6 ms·

The World's Athletic Activity Mapped

77 points by WMCRUN 9y ago

nether 9y ago
Strava strikes me as one of the good social apps, because it gets us away from looking at screens. Also, these data are being used to improve cities, by justifying the locations of new bike lanes for one. https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/11/strava-metro-global-heatmap-urban-planning/545174/ https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/11/strava-metro-...
aw3c2 9y ago
*People who let Strave track their every move when running their app, mapped.
- notatoad 9y ago
  Yes, obviously. But there's enough Strava users that that's a pretty good proxy.
  - timthelion 9y ago
    Not at all. This is a good proxy for the activities of wealthy people who don't care about privacy. I'd be interested in this map if I wanted to know where to put up ads for overpriced energy bars. But this isn't a map of physical activity.
    - j_s 9y ago
      This is actually a great point about a highly targeted physical marketing opportunity. I recently saw a small sign nailed to a tree on one of the thousands of back roads in the area that basically turn into a parking lot during rush hour. I'm sure you would catch some flak for spamming on nature trails but normal streets are less offensive.
    - outericky 9y ago
      to be fair, strava has a free app option, nearly everyone has a smartphone these days (not just the wealthy), and running is pretty much one of the cheapest sports/pastimes/activities one can do. [edit] I guess the items highlighted in the blog post probably require some coin...
      - Buldak 9y ago
        >running is pretty much one of the cheapest sports/pastimes/activities one can do It is, but I suspect that runners still tend to be affluent. Just why is an interesting question. http://www.runningguru.com/SM/Demographics.asp http://www.runningguru.com/SM/Demographics.asp
        outericky 9y ago
        Interesting survey. Though I think the survey demographic is not representative of the general population. Most people who run, or consider themselves runners or joggers don’t run 4.5 days per week and/or average 29.5 miles per week. Interesting nonetheless thanks for sharing.
    - notatoad 9y ago
      It never claimed to be a map of physical activity. It's a map of athletic activity. i.e. the people who purchase overpriced energy bars.
      - aw3c2 9y ago
        The title was changed after I posted my rant. Previously it used a term like population or people (can't remember) including everyone which was stupid.
- miahi 9y ago
  Most of the tracks are not recorded by phones, but by (90% Garmin) sport watches, and the users chose to upload the tracks to Strava because of the useful features they add to that track (like comparing your exercise with others'). And the heatmap is only using the tracks that are public (again, the users chose to make them public). Ok, you don't know what other value Strava is extracting from these, but that was not a shady "we track you everywhere" business like other big names do, it's something the users really chose to publish.
CJefferson 9y ago
The strava heat map is one of those cases where I really realise the power of data. I've discovered several amazing cycling routes I never knew about within 10 miles of my house from the heatmap. It was also great when I went on holiday, to get a quick glance at local popular routes.
dreen 9y ago
Where are all those people skiing in southern England? I want to get in on the action.
6841iam 9y ago
Long time strava user here. I really wish Strava would do a better job helping you discover new routes around you for activities that you do. I'm a long time user who uses it for Mountain biking and short runs but I've never selected a route because Strava told me to. If you are a PM at strava there's so much you can unlock with all the user's activity data you are sitting on. They aren't doing nothing of course. I can see their product efforts are focused on 1) growing the user base 2) growing paid subs.
- peterbraden 9y ago
  They're really not doing much. I just let my premium membership lapse because they have so few extra features. Trying to make a facebook news feed doesn't do anything with their current data which is their strength. I really wish they'd up their game.
  - kingosticks 9y ago
    Exactly this. I recently cancelled my renewal after years of justifying the payment as the best way to support a service I like but I don't miss any of the premium features at all. I think I only ever use one or two and rarely.
- outericky 9y ago
  i often build my routes utilizing the global heatmap. especially in new places. Yeah, it'd be great to get suggestions based on where I am, but the heat map helps tremendously to discover places to run/bike.
- stadeschuldt 9y ago
  One of my coworkers proposed a better way to utilize Strava's data for finding good routes: https://medium.com/@vovabilonenko/strava-activities-map-6cbce0380ec1 https://medium.com/@vovabilonenko/strava-activities-map-6cbc...
- abkfenris 9y ago
  Trailforks seems to be working in that direction.
dogruck 9y ago
I would like it if Strava, or someone else, did the following: 1. Associate each GPS data point with a short (say, 10 meters) segment. 2. Collect metadata on each segment. eg incline, weather history, is it a segment of an organized race, etc. 3. Combine segments into proposed routes that match a user’s search criteria.
- useful 9y ago
  they have some this in the labs https://labs.strava.com/clusterer/ https://labs.strava.com/clusterer/ You can search for yearly/weekly events.
  - dogruck 9y ago
    That’s a neat experiment, but not really what I’m thinking of. I want to solve two problems: 1. Find a route that matches a search like “20 mile trail run, with moderate hills, and at least 3 water fountains.” 2. See interesting information about segments of the route, such as “mile 8.7 is the highest point of the End Cancer 50 mile race.” That said, thanks for the pointer, I hadn’t seen that before.
nolliebs180 9y ago
I would love to discover new skate spots in my city. The list of activities seems pretty short...
rurban 9y ago
"Athletic" might be misleading. The heatmap in my area (East Germany) only shows activity on the city golf court, whilst we have plenty of real athletes training here, on the amateur, professional and olympic level. Looks like only golfers use Strava.

77 points by WMCRUN 9y ago

Strava strikes me as one of the good social apps, because it gets us away from looking at screens. Also, these data are being used to improve cities, by justifying the locations of new bike lanes for one. https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/11/strava-metro-global-heatmap-urban-planning/545174/ https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2017/11/strava-metro-...

aw3c2 9y ago

*People who let Strave track their every move when running their app, mapped.

notatoad 9y ago
Yes, obviously. But there's enough Strava users that that's a pretty good proxy.
- timthelion 9y ago
  Not at all. This is a good proxy for the activities of wealthy people who don't care about privacy. I'd be interested in this map if I wanted to know where to put up ads for overpriced energy bars. But this isn't a map of physical activity.
  - j_s 9y ago
    This is actually a great point about a highly targeted physical marketing opportunity. I recently saw a small sign nailed to a tree on one of the thousands of back roads in the area that basically turn into a parking lot during rush hour. I'm sure you would catch some flak for spamming on nature trails but normal streets are less offensive.
  - outericky 9y ago
    to be fair, strava has a free app option, nearly everyone has a smartphone these days (not just the wealthy), and running is pretty much one of the cheapest sports/pastimes/activities one can do. [edit] I guess the items highlighted in the blog post probably require some coin...
    - Buldak 9y ago
      >running is pretty much one of the cheapest sports/pastimes/activities one can do It is, but I suspect that runners still tend to be affluent. Just why is an interesting question. http://www.runningguru.com/SM/Demographics.asp http://www.runningguru.com/SM/Demographics.asp
      - outericky 9y ago
        Interesting survey. Though I think the survey demographic is not representative of the general population. Most people who run, or consider themselves runners or joggers don’t run 4.5 days per week and/or average 29.5 miles per week. Interesting nonetheless thanks for sharing.
  - notatoad 9y ago
    It never claimed to be a map of physical activity. It's a map of athletic activity. i.e. the people who purchase overpriced energy bars.
    - aw3c2 9y ago
      The title was changed after I posted my rant. Previously it used a term like population or people (can't remember) including everyone which was stupid.
miahi 9y ago
Most of the tracks are not recorded by phones, but by (90% Garmin) sport watches, and the users chose to upload the tracks to Strava because of the useful features they add to that track (like comparing your exercise with others'). And the heatmap is only using the tracks that are public (again, the users chose to make them public). Ok, you don't know what other value Strava is extracting from these, but that was not a shady "we track you everywhere" business like other big names do, it's something the users really chose to publish.

CJefferson 9y ago

The strava heat map is one of those cases where I really realise the power of data. I've discovered several amazing cycling routes I never knew about within 10 miles of my house from the heatmap. It was also great when I went on holiday, to get a quick glance at local popular routes.

dreen 9y ago

Where are all those people skiing in southern England? I want to get in on the action.

6841iam 9y ago

Long time strava user here. I really wish Strava would do a better job helping you discover new routes around you for activities that you do. I'm a long time user who uses it for Mountain biking and short runs but I've never selected a route because Strava told me to. If you are a PM at strava there's so much you can unlock with all the user's activity data you are sitting on. They aren't doing nothing of course. I can see their product efforts are focused on 1) growing the user base 2) growing paid subs.

peterbraden 9y ago
They're really not doing much. I just let my premium membership lapse because they have so few extra features. Trying to make a facebook news feed doesn't do anything with their current data which is their strength. I really wish they'd up their game.
- kingosticks 9y ago
  Exactly this. I recently cancelled my renewal after years of justifying the payment as the best way to support a service I like but I don't miss any of the premium features at all. I think I only ever use one or two and rarely.
outericky 9y ago
i often build my routes utilizing the global heatmap. especially in new places. Yeah, it'd be great to get suggestions based on where I am, but the heat map helps tremendously to discover places to run/bike.
stadeschuldt 9y ago
One of my coworkers proposed a better way to utilize Strava's data for finding good routes: https://medium.com/@vovabilonenko/strava-activities-map-6cbce0380ec1 https://medium.com/@vovabilonenko/strava-activities-map-6cbc...
abkfenris 9y ago
Trailforks seems to be working in that direction.

dogruck 9y ago

I would like it if Strava, or someone else, did the following: 1. Associate each GPS data point with a short (say, 10 meters) segment. 2. Collect metadata on each segment. eg incline, weather history, is it a segment of an organized race, etc. 3. Combine segments into proposed routes that match a user’s search criteria.

useful 9y ago
they have some this in the labs https://labs.strava.com/clusterer/ https://labs.strava.com/clusterer/ You can search for yearly/weekly events.
- dogruck 9y ago
  That’s a neat experiment, but not really what I’m thinking of. I want to solve two problems: 1. Find a route that matches a search like “20 mile trail run, with moderate hills, and at least 3 water fountains.” 2. See interesting information about segments of the route, such as “mile 8.7 is the highest point of the End Cancer 50 mile race.” That said, thanks for the pointer, I hadn’t seen that before.

nolliebs180 9y ago

I would love to discover new skate spots in my city. The list of activities seems pretty short...

rurban 9y ago

"Athletic" might be misleading. The heatmap in my area (East Germany) only shows activity on the city golf court, whilst we have plenty of real athletes training here, on the amateur, professional and olympic level. Looks like only golfers use Strava.