Strava Article

[Tim Kelley]

http://pelotonmagazine.com/goods/strava-apps-koms-and-the-future-of-your-ride-data/

Topic

[americancyclo]

I’ve wondered about using Strava to map future bike routes based on demand, but I still think that the Strava user is too small of a self selecting group. No data to back that up, though.

[Tim Kelley]

Have you tried using the “Activity Search” function under the Explore tab?

[americancyclo]

Sorry, poor word choice. I’ve used strava to plan out personal rides, but what I meant was:

I’ve thought about governments and advocacy groups using GPS ride data to discover transportation patterns in a city. I was hoping that in these patterns, “desire lines” or future bike route/bike lane streets might be identified. There may be some streets that attract cyclists even though there may not be cycling infrastructure there to make the streets as safe as they could be. Then I end up thinking that Strava is a bit of a self selecting pool of users, but some data may be better than none. I guess what you really want is the data from experienced utility cyclists that will go where they need to regardless of infrastructure, to pioneer areas that others may avoid unless there are bike lanes there to help them feel safer.

[Tim Kelley]

@americancyclo 80094 wrote:

Sorry, poor word choice. I’ve used strava to plan out personal rides, but what I meant was:

I’ve thought about governments and advocacy groups using GPS ride data to discover transportation patterns in a city. I was hoping that in these patterns, “desire lines” or future bike route/bike lane streets might be identified. There may be some streets that attract cyclists even though there may not be cycling infrastructure there to make the streets as safe as they could be. Then I end up thinking that Strava is a bit of a self selecting pool of users, but some data may be better than none. I guess what you really want is the data from experienced utility cyclists that will go where they need to regardless of infrastructure, to pioneer areas that others may avoid unless there are bike lanes there to help them feel safer.

Yeah, we’re already working with Strava to gather data from the DC region. It’s in the very early stages, so I’m not exactly sure what we’re going to see!

[jrenaut]

I would be happy to Strava “utility” routes if that data can be used to help plan bike infrastructure. Outside of Freezing Saddles I don’t usually bother to record the ride unless I’m going somewhere interesting, but if I have some reasonable expectation that the data would be used to help cycling in general I certainly can.

[Author]

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