Elevation SmoothingFORUMS HOME SEARCH FORUMS

We are currently in the process of implementing some changes to our elevation profiles and statistics following feedback from some users that occasional fluctuations in elevation readings sometimes did not reflect real world conditions and were leading to inflated total ascent calculations. To alleviate this problem we have decided to increase the default distance interval we use between elevation readings, which should help to smooth out superficial bumps and dips that don't have a material effect on the overall profile of the route.

When you save a new route, we will now generate elevation readings at 90m intervals along the route (previously 30m) up to a maximum of 5000 readings per route, when the interval will be increased accordingly. You can still view a provisional elevation profile as you are plotting a route, but this is based on a maximum of 500 readings until the route is saved, when the more detailed version is generated, along with the complete set of elevation statistics for the route.

As part of these changes we have also added a new Total Descent figure to the elevation statistics available for each route. This was another request from our Feature Requests list.

The changes have already been implemented for any new routes you save and we will be recalculating the elevation statistics for all existing routes as soon as possible, so that elevation statistics for different routes can be compared on a like for like basis. Over 200,000 routes have now been saved on plotaroute.com, so these recalculations will happen over time, although we expect this to be completed within the next 7 days.

Hopefully these changes will also make it easier to compare ascent calculations from plotaroute.com with ascent calculations from other devices and applications, although please bear in mind that ascent calculations will always vary depending on the distance between sampled elevation readings and that ascent calculations by GPS devices can often be affected by altitude measurement inaccuracies and gaps in recordings due to a weak or lost GPS signal.