Generated Community Routes

How It Works

With a Strava subscription, you can automatically generate personalized routes from the location of your choosing. Route recommendations are based on public ("Everyone") Strava activities and open-source data from OpenStreetMap. We use aggregated, de-identified data from those activities -- excluding addresses or start/end points an athlete has hidden using their Map Visibility settings -- to create courses from a given start point, taking into account your search criteria, as well as community data on where users are most often recording activities. We do not use public ("Everyone") activities of athletes who opted out of Aggregated Data Usage. Community routes are created when a sufficient number of public activities use the same valid route.

To access generated community routes, select Maps from the bottom navigation menu of the Strava mobile app and tap Routes at the top of the screen. Strava will default to using your current location as a starting point. You can tap the search bar above for a different location, use your finger to scroll to a different part of your map and tap ‘Search Here’, or long-press on the map to drop a pin at a new location. You can also long-press on a Strava-suggested start point to plan a route from that point. To further personalize the suggested routes, use the following options:

• Sport Type: Choose between running, riding, walking, hiking, trail running, gravel riding, or mountain biking to generate routes optimized for each sport.
• Distance: Select a distance that is around what you’re looking for, and we’ll find the best route near that distance. In order to provide the highest quality route, distances may vary from the exact selection. 
• Difficulty: For foot sports, you can choose between Easy, Moderate, or Hard levels of difficulty. For mountain or gravel biking, you can choose Easy, Moderate, Hard, or Extreme.
• Elevation: You can opt to avoid hills or maximize elevation. Our ability to minimize or maximize elevation gain will be dependent on the terrain around your chosen location.
• Surface: We’ll search for a route that best meets your preferences for a mostly paved or dirt route. A dirt route may include gravel roads, trails, and rocky terrain. If you’re looking for the best route regardless of surface, choose “Any” for surface type.

Suggested routes use the data we have available. They may not be perfect and conditions may change, so always use your best judgment, be safe, and follow the rules of the road or trail.

Sharing Routes

You can share a generated community route by tapping the share icon on the route details page.

iOS share icon	Android share icon

If your recipient has the Strava app downloaded the route will open within their app. If they don’t have the Strava app installed, the route details page will open in a web browser. All athletes will be able to access, save, and follow the route but Strava subscribers will have access to additional features and details.

Editing and Saving Routes

If you'd like to make changes to the generated community route, select the route and tap the three-dot icon on the top right to Edit a Copy. Here you can select a waypoint to move. When you’ve selected the point, press and hold to move the map (the pin will remain at the center of the screen). Once you’re satisfied with the new placement, tap the map to save your changes. This will zoom out back to the whole route view. After you’ve made your changes, tap Continue at the bottom of the page.

The generated community routes can be saved to your My Routes page directly from the Routes page or from the individual route details page. You can select the icon in the upper right-hand corner to view your saved routes.

• Enter a new name for the route if you wish.
• Under Privacy, toggle the option for Everyone ON if you’d like the route to be visible to other athletes on your My Routes page. If you don’t select this option the route will only be visible to you.

FAQ

Why aren’t the routes starting from my current location?

Make sure that you have allowed the Strava app to access your location from your phone’s settings. App-specific settings can be found under Privacy > Location Services on iOS devices and Settings > Apps > Strava on Android devices but the setting of its locations may differ slightly depending on the device.

How is the route surface determined?

We incorporate both crowdsourced data from OpenStreetMap and our own data on bike frames that athletes use to determine surface types on routes worldwide.

How is the route’s time estimate determined?

This is the estimated moving time for riding routes calculated using your four-week average speed. For running routes, we use your average grade-adjusted pace for your previous four weeks and a grade-adjusted length of the route.

How can I follow a route once I’ve saved it?

On the Strava mobile app, select the route icon on the lower left of the record screen. Click the route you wish to follow and select Start to load the route on the record screen for navigation. More information can be found here. If you record with a Garmin device, you can automatically sync your saved routes to Garmin. Lastly, you can download a TCX or GPX version of the route from the Strava website and upload the file to any device that accepts route files in these formats.