Buzz
Strava, the app widely used by runners and cyclists, provides numerous tools to help you find new routes, such as segments, the route builder, and the global heatmap. Earlier this year, Strava rolled out its new weekly heatmap. This feature is fantastic for locating popular trails and routes in real-time, but it could potentially expose more personal information than most users would expect.
I used the weekly heatmap to explore a neighborhood that seemed to have only one active runner, and within minutes, I discovered that person’s name and their location. Just to clarify, I selected the neighborhood randomly, and this individual was a complete stranger to me. While urban areas may not have this problem as frequently, if you live in a rural or suburban area, it’s a good idea to review your privacy settings. I’ll cover those settings in more detail shortly, but first, let’s take a look at the new map feature.
What exactly is Strava’s weekly heatmap?
Strava provides a variety of mapping tools that assist you in finding ideal running or cycling locations. However, only paid subscribers have access to street-level views.
As Strava outlines, the weekly heatmap is refreshed every week, incorporating data from activities (like runs and bike rides) that are set to 'Everyone' visibility. While Strava has long featured a global heatmap, which highlights popular routes in general, the weekly version provides a real-time look at where people are currently heading. For instance, during challenging seasons like icy or muddy weather, I could use this feature to check which trails in the county park remain passable despite the conditions.
The issue arises when you explore less-populated areas, such as many rural and suburban locations. There's a significant privacy concern: if you're the only runner in your neighborhood recently, your tracks will be the only ones visible on the weekly heatmap. In contrast, the global heatmap blends those trails with others that have been used throughout the year.
How the weekly heatmap can make your solitary running routes stand out.
Let me explain. Recently, I've been running almost every day, mostly in my neighborhood. When I saw the weekly heatmap, I immediately zoomed into a nearby park to check out the popular trails. But when I panned back to my area, I noticed my own running routes highlighted in cloudy blue lines.
Unlike the global heatmap, which offers a broader view, my individual running patterns subtly impact the map. The lines I create might darken slightly, but no one else would be able to identify my specific running habits just by viewing them.
The weekly heatmap tells a different story. It seems that I, along with maybe one other person, have a tendency to favor certain roads in my neighborhood. Occasionally, I loop around a specific road, causing that segment to shine brighter than the others.
When I zoom out, I notice other neighborhoods where a clear favorite route seems to belong to one individual. I can switch between the global and weekly heatmaps and make observations like, 'The person running [route A] has been quite active recently, but their neighbor, who typically starts and ends at [place B], hasn't been as consistent.' I may not know these runners personally, but I feel like I could recognize at least one of their names.
Heatmaps combined with Local Legends can reveal more than what you might expect.
The weekly heatmap becomes even more revealing when paired with another prominent feature of Strava: Segments. A segment represents a part of a route that has been given a title and a leaderboard. For instance, if there's a tough hill nearby, someone might create a segment called 'Neighborhood Hill,' offering a challenge and a leaderboard for it.
With Strava’s map tool, you can click on any segment to view the fastest time recorded, as well as see who holds the title of Local Legend—the person who has completed that segment the most in the past 90 days.
For an experiment, I zoomed in on a neighborhood far from my own, and I found a route that seemed to be frequented by just a few people. It was a faint, cloudy blue line that traced only a few roads, with little to no activity on the surrounding streets.
I then checked to see which segments were in that area, and as expected, one of the segments corresponded to that route. I clicked on it, and discovered that only three people had run that segment in the past 90 days. Two of them had only run it once, while the third had completed it multiple times.
The person who had run the segment the most—the Local Legend—was likely the one responsible for that cloudy blue route over the past week. I checked the endpoints of that line and deduced that the LL probably lived near one of those locations. Curious, I looked up the real estate records for that street, and sure enough, one of the homes at the end of the blue line was owned by someone with the same first and last name as the Local Legend.
I wouldn't have been able to pinpoint that specific location with just the global heatmap or the segments alone. While I might have guessed the Local Legend lived nearby, I wouldn't have known exactly which street, let alone which house, to investigate. However, the weekly heatmap led me straight to their doorstep.
Steps to remove your data from the weekly heatmap
If your account is fully locked down, with all settings set to private, your data won't appear here. However, if any part of your runs or rides is visible to everyone—necessary if you want to compete on segments—your data will be included in the weekly heatmap. Here are a few ways to change that:
Strava states that activities marked as 'only you' or 'followers' are excluded from the map. But note, these activities won’t count toward segment leaderboards. (You can read Strava’s explanation of the privacy settings here.)
Strava also provides an option to automatically conceal the start and end points of your activities. For example, you could run from your house to a nearby park, and the park portion would be public while the section near your house would remain private. Learn how to set this up here. Again, the private portion will not show up on the weekly heatmap, nor will it appear on the segment leaderboards. Hiding start and end points can prevent situations where someone can pinpoint your exact house, but it won’t stop someone from figuring out that you frequent a particular route.
A partial solution could also involve changing your name and profile picture to eliminate identifying details. This will make it harder for friends to recognize you, though it might not be a suitable option for everyone, since social interactions are a key part of Strava.
Finally, there’s a setting that allows you to remove your data from both the global and weekly heatmaps. (Unfortunately, this setting isn’t split into two separate options.) Go to Settings, then Privacy Controls, and scroll down to Map Visibility. You’ll find a checkbox labeled 'Contribute your activity data to de-identified, aggregate data sets.' Uncheck that box.
