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You probably don’t need a map to tell you that people enjoy biking through Rock Creek Park or jogging on the National Mall. But why let good data go to waste? Cyclists and runners use the Strava app to log and improve their times; the Strava app, in turn, logs their routes. And now, as first written up by Vox, Strava has shared maps of its 220 billion data points with us, the public.
I’ve zoomed into the District level to explore where people bike and run in D.C. These maps, of course, don’t show all the routes people take in the District—-just the ones taken by people who use Strava. I run and bike all the time, and I’ve never heard of Strava. Strava users are likely to be more competitive, more tech-savvy, and perhaps wealthier than most D.C. residents. Most commuters are left out of the mix.
Nonetheless, for at least a segment of the population, the maps show the most popular biking and running routes in town. Red indicates the heaviest use, followed by dark blue and light blue. Click to enlarge.
Biking:
Running:
Maps from Strava