Strava GPS Art Ideas: 5 Challenges and How to Draw Them

The best first Strava GPS art is a shape your street grid already wants to draw: a heart, a star, a smiley, or a blocky letter that fits into a 3 to 5 km walk or run. Plan it on a map before you leave, follow the plan while your phone or watch records, and upload. Once that works, move up to animals, words, and multi-day pieces.

This guide covers what you need, how to plan a route that actually looks like something, five challenges in rising difficulty, and the tricks artists use to keep lines clean.

What is Strava GPS art? #

GPS art is an activity whose recorded track draws a picture on the map. You run, walk, or ride a route chosen for its shape rather than its scenery, and the GPS line becomes the drawing. Strava is the usual place to share it because it shows the map as the main image of every activity, and your followers see the picture before they see your pace.

Nothing about GPS art requires speed. A walker with a good plan will draw a cleaner picture than a fast runner making it up on the fly. That makes it one of the few running challenges where beginners can post something as impressive as experienced athletes.

What do you need to make GPS art? #

You need three things: a device that records GPS, a way to plan the route, and a way to follow it.

• Recording: any phone with the Strava app works. A GPS watch or bike computer usually gives a cleaner line and saves your phone battery on long pieces. Recording and uploading activities is free on Strava.
• Planning: Strava’s route builder is a subscriber feature, so check Strava’s current subscription terms if you want to plan inside Strava. Free planners such as Plotaroute and onthegomap let you draw a line on a map and export it as a GPX file.
• Following: load the GPX onto a watch that supports routes, or keep a screenshot of the plan on your phone and check it at corners. Stop somewhere safe to look, not in the middle of a crossing.

How do you plan a GPS art route? #

Most failed drawings fail at the planning stage, not on the road. A few minutes at the map saves a lot of backtracking.

1. Pick an area with a regular grid. Suburbs with long straight streets and cul-de-sacs give you more shapes than old town centers with winding lanes.
2. Sketch the shape first. Draw it freehand on paper, then look for streets that already follow parts of the outline. A park loop can become a head; a curved crescent can become a smile.
3. Trace it in your planner. Snap the line to real streets and paths. Keep the outline continuous, so you finish where the next stroke starts.
4. Check satellite view. Look for rivers, rail lines, fences, private estates, and paths that exist on the map but are closed in real life.
5. Measure it. Most planners show distance. If a simple heart comes out at 14 km, shrink it or move it to a tighter grid.
6. Export and go. Export the GPX or save your screenshots, start recording at the exact start point, and follow the line.

5 Strava GPS art challenges to try #

These go from a lunch-break doodle to a full-day project. Start at the top.

1. The 30-minute heart or smiley #

Pick a shape with bold, forgiving lines. A heart only needs two curves and a point, and small wobbles still read as a heart. Plan it inside a few blocks, and aim for a route you can finish on a long lunch break or a morning walk.

Smileys are harder than they look because the eyes are separate strokes. You’ll either need to pause and move between them (see the pause trick below) or connect them with a thin line that still reads as part of the face.

2. Your initials, one letter a day #

Letters are the best way to learn grid planning because each one is a set of straight strokes. Map one letter per outing and post each day, or record them all on the same route over a week. Blocky letters like E, H, L, and T are the easiest. Curved letters like S and O need a street layout that already bends.

If you walk or run the same way most days, you can turn that regular route into a letter by adding a couple of detours.

3. The one-hour animal silhouette #

Animal heads are a classic because you only need the outline: a cat’s ears, a dog’s snout, a bird’s beak. Break the drawing into sections (ears, face, nose) and follow them in order like steps in a recipe. Expect to stop at corners to check your plan.

If a road you planned on turns out to be closed, don’t force it. Plenty of GPS artists end up with a different animal than they planned because the streets decided for them, and those accidental drawings are often the funniest.

4. The group tile project #

For a club, a group of friends, or a class, split one large picture into tiles. Each person draws one section on their own run or ride. Agree on the start and end points of each tile so the pieces meet, and keep the plan in a shared spreadsheet with the GPX files attached.

The finished piece lives across several people’s activities, so post a combined screenshot or a collage when it’s done. This is a good way to get a group moving on their own schedules without everyone needing the same free hour.

5. The long-day epic #

Large pieces covering a whole city take hours to plan and a full day to ride. Count every intersection, check which bridges and park paths are open, and budget extra distance for detours. Carry food, water, a spare tube if you ride, and a battery pack.

Only try this after a few smaller pieces. You’ll learn which details your GPS can show and which get lost, and that saves you from spending a whole day on a drawing that looks like scribble.

How do you keep the drawing clean? #

A few habits separate a crisp picture from a wobbly one.

• Use better GPS where you can. Tall buildings and dense tree cover cause drift. A dedicated GPS watch usually holds a line better than a phone in a pocket.
• Slow down at corners. Sharp, clear corners come from actually turning at the corner, not cutting across.
• Use the pause trick carefully. If you pause recording, move to a new spot, and resume, Strava draws a straight line between the two points. Artists use this to jump rivers or to make separate strokes like eyes. It also means your recorded distance and time won’t match what you actually covered, so say so if you share the piece.
• Watch your privacy settings. Strava’s activity privacy controls can hide the start and end of your map near home. That keeps your address private, but it can also clip part of your drawing. Start the art away from your hidden zone, or accept a missing corner.

Is GPS art safe and legal? #

It’s as safe as any other run or ride, if you plan around the risks. Don’t trespass to complete a line; redraw the shape to follow public paths. Don’t stare at your phone while crossing roads. Stop on the pavement, check the plan, then move. On a bike, a handlebar-mounted computer is much safer than a phone in your hand.

Night art is harder to plan and harder to see, so do your first pieces in daylight.

Turning the art habit into training #

GPS art is sneaky training. Because each outing has a finished picture as the reward, you end up walking, running, or riding more often than you would for fitness alone. If you want a tougher running goal after a few drawings, try chasing a segment record with the tactics in how to get a Strava KOM or QOM, or set up a short segment near your desk or library as in using Strava segments for study breaks. Stuck indoors on a rainy day? Try one of these fun cardio workouts at home.

If you’d like those runs to count toward something besides the map, One Gym Man logs each run’s distance and time and turns cardio into your character’s Agility stat, which you then use against a ladder of 30 monsters. It won’t draw maps or import GPX files. It’s a workout log with an RPG on top, so it pairs with Strava rather than replacing it.

Frequently asked questions #

Do you need Strava Premium to make GPS art? #

No. Recording and uploading activities is free, and that’s all the drawing itself requires. Strava’s route builder is a subscriber feature, but you can plan the route in a free tool like Plotaroute or onthegomap and follow it on your watch or from a screenshot.

Can you do GPS art on a treadmill? #

No. GPS art needs your position to change on the map, and a treadmill run has no route. Indoor activities show up on Strava without a map, so save the art for outdoor walks, runs, and rides.

How long does it take to plan a GPS art route? #

A simple heart or letter takes 10 to 20 minutes to plan once you’re used to the tools. Detailed animals or words can take an hour or more, and large city-wide pieces can take several sessions of planning before you ever leave the house.

Is using the pause trick cheating? #

It’s a common technique, not a rule violation, but be honest about it. The straight line it creates means your distance and pace won’t reflect what you actually covered. Many artists mention it in the activity description, and some avoid it entirely as a personal challenge.

Why does my GPS drawing look wobbly? #

Usually it’s GPS drift from tall buildings or trees, or a phone that’s recording at a low rate to save battery. Try a GPS watch, keep your phone in an outer pocket or armband, and slow down through corners so each turn registers clearly.