Points of Interest and Start Points

Maps on both the Strava mobile app and website will include a Points of Interest map layer to help you find the best spots in your area to start your activity and useful locations throughout your activity.

Points of Interest are community-powered local hot spots that help you get around and make your runs, rides, and hikes safer and more fun. Hot spots could include bike shops, cafes, water fountains, restrooms, photo spots, and other popular sites.

Start Points are popular spots where people start their runs, rides, or walks, like parking lots or trailheads, and can only be found on Strava. We use de-identified and aggregate public community data to see which locations get clusters of uploads from athletes and place the top ones on the map. 

You can see a legend of the Points of Interest and start points we have available here.

Using Points of Interest for Route Planning

All athletes will see the Points of Interest map layer, but subscribers can plan routes accordingly from the Maps tab or our Routebuilder on the Strava website. To create a route from one of the suggested Start Points, navigate to Maps > Routes from the Strava mobile app. Then simply long-press on the point, and your route recommendations will adjust.

How Points of Interest Are Generated

The Points of Interest we show are points derived from OpenStreetMap that our data show as being popular with Strava athletes. Certain places will be shown over others based on how popular they are in our community. We try our best to generate authentic and appropriate Points of Interest with the data we have available. If you notice that something looks off, please contact our team by following the instructions here.

We use aggregated and de-identified data to populate Points of Interest. We do not include `Only You` activities or data from athletes who have disabled the toggle to 'Contribute your activity data to de-identified, aggregate data sets’.

FAQs

If one of the points is inaccurate, for example, a bathroom is closed, or a water fountain isn’t working, how do I report it to the rest of the community?

We ask that you report any issues to our maps data provider, OpenStreetMap, to reflect accurately on Strava Maps. This article has details on how.

Where can I submit a Point of Interest for inclusion on the map?

You can submit the location to our maps data provider, OpenStreetMap using the instructions found here.

What should I do if I don’t want my activities to contribute to Points of Interest or Start Points? 

• To exclude your activities from the Points of Interest and Start Point dataset, disable the toggle to ‘Contribute to de-identified, aggregate data sets’. More information on how to change this setting can be found here.
• To exclude individual activities from the Points of Interest dataset, change the activity’s privacy controls to ‘Only You.’ More information on how to change this setting can be found here.

Do hidden portions of an activity affect Points of Interest? 

If you’ve hidden part or all of an activity’s map, your data will still be considered in determining a location’s popularity.’ In order to exclude an activity from ‘popular’ points of interest, you can update the activity’s privacy controls to ‘Only You.’