Freezing Saddles Got A County Board Shout Out!

[peterw_diy]

Yeah, I’d go with the naive approach, too, especially if the segments are as short as I expect. It wouldn’t be correct but should be close enough. Use something like an associative array of MD5 hashes to cache each activity’s Arl distance. It’d be fun to extend slightly by computing the distance in a number of local jurisdictions. And tally stuff like miles ridden beginning or ending in Arlington.

Ooh, imagine if you had polygons describing common MUPs, cycletracks, etc…

[dkel]

@peterw_diy 76320 wrote:

Ooh, imagine if you had polygons describing common MUPs, cycletracks, etc…

Mmm…polygons…

[mstone]

Give the right database app, there are simple gis operators for things like “within boundary”

[dasgeh]

On a more macro level (as in not just our competition), is Strava interested in using its data for good, and by “good” I mean “advocacy”? If so, I could give them a list that would help with Arlington…

[Tim Kelley]

@dasgeh 76369 wrote:

On a more macro level (as in not just our competition), is Strava interested in using its data for good, and by “good” I mean “advocacy”? If so, I could give them a list that would help with Arlington…

What kind of list are you talking about?

We’ve been in discussion with folks at Strava to be one of their pioneering jurisdictions that uses their data for analysis and planning. We should have an official agreement in place very soon.

[dasgeh]

@Tim Kelley 76370 wrote:

What kind of list are you talking about?

We’ve been in discussion with folks at Strava to be one of their pioneering jurisdictions that uses their data for analysis and planning. We should have an official agreement in place very soon.

To start with, numbers of what people do when the trails are icy — are they still taking trails? (are they falling?) are they taking streets instead? Are they not biking? Biking to metro? You could start basic with a heatmap on a non-icy day and a heatmap on an icy day.

And moving on to planning, it would be interesting to see heatmap-like routes focused on certain destinations. Like when a ride ends in Ballston, how are people riding there? Clarendon? Westover? The Drafthouse area of the Pike? 23rd St in CC?

When new infrastructure is introduced, looking at behavior before and after. Did those bike boxes on Veitch help? Etc.

Obviously, using the data, we’d have to recognize its limitations: it’s not going to capture all cyclists, and in particular, it’s least likely to capture the most-transportation oriented among us, but it’s a start.

Thanks! I think it would be really exciting if we could get them on board.

[rcannon100]

It is not Strava’s data; it is your data.

Strava does not claim ownership of Content you may submit or make available for inclusion on the Site. However, with respect to Content you submit or make available for inclusion on the Site (other than User Data or Payment Method information), you grant Strava a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free and non-exclusive license, as applicable, to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display and otherwise exploit such Content on the Site for the purposes of providing and promoting the Site and the features and services available on the Site.

[Tim Kelley]

@dasgeh 76377 wrote:

To start with, numbers of what people do when the trails are icy — are they still taking trails? (are they falling?) are they taking streets instead? Are they not biking? Biking to metro? You could start basic with a heatmap on a non-icy day and a heatmap on an icy day.

And moving on to planning, it would be interesting to see heatmap-like routes focused on certain destinations. Like when a ride ends in Ballston, how are people riding there? Clarendon? Westover? The Drafthouse area of the Pike? 23rd St in CC?

When new infrastructure is introduced, looking at behavior before and after. Did those bike boxes on Veitch help? Etc.

Obviously, using the data, we’d have to recognize its limitations: it’s not going to capture all cyclists, and in particular, it’s least likely to capture the most-transportation oriented among us, but it’s a start.

Thanks! I think it would be really exciting if we could get them on board.

Ah, that’s more clear what you are getting at. No, Strava will not be doing that level of analysis–they’ll just be providing a big database with ride details.

[dasgeh]

@Tim Kelley 76379 wrote:

Ah, that’s more clear what you are getting at. No, Strava will not be doing that level of analysis–they’ll just be providing a big database with ride details.

So you will get the data? In which case, have I got a list for you!

[americancyclo]

@dasgeh 76383 wrote:

So you will get the data? In which case, have I got a list for you!

I always thought this would be a cool way to evaluate bike lanes and look for new places to add infrastructure based on demand, but I bet that it tends towards the more adventurous experienced cyclist rather than the new commuter.

[dasgeh]

@americancyclo 76394 wrote:

I always thought this would be a cool way to evaluate bike lanes and look for new places to add infrastructure based on demand, but I bet that it tends towards the more adventurous experienced cyclist rather than the new commuter.

Probably. But you could probably tell from the data.

[peterw_diy]

@Tim Kelley 76379 wrote:

Strava will not be doing that level of analysis–they’ll just be providing a big database with ride details.

Hmm, sounds very cool, but also a potential privacy minefield.

[rcannon100]

@peterw_diy 76396 wrote:

Hmm, sounds very cool, but also a potential privacy minefield.

Handling Freezing Saddles registration, I can tell you that there are a good number of participants already uncomfortable with the use of Strava. If the data gets data-mined and turned over to Arlco or anyone else, I think, um, the discomfort level will increase.

[peterw_diy]

@rcannon100 76400 wrote:

Handling Freezing Saddles registration, I can tell you that there are a good number of participants already uncomfortable with the use of Strava. If the data gets data-mined and turned over to Arlco or anyone else, I think, um, the discomfort level will increase.

Yep. Strava’s privacy policy seems to allow them to hand lots of stuff to ArlCo as long as there’s no “personal” info included. But I imagine it would be quite difficult to effectively anonymize this stuff given how much info strava.com already provides on athletes, even those with “enhanced privacy mode” selected. If Strava gives ArlCo data including travel within Strava “hidden locations”, then they’ll really be setting themselves up for trouble if the wrong folks get hold of the data. And I’d note that in some folks’ minds, “the wrong folks” might even include Arl Co police.

At least Freezing Saddles is thoroughly opt-in.

It’d be a lot safer for ArlCo to use something like CycleTracks that’s specifically designed & intended to provide cycling geodata to municipalities.

[Author]

Posts