BikePortland had an interesting scoop yesterday about how the Oregon Department of Transportation is the first in the nation to purchase data from the people behind the popular cycling/running mapping app Strava. The idea is that the state can use route data to better understand how people are using the transportation system and plan accordingly.
From bikeportland.org‘s Jonathan Maus:
If all goes according to plan, the data could revolutionize how ODOT makes decisions about their policies, plans, and projects. At the very least, forging boldly into the realm of “big data” and pushing the boundaries of bicycle planning marks an important step for an agency that’s facing a very different future and actively looking to shed its old-school, highway-first reputation.
It’s an intriguing, creative notion, and probably far cheaper than the state spearheading a project to gather its own GPS data. But the Strava buy has created a fierce debate online, with some advocates leery or upset by ODOT’s move. They point out Strava is largely targeted at athletes, who can test themselves against other riders’ speed on a specific stretch of road. The data, then, might not reflect how everyday riders use the transportation system.
What’s more, critics point out there are potential inequities at play, given the barriers to smart phones that run the Strava app. Twitter is twittering away with calls for ODOT to treat the new ride data skeptically. Much of that discussion, on my feed anyway, is coming from Portland advocate/writer Elly Blue.
According to bikeportland’s story, ODOT’s aware that Strava doesn’t represent the vast majority of cyclists. But it also helps fill a hole in researchers’ knowledge of bike patterns.
And while this dearth of data continues to plague the active transportation field, the proliferation of GPS devices and smartphones, and the popularity of apps like Strava and Portland-based Ride With GPS, are creating a huge and valuable user database. That being said, there is a major drawback to using Strava data: it’s not representative of all bicycle users. Not even close. Most Strava users tend to be serious riders on training rides. But as anyone can see on the Strava Global Heat Map, there’s still much to be learned by analyzing where Strava users ride.
It’s hard to argue with advocates’ concerns about inequity. Still, I’m all for leveraging what little data is available to create a better system—so long as that leverage is appropriately couched. The Strava data shouldn’t be treated as a biblical reflection of cycling in the state, in the same way the Hawthorne Bridge bike counter isn’t considered a pure reflection of who’s riding in the city on a given day. But both have merits.
For a notion of the type of info ODOT planners are working with, check out the super-interesting Strava heat map of rides taken in Portland.
Wow, Elly Blue seems like a real idiot.
BIKES!
I’m gonna repost my comment I made on BP just because it’s driving me up the wall that people just assume Strava users are so vastly different from “the rest of us”
For everyone making judgments based on their view of who the typical Strava user is, here is some additional information
Here is a glimpse of Strava data from 2013. http://blog.strava.com/earth-to-saturn-201…
What does it tell me? Well, not everything but… I notice that while activity does increase on the weekends, it’s not massively skewed that way, there is a lot of activity on weekdays. Infer from that what you will.
Also the average bike trip on Strava is only 20 miles. So it would seem to be capturing more than just the hardcore 100milers. (Example: For every 100mile ride that’s 5x 4mile rides that would result in a 20 mile average)
Strava is logging over a million activities a week.
http://blog.strava.com/1-million-weekly-ac…
Now, I also found this paper
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/uclic/studying/taught…
“King of the Mountain: A Rapid Ethnography of Strava Cycling “
Data from a survey of Strava users (in the UK) showed this:
“The majority of cyclists identified as recreational cyclists (81%) and/or
utility cyclists (70%). Only a few identified as competitive cyclists (14%). There was an even split between the participants who use mobile applications or dedicated devices to record cycle rides (48%) and those who do not (52%). For those who use an application or device for cycling, the majority claimed to use Strava Cycling (57%) (see Figure 7). About half of the Strava Cycling users also use another device or application. The other popular apps were MapMyRide and Endomondo while the most popular dedicated device was Garmin GPS.”
I wonder if this changes anything?
-Mick
@Reymont: You really are the pot calling the kettle black. Especially since you’ve said before that you don’t see anything wrong with drivers killing cyclists. So yeah, you’re not entitled to opinions anymore.
Go fuck yourself, Graham.
I’m sure this data isn’t flawless, but it’s better than nothing and certainly no more or less useful than the PBOT bike counts, which I’m sure Elly Blue has no problem with.
He’s right, Reymont. You have kind of a history of being a piece of shit.
It’s not necessarily a poll of who is a true Scot/cyclist and where they ride. To view it as such and overreact that that assumption is myopic. As bikeportland pointed out, it will be very valuable to determine qualitative cyclist usage patterns around trouble spots and intersections that ODOT would formerly only gain knowledge of through police reports, observation, and firsthand employee accounts. I think this is more valuable data than what was available to them before.
It’s real simple. Bicyclists mostly ride on the sidewalk because they are too chickenshit to ride in the street. Of course bicyclist think nothing of terrorizing pedestrians in the same way that cars disregard bikes. How much ought ODOT pay me to learn this?
Fred – they’d probably pay you about 25 cents for that info, since you’re just spouting bullshit.
I’ve been hit by a speeding bicyclist. Ever since then, whenever a bike comes up too fast from behind and cuts too close, as the asshole idiot whizzes on by, I shout in his ear, Hah! Usually that works pretty good for making them lose their balance. I don’t even have to resort to spaying a pepper mace cloud ahead of his trajectory, but when I sense them closing in, I get prepared to do just that. Just try me, ROM.
I don’t ride on sidewalks, just like most bicyclists. So I won’t be trying you.
Also, Elly Blue doesn’t seem to understand the userbase of this app.
Then for you, ROM, I recommend a handlebar mounted EMP blaster for frying the electronics in offending automobiles (where permitted by law). However, since you ride on the street, you have no way to realize how crowded the sidewalks have actually become with chickenshit bicyclists.