[talk-au] Mapping tracks from Strava heatmap

[Josh Marshall]

I'm another big user of Strava for tracing... so thought I'd chime in with
my approach.

These days, not so simple to get access to the good heatmap direct in
editors, since they restricted the higher zoom levels to when you're logged
in. So since that change, when I'm in a rambling mood (which is most of the
time) I'll use the mobile app with both my own heatmap and the global one
on-screen to explore where I haven't been, and prioritise areas with
obvious heat but no OSM way in order to map them afterwards.

Actually got caught out in bushfire season once because I trusted OSM too
much, and had to bail out through an extended route that was closed.
Learned my lesson. I'm very slow to do it, but I have removed some tracks
in the past where there are no signs left on the ground... that was
definitely one time I didn't hesitate to do so.

On Mon, 27 Feb 2023 at 09:08, Adam Horan <ahoran at gmail.com> wrote:

> According to https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Strava and
> https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Permissions/Strava there is
> permission to trace from the Strava heatmap.
>
> (Which is fair enough given the extensive use they make of OSM maps for
> display and routing)
>
> Adam
>
> On Mon, 27 Feb 2023 at 08:42, Michael Collinson <mike at ayeltd.biz> wrote:
>
>> I use Strava heatmaps only as a "referential" source, i.e. seeing
>> potentially missing or badly misaligned paths and then taking a walk that
>> way. In addition to other comments about using them directly, I'd also
>> wonder whether Strava copyright allows it but have not explicitly analysed.
>>
>> In Sweden, I have found them a great referential source, but then we have
>> "all man's right" and off-path walking is not generally an issue so there
>> are many useful informal paths.
>>
>> Mike
>> On 2023-02-26 22:10, Adam Horan wrote:
>>
>> My view is also that Strava heatmaps are insufficient on their own to
>> prove a track. They do show that a reasonable number of people have passed
>> along a particular route in recent times. They don't prove a path or track,
>> and they give no indication of permissions.
>>
>> However I did look for details of way 963735356 in the Strava heatmap,
>> and there's very little in Strava in that area. It's possible the user did
>> have the heatmap open in iD but didn't trace all the routes from there.
>> Some might be 'local knowledge'.
>>
>> I do make use of the strava heatmaps frequently to refine the route of
>> known tracks, especially if there's lots of tree cover and you can't see
>> the tracks too well in imagery.
>> 10s or 100s of averaged GPS tracks is better than a single GPS track
>> which you might record yourself.
>>
>> Adam
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, 26 Feb 2023 at 18:24, Tom Brennan <website at ozultimate.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Do people have a view on the armchair mapping of tracks from Strava
>>> heatmaps?
>>>
>>> I can see a bunch of tracks in Kanangra-Boyd NP that have been mapped by
>>> an overseas mapper off Strava heatmap.
>>>
>>> They almost certainly don't exist on the ground. They are known
>>> bushwalking routes (off track), but would be very unlikely to have a
>>> track even in good times, let along after the fires and 3 years of La
>>> Nina!
>>>
>>> Example:
>>> https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/952248376
>>>
>>> cheers
>>> Tom
>>> ----
>>> Canyoning? try http://ozultimate.com/canyoning
>>> Bushwalking? try http://bushwalkingnsw.com
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Talk-au at openstreetmap.org
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>>>
>>
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