Strava makes it easier to plan your workouts and ensure you’re ranked fairly in activity leaderboards. The updates coming in the coming weeks are aimed at helping users optimize their training routes to compete with other users and achieve their own records, building on some of the existing artificial intelligence features that Strava announced last year.
Anyone who pays for a Strava subscription (starting at $11.99 per month) can now access a new AI-powered route interface under the Maps tab that should provide more intuitive suggestions based on popular routes used by other Strava users. Users can create community-supported routes from their own starting points or their current location, using data from Strava’s heat mapping feature.
Other route-related updates will be rolled out to the Strava mobile app in the coming months, including changes to the clickable points of interest (POI) feature, which currently allows subscribers to instantly create routes to cafes, restrooms, viewpoints and other locations. Starting in June, POIs will also display elevation, distance, and estimated time of arrival information, as well as allow users to upload photos of the location. In July, it will also launch point-to-point routing, which uses heat maps and machine learning to create “the most efficient route from point A to point B that matches a specific activity,” according to Strava.
Strava is also doubling the number of real-time segments, allowing users to view real-time performance and achievement data on sections of their route, and introducing additional data screens for subscribers.
Finally, Strava says it’s “continuing to advance” the AI-powered Leaderboard Integrity feature it launched to weed out cheaters on cycling and running paths. The company says that 4.45 million activity logs have been removed so far that carried the wrong sport type, or were recorded in vehicles – which is an easy way to fabricate scores now that e-bikes can make anyone the king of a mountain.
