Nathan Rusen ... was inspired to look more closely, he said, after a throwaway comment by his father, who observed that the map offered a snapshot of “where rich white people are” in the world. “I wondered, does it show U.S. soldiers?” he said, and immediately zoomed in on Syria. “It sort of lit up like a Christmas.” (WaPo article by Liz Sly.)

The Global Heat Map , published in November 2017 by the GPS tracking company Strava (FitBit, JawBone, Vitofit), used satellite information to map the location and movements of subscribers to the company’s fitness service - including subscribers who were active-duty troops patrolling sensitive sites. WaPo picks up the story