Skip to main content

Heatmaps

  • Updated

Land in a new area and want to know where locals ride? Want to discover new routes in your neighborhood? The Ride with GPS Heatmap displays aggregated data from publicly-recorded trips and highlights it on the map, showing the "heat" generated by these activities so that you can see where people are riding, anywhere in the world. The darker color of the line, the more rides present. 

Download the Ride with GPS mobile app on iOS or Android

   

Basic members can use the Global Heatmap in the Mobile Route Planner, and a Premium plan unlocks the ability to use the Heatmap for route planning on web and mobile. Curious about the ground you've covered on your own? Take a look at your Personal Heatmap.

 

The Heatmap on Web

The public Ride with GPS heatmap can be viewed by anyone at ridewithgps.com/heatmap.

Use the Heatmap with the Route Planner

The Global Heatmap overlay is available to Premium members, and will be turned on in the Route Planner by default when you're opted in to it.

To enable or disable the Global Heatmap in the route planner, click on the Heatmaps menu in the upper right corner of the Route Planner screen, and check off Global Heatmap from the drop down menu to enable. Uncheck this to disable this view.
The Global Heatmap will display ride data from least popular (light blue) to more popular (darker red). Look for darker areas on the heatmap to identify more popular riding areas based on our public ride data.

Use the Heatmap in the App

Basic and Premium subscribers have access to the Mobile Route Planner. The global heatmap will be turned off by default here, and in the ride recording screen. To enable the Heatmap overlay in the mobile app, click the Map Options icon in the lower left corner of the route planner or recording screen, and tap Global Heatmap from the options that appear.  

 

Opt In or Out of Heatmap Data.

You can opt out of having your public ride data included in the heatmap dataset at any time in your Privacy Settings by checking or unchecking the Heatmap Data box.

 

FAQs:

  • Who can view the heatmap?
    • Anyone can view the publicly available heatmap page. Premium users get access to the heatmap in our route planner, along with all of our other route creation and editing tools.
  • What data was used to create the heatmap?
    • We used the most recent two years of publicly-recorded and uploaded trips from public Ride with GPS users.
  • Were private trips included in the heatmap data?
    • No private trips were included in the data. Additionally, we excluded all trips from users who have marked their accounts as private.
  • How were privacy zones handled?
    • All manually created privacy zones are respected. Additionally, every trip has an automatic privacy zone created at the start and end of the trip, which means that even for users who don't use privacy zones, their start and end locations are obscured to eliminate peoples' houses and other hotspots from appearing on the map.
  • How often is the heatmap data updated?
    • The heatmap is updated every week. This keeps the data current, and allows us to quickly remove any user's data who chooses to opt out.
  • Can I opt my data out of the heatmap?
    • Yes. You can opt out by going to your profile settings and opting out here: Privacy Settings. You can also opt out of individual rides by marking them as private.

Related articles