Your GPS-enabled exercise tracking gizmo may be among those feeding data to researchers who have culled numbers and mapped out the most jogged and biked routes on the planet.
Strava, a San Francisco-based company, depicts these routes using global heat maps. These maps represent nearly 78 million bike rides and about 20 million runs that amass 220 billion data points.
Major cities such as San Francisco, D.C., New York, and Detroit offer interesting looks at the exercise patterns of residents. Notably, biking happens in Detroit still, but running — almost none.
Interestingly, nearly all of Florida is lit up.
In Tallahassee, defined paths are noted throughout the St. Marks trails; all around the lake at Southwood; in clear, dark channels throughout Tom Brown and Piney Z; at the Florida State Stadium — literally — you can tell that some health nuts are running bleachers with regularity; and no doubt, you can see a clear perimeter around Lake Ella.
At least one person runs at the Shark Valley Observatory Tower in the middle of the Everglades; Tampa is pretty quiet in the running and biking departments, overall; but Pinellas County makes up for that with channels carved out all around the peninsula. Disney Parks and Epcot are also hotspots for GPS-wearing exercisers.
