Mapping Human Activity

Activity tracking application Human has released a global interactive map showing one day of walking, running, cycling and transport undertaken by Human users in March of this year.

One Day on Human provides an interesting visualization of where the Human app is being used around the world. A lot of people actually seem to be using the app not only as a fitness tracking app but to record their general movements. For example, people have been using the app to track themselves on ferry journeys around New York and on London's M25 orbital motorway.


The One Day on Human Map only appears to show everywhere Human users have been with the app. It doesn't show the most popular running and biking routes withing that data. The Nike+ Places map on the other hand has an informative heat map layer which shows the most popular running routes for owners of Nike's running app and tracking devices.

Using the heat map layer you can search for the most popular running routes in any location around the world. In truth the popular routes revealed by the heat map layer aren't a great surprise. Parks and off-road routes seem to be very popular with joggers. For example in London the major parks and canal tow paths prove very popular with runners.


Strava has also created a handy heat map of the most popular running routes of its users. In New York joggers love to run in Central Park and along the southern tip of Manhattan. In Chicago the lake shore is very popular and in San Francisco the Golden Gate Park and The Embarcardero seem to be the most popular places for joggers.

The Strava Global Heatmap is a Google Map of where joggers like to run and where cyclists love to ride. The map allows you to view the most popular running and cycling routes by Strava users across the world.


If you don't believe the Strava and Nike data you can cross check their routes with Runkeeper data. Mapbox has released a worldwide map of 1.5 million walks, runs, and bike rides undertaken by Runkeeper users.

The 1.5 Million Walks, Runs, and Bike Rides map overlays Runkeeper routes on top of Mapbox's terrain layer. The map includes some quick links to jump to the map of a few major cities around the world. You can also pan and zoom the map to view the popular running routes at any location in the world.