I want to track my daily distance as accurately as possible without buying anything new.

distinctlybeautiful
distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone use Map My Walk for this? I'm thinking about trying it tomorrow while I'm at work. I'm assuming it'll eat up the battery, but does it work otherwise?

The pedometer apps don't seem that accurate because they seem to count a step every time I move my phone. I don't want to buy anything new, but I want an accurate picture of how much I'm walking at work.

What advice can you give me?

Replies

  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I use Endomondo and it works great. Map My Walk should do the same thing.
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    I use the free version of mapmywalk to lay out new courses and have an idea of how far it is. I find it helpful and accurate enough for my purposes.

    Google also has a mapping option...

    http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
  • dkflash1
    dkflash1 Posts: 1 Member
    I use it and it automatically adds to myfitnesspal
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,755 Member
    I use Google maps ... and sometimes an inexpensive pedometer. I think I spent $6 or so on it at Big W a few years ago.
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    Accuracy is highly over-rated IMO. Good enough usually is good enough.

    That said, I used to use Strava because a) has a lot of features b) has a huge user community and c) most importantly at the time, used less battery than all the other common tools I tested (2+ years ago).

  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    Good enough is good enough, but blatantly inaccurate isn't good enough! ☺

    I may have downloaded the worst possible pedometer app, but when I took five steps without leaving my chair, I started to realize these apps are based on movement not necessarily steps. I want a little more accuracy than that.

    Thanks all! How badly does it drain the battery?
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,053 Member
    If you have the course mapped out and already measured, then why would you need to track it?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    edited September 2015
    As far as battery life, your best bet is to try some apps and see for yourself. That's how I ended up choosing Strava, but I chose Strava also because I was more interested in cycling and running and the app is geared to cyclists and runners. I'd found MapMy... chewed through battery significantly while out on my 2 hour ride circuit.

    Of course my observation was a couple of years ago on an older Android platform; things change.

    Almost all these apps are free, at least to start. Try them out and pick the one you prefer.

    Back to the accuracy thing... I find Google Fit on my phone is plenty good-enough for tracking steps / movement within the day. Honestly... does it matter if your step counter adds 5 steps here and there? Even if it adds 500 steps a day to your count, that's basically immaterial if your objective is 15,000 or more.

    Forget the step count if its accuracy bothers you and look at the time spent moving. If you aren't moving an hour or two a day, more is better, you aren't moving enough.

    PS: If your ultimate objective is to estimate calorie burn based on movement time, personally I think it's wasted effort. Stop and go movement in an office is hard to model for caloric expenditure. Estimates based on steps or movement time are going to be far less "accurate" and less useful than your current pedometer solution.
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    @ninerbuff I have no idea what distance I walk throughout the day. I'm not talking walks for exercise. I'm talking when I'm at work.

    @mwyvr I just want to know what distance I walk at work. That's it. Nothing more. I got it.
  • bloody88
    bloody88 Posts: 120 Member
    Noom Walk was the most accurate app when I had checked 5months ago.
    It will count the step if you move your phone but then if you are at the same spot it will remove it after a sec.
    Also it was pretty lightweight when I was using it. So take a look at it if you want.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    MapMyWalk may or may not work for you. Do you get a good GPS where you work? My building is impervious to GPS and will only accurately track if I'm in the lab where we have GPS repeaters. I only use MapMyWalk to log walking between buildings (when I choose to do that instead of drive).
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    I deleted Map My Walk when, after walking into the building from my car, it said I had gone 11.39 miles.
  • mwyvr
    mwyvr Posts: 1,883 Member
    edited September 2015
    So try another. Choose Strava - it isn't known for gross errors - and if you still get wild results then it's your device, not the app(s).

    If it seems accurate, you can use Strava or find another that suits your taste. If your phone doesn't have an accelerometer built in, if GPS signal lock can't be obtained in-building the results you get back are likely to be wildly wrong.

  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    edited September 2015
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    I deleted Map My Walk when, after walking into the building from my car, it said I had gone 11.39 miles.

    You probably had no GPS lock. You need to be able to see 3 GPS satellites to get a 2D lock, and 4 GPS satellites for a 3D lock. There is a good chance you only had 1-2 satellites if you had the phone in your purse/pocket while in the car and it didn't have time to lock from your car to the building, and lost everything when you walked through the door.

    EDIT: tall buildings also do an exceptional job of blocking signals, so if you live in NYC or anywhere else with high rises, then I would expect you to have a hard time getting a GPS lock outside if you are nearby and on the wrong side of the building.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories