglode
    cglode Posts: 4 Member
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    Hi all,

    Chris, from MapMyFitness here. Sorry to hear you've had problems with our apps. GPS accuracy is a tricky one, influenced by so many factors; condition and state of your phone, weather, urban/rural location, your speed, the weather, time of day and more. We're always working to improve it. We have posted some tips here that tend to help:

    https://mmf.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/200117984-iOS-GPS-Troubleshooting

    The GPS in phones, and our software are both getting better and better so over time we think this will be less and less of an issue and for the majority of users on the majority of runs/rides, its not a problem today. If you do want to switch to a GPS watch, you can still upload your workouts to MapMyFitness to complete your training log.

    Hope this helps and please give us feedback any time at http://support.mapmyfitness.com
  • JohnThomas137
    JohnThomas137 Posts: 1
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    I walk a precise 4 mph, 1 mile every 15 minutes, and Map My Ride (set to walk mode) never has me going any faster than 1.4 miles in an hour. Not even close.
  • fleetzz
    fleetzz Posts: 962 Member
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    I use runtastic and it is pretty consistent with all of my walks and runs. Very happy with it.
  • PatheticNoetic
    PatheticNoetic Posts: 905 Member
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    Someone told me you need to turn off wireless. That your phone picks up singles and it throws it off.

    Hey I'll try that because I use Endomondo and it's been so wrong lately and making me cranky about it. Thanks.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    I use mapmyrun and in general I find it pretty good ( love the new connection to mfp by the way!)

    Any measuring device will be less than 100% accurate, resulting from a number of factors.
  • brad2021hk
    brad2021hk Posts: 46
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    All the apps use the GPS hardware built into the phone. Some phones have really poor GPS implementation. Samsung phones tend to be notoriously bad. Samsung also has some of the most popular phones...so a LOT of poor phone GPS in the world. This may lead to some people having better results than others. Different model phones. The same "model" is often actually different from carrier to carrier. A Verizon Galaxy S3 is different than an AT&T Galaxy S3. A buddy with a Verizon Galaxy S3 showed my how he tightened some screws and temporarily got better reception. There is even a phone to phone variation within the same brand and model.

    The wifi thing is also interesting. Google and other companies literally drive around taking pictures for street view. They also collect information on what wifi they detect and where the car is when it's detected. They can actually build a map of wifi locations, including protected wifi. If your phone can detect a particular wifi AP, it can tell where you are within the max range of that wifi AP. It's really good for getting a fast approximate lock of where you are. Wifi radius is pretty wide. Again, some phone have implemented poor algorithms for mixing GPS data and wifi location data. I've seen cases with an older Galaxy-S where you can walk along, when you get in range of a wifi AP, your little icon on the screen pulls away from the sidewalk towards the house with that wifi.

    Some apps may be better than others because they do more data smoothing and interpolation. You're trying to use a GPS with 30ft accuracy to measure something very precise over time. The better the software is at throwing away outlying data, the better it will be.
  • abbnor
    abbnor Posts: 2
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    I use strava and it works great! My cross country coach recommended it and he's like a huge runner. It's really accurate!
  • Nancymcgregor
    Nancymcgregor Posts: 150 Member
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    Yeah I could never get used to Map My Run, I use Runkeeper on my Galaxy note and it works fine.
  • dixiewhiskey
    dixiewhiskey Posts: 3,333 Member
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    yeah I do.. I made a route that said it was 5.21km but when I ran the route with GPS, it said I only ran 4.92km. I use Rundouble now to track my time/location. WiFi is always off.
  • Happy_Niss
    Happy_Niss Posts: 95 Member
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    The two times I have had issues is between my boyfriend and I and when my phone crashes.
    My boyfriend and I will do the same exact distance, but his will measure longer than mine. It is frustrating,
    And when my phone crashes and restarts (because I have a TERRIBLE phone) it'll often be inaccurate in it's timing to my distance.

    Is RunKeeper really worth it or is it pretty much the same?
  • SMKing75
    SMKing75 Posts: 84 Member
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    I think its pretty accurate BUT I have noticed it can change depending on where I wear it. If I wear my phone on my arm its different than if I keep it in my pocket or put it in the stroller. I just got a spibelt and it seems most accurate there. I have also noticed minimal changes if I carry it in my hand.
  • NaeNaeJanae
    NaeNaeJanae Posts: 261 Member
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    I've used the Nike+ Running app and it seems to match what my Garmin GPS watch says, if that helps. :)
  • WonderWoman_5
    WonderWoman_5 Posts: 101 Member
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    Runtastic

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