Originally Posted by
Skewer
Hello. I believe many Garmins like the Edge 500 are GPS enabled and have a barometric altimeter as well. The combination of the two makes for more accurate elevation recordings --- so I am told. Well now I am looking at getting a new smartphone and I see that some of them have barometric sensors built in and some don't. Do any of the android cycling GPS tracking apps make use of these phones' internal barometer sensors in addition to GPS like the Garmins do? For example, would the Strava cycling app record more accurate elevation data on a phone that has a barometer sensor?
I've been playing around with the "
Locus" ( free ) GPS app for Android over the past week. A couple days ago I stumbled upon the altitude settings. Not really something I'm usually interested in but I took a look at it anyway. Locus DOES have a setting allowing you to use a pressure sensor. Actually there are three settings that allow you to dial in how you want the app to measure altitude. You can go go by sensor, GPS, a combo of both OR rely on just offline elevation data. There is also an altitude filter. Not quite sure what that does but I think it has to do with how the app displays the data. (Quote), "Stronger filter cause less noisy altitude values, but slower reaction on changes of altitude". ( unquote ).
I should also mention that since the
Locus app is also *ANT and*BT compatible it will work with an external wireless sensor as well. ( * as long as your phone has a working ANT or BT system built into the phone )
The more I play with the app the more cool things I find out about it.