The Complete Guide to GPS Art on Strava
Everything you need to know to create your first GPS art and share it on Strava.
GPS art — also known as Strava art or running art — is the practice of planning a route that draws a picture on the map when you run or cycle it. What started as a niche hobby among tech-savvy runners has exploded into a global phenomenon, with thousands of athletes creating everything from simple hearts to complex animal portraits across their cities. The concept is beautifully simple: your GPS device records your movement as a continuous line, and when that line is viewed on a map, it forms a picture. Some artists plan routes that spell out marriage proposals, others draw elaborate animals that span entire neighborhoods, and many runners simply enjoy the creative challenge of turning their daily jog into something visually memorable. Whether you're training for a marathon and want to make your long runs more interesting, or you're looking for a completely new way to explore your city, GPS art adds a layer of purpose and creativity to every kilometer.
What is GPS Art?
GPS art works by carefully planning a route along streets and paths that, when viewed on a map, forms a recognizable shape. The raw material is your city's street grid — every road, path, and trail becomes a potential brush stroke. When you follow the route with a GPS device, the recorded track creates the artwork. The practice dates back to the early days of consumer GPS devices, but it truly took off with the rise of activity-sharing platforms like Strava and Garmin Connect. Today, GPS art ranges from quick 5-kilometer doodles to epic 100-kilometer masterpieces that require hours of running or cycling. The beauty of the medium is that the artwork exists at two scales simultaneously: as a physical journey through real streets, and as a digital image visible only from above. Your canvas is limited only by the road network and your own endurance. Some GPS artists specialize in typography, spelling out words or messages across a city, while others focus on figurative art — animals, faces, or objects rendered in the language of streets and intersections.
Getting Started with Draw My Loop
Draw My Loop makes GPS art accessible to everyone. Instead of manually plotting hundreds of waypoints on a map — a tedious process that can take hours — you simply choose a shape from our built-in library (or draw your own), position it on the map, and our algorithm automatically snaps it to real roads. The entire process takes just a few minutes from idea to exportable GPX file. Start by navigating to the Studio and searching for the city or neighborhood where you want to create your art. Zoom in to a residential area with plenty of streets, then open the shape library and pick a design. You can resize and rotate the shape to fit the available road network. Once placed, the snap-to-road engine calculates the optimal route that best approximates your chosen shape while keeping the route entirely on runnable roads and paths. If any part of the route doesn't look right, you can manually adjust individual waypoints by dragging them. When you're happy with the result, export the GPX file and send it to your GPS watch or phone app.
Choosing Your First Shape
We recommend starting with simple, closed shapes like a heart or a star. These shapes are forgiving — even if the road network doesn't perfectly match every curve, the result is still clearly recognizable at a glance. Save complex shapes like detailed animals or multi-letter text for when you're more experienced with reading the route previews and understanding how streets translate into lines. Consider the road network when choosing your shape. Shapes with smooth curves work best in neighborhoods with winding streets and cul-de-sacs, while angular shapes like stars, arrows, and geometric patterns shine in grid-based layouts. A good rule of thumb: if you can draw the shape without lifting your pen, it will be easier to route as a GPS art piece. Shapes that require the route to cross over itself are possible but add complexity to your run since you'll need to retrace certain segments. Start with a shape that's 2-4 kilometers across — large enough that the streets can approximate the curves, but small enough that the total running distance stays manageable for your fitness level.
Sharing on Strava
Once you've completed your run, the GPS track will appear on Strava just like any other activity. The art is immediately visible on your activity map, and your followers will see it in their feed. To maximize the impact of your GPS art on Strava, start with a descriptive and creative title — something like 'Running a Heart Through Paris' catches more attention than a generic 'Morning Run.' Add a screenshot comparing your planned route to the actual result, and include a note about the total distance and how long it took. Many GPS artists use hashtags like #stravaart, #gpsart, and #runningart in their activity descriptions to connect with the community and gain visibility. If your artwork turned out well, consider sharing it on social media platforms too — GPS art posts tend to perform surprisingly well on Instagram and Twitter because they're visually striking and inherently shareable. Strava's 'Route' feature also lets you save your GPS art as a reusable route that other athletes can follow, which is a great way to share your creations with the running community.
Tips for Better Results
Choose residential neighborhoods with dense street grids — they offer the most routing options and allow the algorithm to closely match your intended shape. Avoid areas dominated by highways, motorways, or restricted-access zones, as these create impassable barriers that can break your route. Bigger shapes (2-4 km across) tend to produce more recognizable results than tiny ones because the streets have more room to approximate curves and details. Always check the elevation profile before heading out — you don't want a surprise 200-meter climb in the middle of your art that turns a fun run into an exhausting slog. Plan your start and end points carefully: ideally, you want them close together so you don't have a long walk or jog back to your car. If you're using Draw My Loop, take advantage of the route preview to identify any awkward segments where the route doubles back on itself. Finally, run the route at a comfortable pace. GPS accuracy suffers when you sprint through turns, so keeping a steady, moderate pace produces cleaner lines on the final map.
GPS Art Ideas for Beginners
If you're just getting started, here are shapes that consistently produce great results even on imperfect road networks. Hearts are the most popular GPS art shape for good reason — they're simple, universally recognizable, and make fantastic gifts for Valentine's Day or anniversaries. Stars are another excellent choice, especially in grid-based cities where the straight lines translate perfectly to roads. Arrows and lightning bolts work well because they're angular and forgiving. For your first text-based GPS art, try a single letter — your initial, or a short word like 'HI' or 'RUN.' Single letters can be created in 3-5 kilometers, making them perfect for a quick weekday outing. When sizing your art, aim for 2-5 kilometers across. Anything smaller and the streets won't have enough resolution to capture the shape; anything larger and you'll be running a half-marathon just to complete the outline. The best neighborhoods for beginners are quiet residential areas with grid-like street patterns, minimal traffic, and good sidewalk coverage. Avoid city centers on your first attempt — the one-way streets, pedestrian zones, and complex intersections add confusion when you're still learning to follow a GPS route.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The most common mistake new GPS artists make is choosing a shape that's too complex for their first attempt. A detailed dragon might look amazing in the planning tool, but if the road network can't support all those curves and spikes, the result will be an unrecognizable blob. Start simple and build up. Another frequent error is ignoring elevation. A route that looks flat on a 2D map might include brutal hills that turn your art run into a sufferfest. Always check the elevation profile in Draw My Loop before exporting. Picking the wrong area is also a common pitfall — industrial zones, areas near highways, and neighborhoods with lots of dead-end streets severely limit routing options. Before committing to a location, zoom in and look at the street density. If there are fewer than 4-5 intersections per block, the area probably won't work well. Perhaps the most important tip: always preview and study your route before running it. Memorize the key turns and bring your GPS device with route navigation enabled. Getting lost mid-route is frustrating and ruins the artwork. Finally, don't forget to charge your GPS watch fully — running out of battery mid-art means you'll have an incomplete picture.
Join the GPS Art Community
GPS art is more fun when you're part of a community. On social media, the hashtags #stravaart, #gpsart, #runningart, and #gpsartist are the main gathering points where artists share their latest creations. Following these hashtags on Instagram will give you a constant stream of inspiration and ideas for your next route. Reddit has active communities including r/running and r/Strava where GPS art posts regularly go viral — sharing your creation there is a great way to get feedback and encouragement. On Strava itself, look for GPS art clubs and join challenges that encourage creative routes. Some cities have local GPS art groups that organize collaborative pieces where multiple runners each complete a segment of a larger artwork. Beyond social media, GPS art events and challenges pop up throughout the year. Some running clubs organize GPS art races where participants compete to create the best artwork within a set time or distance limit. These events are fantastic for meeting fellow GPS artists and learning new techniques. Whether you're a casual jogger who makes the occasional heart shape or a dedicated artist planning month-long projects, the GPS art community is welcoming, creative, and always excited to see what you'll draw next.