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Strava Heatmap shows worldwide activity on a single day

Nearly 5 million miles of Strava activities displayed on a zoomable heatmap of the world

If you’ve ever wondered how many other people use Strava in your area, or just how early some cyclists get up on a weekend, then Strava’s Heatmap, which compiles every single activity uploaded to its website on Saturday July 20th, allows you to do exactly that.

Strava took every single activity logged on that single day - totalling 4,890,000 miles in over 326,000 hours - and overlaid the data onto a map of the world. You can move around the map and check out how much activity there is in other parts of the world, and zoom in to take a closer look. It’s a fascinating snapshot of a busy weekend day, and shows where Strava is really popular, and the busiest segments. Like Box Hill and Alpe d'Huez which both glow brightly.

There’s a slider at the top of the page that lets you look at rides first thing in the morning and later in the afternoon. Funnily enough, last weekend just happened to be the annual running of the Dunwich Dynamo, and is clearly visible as the only activity in the UK during the early hours of the morning.

Take a look at it here.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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28 comments

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JackWitson | 10 years ago
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I am going through this post and thinking of it’s theme and trying to understand what is this post about. At last I can have found something from this post which feels pretty good.

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lycra vs lager | 10 years ago
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No wonder France struggles to find a Tour winner, no one there rides bikes

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seanieh66 | 10 years ago
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Its funny how Singapore comes alive at 5am. You UK testers have another hour in bed  3

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CarbonBreaker replied to seanieh66 | 10 years ago
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seanieh66 wrote:

Its funny how Singapore comes alive at 5am. You UK testers have another hour in bed  3

In Singapore, 04:30 was a good start time for a 140km ride, otherwise it was too damn hot, humid and full of car drivers with no respect.

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Joshmo | 10 years ago
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Kudos to the lone rider in Mongolia.

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dockhill | 10 years ago
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Timezone-wise - I think they have collected data for a day centered somewhere in the USA, but then shown all "1pm rides" on the map at the same time.

Look at the Dunwich Dynamo - there's a massive track starting at midnight to 6am on Saturday - this is obviously midnight to 6am on *Sunday* UK time.

So a bit of a bug, but at least it shows the entire Dynamo  1

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lolol | 10 years ago
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Up and down the Yarra Boulevard in Melbourne, still popular I see.

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Cycle_Jim | 10 years ago
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I'm assuming (or maybe I missed it) that all the time zones are synchronised?

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wrevilo | 10 years ago
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This is really, really cool! Almost more interesting than the places that see a lot of use are the places that don't. Lincolnshire for instance...

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Eg3ftp1 | 10 years ago
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Looks like there was a fair size group on the Dunwich Dynamo route in the night too:
http://app.strava.com/saturday-heatmap#0|3|10|52.11740|1.08374

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PJ McNally | 10 years ago
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It's not just us, the dutch and belgians seem pretty strava-mad too.

though france seems almost pitch-black! In fact i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the strava traffic on the Alp etc was from visitors, especially brits.

My ride oxford-silverstone is in there, too, wrong turn and all.

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Mattrb78 | 10 years ago
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It looks great! Can we see this done for any times of the day or days if the week too. I think you would see a better picture and far different results on different days. Why July 20th too? Bit random!

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Nigel Jennings | 10 years ago
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Sunday 4 August might have been enlightening!

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PaulChilly | 10 years ago
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It's the evening of Dunwich Dynamo - roll forward to 11pm-Midnight and see the track heading for the Suffolk Coast (from London) Cool!  16

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robert_obrien replied to PaulChilly | 10 years ago
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PaulChilly wrote:

It's the evening of Dunwich Dynamo - roll forward to 11pm-Midnight and see the track heading for the Suffolk Coast (from London) Cool!  16

Thanks Paul, that really is inspiring.

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Global Nomad | 10 years ago
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botox, I think you're on to something but its only part of the information. Remember this is one section of a cycling community who are hooked on Strava (inc. me) and so it gives a distorted view of cycling. There are a huge number of cyclists who don't care about data and oftentimes they will be the ones that need the most looking after on the road. Box Hill and Alpe d'Huez dont need road improvements ( in this context) though they are very populated by cyclists.

Cool data show though. If it was the Aug 4th surrey would be a floodlight.

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botoxking | 10 years ago
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I have been suggesting to friends that this would be a great way of determining the focus of transport planning for cyclists - if this was passed onto the DfT or TFL it could be a way on ensuring the popular routes are given a focus for cycle infrastructure investment.

Obviously you'd want a working week for that map - but I wonder if anyone at TFL of the DfT have looked at this with any great thought.

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mrchrispy | 10 years ago
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chrispy likes this

looks like you can see part of the route from the wiggle peak district punisher sportive. very cool

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mrchrispy | 10 years ago
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cripes...we in the UK are mental for a bit of strava.

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nowasps | 10 years ago
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Strava appears to be more popular in the UK than elsewhere...  7

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Low Speed Wobble replied to nowasps | 10 years ago
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nowasps wrote:

Strava appears to be more popular in the UK than elsewhere...  7

Indeed. I wonder what it tells us about the psyche of us Brits that we feel compelled to record, share and compare every ride.

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dave atkinson | 10 years ago
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Wonder what was going on in texas in the middle of the night  1

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The Rumpo Kid replied to dave atkinson | 10 years ago
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Dave Atkinson wrote:

Wonder what was going on in texas in the middle of the night  1

Does Pac-Man own a bike?

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BearstedCC replied to dave atkinson | 10 years ago
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In response to I wonder what was happing in Texas:

Lance !!!!

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lolol replied to dave atkinson | 10 years ago
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Midnight Tron, is happening in Texas

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Noelieboy | 10 years ago
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Very clever.
9am-10am and the UK is by far the shining light!

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sfichele | 10 years ago
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Sweet!

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TeamCC | 10 years ago
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Was really hoping to see a lone rider in North Korea.

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