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Native route tracking

dschulian said:
I would be disappointed if the gen1 would be crippled. Because we all saw that it works, right?
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Julien said:
No because ONLY developers have been granted access to use, test and see it. Also under the developer NDA it is not supposed to be discussed (rules 5,6&10) except on the Apple developer forum.


5. Definition of Confidential Information.
6. Nonuse and Nondisclosure of Confidential Information.
10. Discussion Forums.
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All that being said, i don't see why Apple would go to the trouble of implementing a functioning route tracking system on a non-GPS watch to test for GPS functionality on an unreleased piece of hardware. More likely than that would be simple proof of concept that wifi triangulation works, obviating the need for GPS. But why test that with the public, rather than dogfooding internally? No, I think they intend to release this. Clearly it works most of the time.
 
gwhizkids said:
All that being said, i don't see why Apple would go to the trouble of implementing a functioning route tracking system on a non-GPS watch to test for GPS functionality on an unreleased piece of hardware. More likely than that would be simple proof of concept that wifi triangulation works, obviating the need for GPS. But why test that with the public, rather than dogfooding internally? No, I think they intend to release this. Clearly it works most of the time.
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On that note - during b2 and b3, the pause/end/lock screen of the workout app on the watch had a water droplet for the lock symbol - I used this for swimming workouts, as the water causes wacky behaviour on the screen. In b4 the symbol changed from a water droplet to a padlock. Almost makes me wonder if they were testing it for water based workouts.
 
profets said:
On that note - during b2 and b3, the pause/end/lock screen of the workout app on the watch had a water droplet for the lock symbol - I used this for swimming workouts, as the water causes wacky behaviour on the screen. In b4 the symbol changed from a water droplet to a padlock. Almost makes me wonder if they were testing it for water based workouts.
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Which brings back full circle to my point that we can't know or assume we know what will happen. Apple did NOT tout a tracking feature in wOS3 (GIGANTIC red flag) and has offered no information about what it is doing. So it may all just be a field test for Apple to gain tracking knowledge and real world information on implementation of yet to be determined feature sets that may be just software or require new hardware.
 
Julien said:
Which brings back full circle to my point that we can't know or assume we know what will happen. Apple did NOT tout a tracking feature in wOS3 (GIGANTIC red flag) and has offered no information about what it is doing. So it may all just be a field test for Apple to gain tracking knowledge and real world information on implementation of yet to be determined feature sets that may be just software or require new hardware.
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Agreed. Always fun to speculate. If I had to guess, it could be as simple as adding because you have your phone with you. If I had to have fun guessing, I would say GPS is coming to the watch either built in or in special bands.
 
Julien said:
Which brings back full circle to my point that we can't know or assume we know what will happen. Apple did NOT tout a tracking feature in wOS3 (GIGANTIC red flag) and has offered no information about what it is doing. So it may all just be a field test for Apple to gain tracking knowledge and real world information on implementation of yet to be determined feature sets that may be just software or require new hardware.
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I definitely agree. But it's always fun to guess at what they may be working on :)
 
Julien said:
Which brings back full circle to my point that we can't know or assume we know what will happen. Apple did NOT tout a tracking feature in wOS3 (GIGANTIC red flag) and has offered no information about what it is doing. So it may all just be a field test for Apple to gain tracking knowledge and real world information on implementation of yet to be determined feature sets that may be just software or require new hardware.
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Are there Release Notes for WatchOS 3? Does it address this there or even mention it?
 
BlueMoon63 said:
Agreed. Always fun to speculate. If I had to guess, it could be as simple as adding because you have your phone with you. If I had to have fun guessing, I would say GPS is coming to the watch either built in or in special bands.
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Ooh. GPS band is an interesting thought. Would prefer it built in, but that'd be better than nothing.
 
anthonymoody said:
Ooh. GPS band is an interesting thought. Would prefer it built in, but that'd be better than nothing.
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My money says no GPS built in if the wifi triangulation thing works as it seems to have. Why dedicate a big sliver of battery life to a GPS radio if you can achieve much the same thing using the existing wifi radio + some software-enabled trigonometric magic?
 
gwhizkids said:
My money says no GPS built in if the wifi triangulation thing works as it seems to have. Why dedicate a big sliver of battery life to a GPS radio if you can achieve much the same thing using the existing wifi radio + some software-enabled trigonometric magic?
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Well if the point was to test wifi triangulation for inclusion or not in AW2 then this is rather late. If the answer was "wifi triangulation sucks" then there's no way they could add GPS to AW2 and have it ship in CY 2016.
 
anthonymoody said:
Well if the point was to test wifi triangulation for inclusion or not in AW2 then this is rather late. If the answer was "wifi triangulation sucks" then there's no way they could add GPS to AW2 and have it ship in CY 2016.
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Assuming that there is going to be an AW2 in 2016. Not a lock, IMO.
 
Hello all. So I have been watching this thread and had a few questions. I am interested in the apple watch but had a few concerns. I am hoping to run without my iphone. Reading through the thread it sounds like the apple watch is able to map and track with the watch OS3 installed on the watch without the phone through wifi triangulation. Could someone explain how wifi triangulation works? I typically run around our neighborhood so it is not going to be in the middle of the wilderness. The run is only 4.5 miles, so it is not like I am running for hours. Are there any users here who have run without their phone? How accurate is it? Should I just wait for the next Apple Watch? The prices are just so tempting. Thanks for the help.
 
BaggsB said:
Hello all. So I have been watching this thread and had a few questions. I am interested in the apple watch but had a few concerns. I am hoping to run without my iphone. Reading through the thread it sounds like the apple watch is able to map and track with the watch OS3 installed on the watch without the phone through wifi triangulation. Could someone explain how wifi triangulation works? I typically run around our neighborhood so it is not going to be in the middle of the wilderness. The run is only 4.5 miles, so it is not like I am running for hours. Are there any users here who have run without their phone? How accurate is it? Should I just wait for the next Apple Watch? The prices are just so tempting. Thanks for the help.
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I run with the AW and without my phone most of the time. And yes, the first beta of WatchOS 3 did have some sort of wifi triangulation for mapping. It was however removed in beta 2 and hasn't returned. You still get mapping if you take your phone along on a run, but not without.

I find the AW (when properly calibrated) to be pretty accurate even without GPS. There have been some huge strides made with the heart rate monitor (it is very accurate now), and the workout app which now has auto-pause, and a way to pause a run using the physical buttons in the WatchOS 3 beta.

I would probably wait to see if the AW2 has GPS .. speculation is that it will be released in September.
 
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Bob190 said:
I run with the AW and without my phone most of the time. And yes, the first beta of WatchOS 3 did have some sort of wifi triangulation for mapping. It was however removed in beta 2 and hasn't returned. You still get mapping if you take your phone along on a run, but not without.

I find the AW (when properly calibrated) to be pretty accurate even without GPS. There have been some huge strides made with the heart rate monitor (it is very accurate now), and the workout app which now has auto-pause, and a way to pause a run using the physical buttons in the WatchOS 3 beta.

I would probably wait to see if the AW2 has GPS .. speculation is that it will be released in September.
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Thanks for the quick answer. I think I will take your suggestion and wait to see if AW2 has GPS.
 
Slightly off topic .. but I am always amazed how accurate the AW is for me when running without the phone. I have a Garmin Vivoactive (GPS Watch) which I wear on some runs, and as you can see, the data is nearly identical. Sure hope the AW2 has GPS so I only have to wear one watch.
IMG_1021[1].PNG IMG_1022[1].PNG
 
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Bob190 said:
Slightly off topic .. but I am always amazed how accurate the AW is for me when running without the phone. I have a Garmin Vivoactive (GPS Watch) which I wear on some runs, and as you can see, the data is nearly identical. Sure hope the AW2 has GPS so I only have to wear one watch.
View attachment 643653 View attachment 643654
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Wow that's really accurate. What did you do to get your watch so accurate? When you were getting mapping with OS3 was it pretty accurate? I use a Garmin too but have always been intrigued by the AW.
 
anthonymoody said:

I just went for a walk with both phone and watch, both on latest beta builds, and I didn't get mapping in my workout.
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Just checked mine. Yesterday I did a run and a walk (separately) with both phone and watch. Both have routes/maps.

I'll try again this weekend with beta 7 (crazy all these betas).
 
I bet it will be removed from the GM and will require the :apple:Watch 2 to have route mapping and tracking and this is just a test for the :apple:Watch 2. Or maybe all :apple:Watches will get it.:eek: Definitely one or the other or.......it could be removed all together. OK, so it has to be one of the 3 and I will be proven correct.:Do_O
 
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Julien said:
I bet it will be removed from the GM and will require the :apple:Watch 2 to have route mapping and tracking and this is just a test for the :apple:Watch 2. Or maybe all :apple:Watches will get it.:eek: Definitely one or the other or.......it could be removed all together. OK, so it has to be one of the 3 and I will be proven correct.:Do_O
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I'm going with: Watch2 gets native GPS and Watch1 gets this hybridized version. This would explain why this wasn't discussed at WWDC, too.
 
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