Planning a trip and you don’t know where to run? Looking to find new places to run in your own backyard? Strava’s Global Heatmap is one of the growing number of tools that can help. In addition to showing you where to run, the information also makes it possible to see how popular various roads and routes are among runners who use Strava.

Strava was already using the data that ultimately contributed to the Global Heatmap in its Route Builder, which helps provide the routes for runners and cyclists.

“Once we had done the work to organize the data for routing, we thought it would be entertaining and eye-opening for the world to see all the places where Strava athletes run and ride,” Larissa Rivers, Strava’s Run Marketing Manager, told Runner’s World Newswire.

Zoom in on any part of the world, and you can see where the running hotspots are. (Just make sure to switch over to the running view first, because the default is cycling.) The brighter an area, the more popular it is.

As one would expect, there are particularly bright areas in Iten, Kenya, around New York City’s Central Park, and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, for example. But Strava’s map can also help users find the less obvious places to run, in addition to providing clues regarding whether or not a particular road or trail is runnable. Zoom in on Issaquah, Washington, for example, and you'll see that no trip there would be complete without a visit to Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.

As one would expect, because of their higher populations, major cities tend to be hot spots. When you see a hot spot that's not in a major city, like Idaho's City of Rocks National Reserve, chances are you've found a good place to run.

Strava generally updates the map twice a year, in May and October. As of the last update, more than 41.5 million runs were represented on the Global Heatmap.

The company was pleasantly surprised to learn how much people have enjoyed using the information in the Global Heatmap. They’ve also learned that some groups are using the data in ways they didn’t anticipate.

“Some advocacy groups have used the data, combined with pedestrian and cycling accident records, to look for hotspots in their community where there is both high use and high conflict. If the data can help make running, walking, and riding in cities better, we’re supportive,” Rivers says.

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