GPS Workout Creation Not Working in TDA Today

Sun Nov 01, 2020 12:03 am

Just in case anyone is trying this function, it is not working for me this weekend. It worked fine for me a few days ago. Just to be sure my problem was not a defective GPX file, I also tried creating a course from a file that worked previously, but still no go. After a couple of minutes, I get an error message that the file could not be processed. It is not an upload problem as that part of the process appears to be working.

I am assuming there is something amiss in the servers, so I will see if it comes back online in a day or two.

wilf · Sun Nov 01, 2020 2:41 pm

Tried to ride on friday - didn't work...

Sun Nov 01, 2020 3:15 pm

I tried it again today, but it is still not working. I did not really expect they would get it fixed over the weekend, but I would urge users to contact Garmin Support. Sometimes just getting a volume of reports of the same problem from many users can cause a problem to be addressed more quickly. Honestly, I do not find the current online support interface to be very good. There seems to be a confusing array of different pages, some of which limit you to a chat or phone while others have an email button.

Sun Nov 01, 2020 10:17 pm

As TDA needs to talk to the Tacx servers, it would probably be a good idea for Tacx to have a webpage that shows server status for streaming, downloading and GPS maps?! A few of their competitors do that already. Once set up, it's automatic - hence no real administrative overhead.

Sun Nov 01, 2020 11:06 pm

nzuraw wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 10:17 pm As TDA needs to talk to the Tacx servers, it would probably be a good idea for Tacx to have a webpage that shows server status for streaming, downloading and GPS maps?! A few of their competitors do that already. Once set up, it's automatic - hence no real administrative overhead.

You are absolutely right. They already furnish an error message (in my case, the file could not be processed). So, the error message so just be a little more specific and descriptive.

Tue Nov 10, 2020 3:13 pm

Two things to report today, both good news and bad news:

1. First, the good news. The GPS function started working again today. I was able to import one of my own GPX files and it created a new workout very quickly. I ran it on my desktop PC in demo mode and it looks good. At the least the early part of the ride has nice Bing 3D views.

2. And now the bad news. I finally got a reply from Garmin Support. It was clear to me that the support person did not appear to understand this function. This person asked me to try using a different browser to carry out this function. As far as I can tell, the browser has no direct role as the GPX file is imported directly into a TDA window. Perhaps changing the default Windows browser might have some effect, but the support person did not say this and gave no indication he understood this at all. I have had a couple of interactions with Garmin Support before on TDA and have had similar results. I just don't think they are trained on the software and are using some kind of poorly organized troubleshooting guide. What they probably need is a good bug-reporting gateway.

mcinner1 · Wed Nov 11, 2020 9:42 am

To 2)
Yes, Garmin support people usually have no idea what you are talking about. I know this regarding the Edge devices:
„We have never heard of this issue before. Do a master reset of the device.“

I have had good experience with the EdgeBeta department. There are people who know what they are talking about and give meaningful answers (edge.beta@garmin.com). Maybe there is a department for TDA as well?

Wed Nov 11, 2020 10:09 pm

Off topic

Alas most service desks are pretty poor. I had a recent issue at work and was on the call with my companies IT Support. He was reading the same information from Google that I was. Could he delineate from that, no. I fixed the issue myself in the end. I could have saved myself 20 minutes of frustrating conversation.