Strava has updated its personal heatmap feature. The new system, set to go live on 27 January, will now pre-generate and update automatically, and allow users to control what activities are included on their heatmap.
At a zoomed-out view, the personal heatmap shows areas where your recorded activities are clustered. As you zoom in, you get a view that's more akin to Strava's overall heatmap, which shows a colour-graded view of the routes where you recorded the most activities – Orange heat represents your hottest/most ridden routes while Gray heat at the bottom of the scale your least popular routes.
The new update means you can now show running and cycling alongside other activities (of which there are 33 to choose from, including stand-up paddle-boarding, ice skating and velomobile riding) on the same map – ideal for the cyclist that likes to incorporate cross-training into their workouts.
The previous incarnation of the system had to be generated and refreshed manually, and was limited to running or cycling activities only.
The new personal heatmap will also allow users to:
- Choose the time period that it covers – you can either look at an all-time view or just a specified year
- Choose the colour of the map trace
- Choose the style of map, including a standard map or satellite view
The personal heatmap is a subscriber-only feature that's available on Strava's website.
With all of the obvious reasons that curtailed the geographical limits of our riding in 2020, let's hope we can expand our horizons and, thus, our Strava personal heatmaps, in 2021.
