Drawing figures with GPS tracks

Ok, here’s a bit of fun. The last couple of days I tried to draw some figures on the map of Amsterdam using GPS tracks from my sports watch. (Yes, I was that bored). For some reason all figures turned out like animals. Here they are:

Walking the dog

gps-dog
Distance: 7.5 km, Time: 50:22, Date: 24 April 2016. More info on my Strava page.

Biking the bird

gps-bird
Distance: 7.4 km, Time: 22:51, Date: 25 April 2016. More info on my Strava page.

Riding the elephant

gps-elephant
Distance: 12.3 km, Time: 45:08, Date: 28 April 2016. More info on my Strava page.

Sliding the snake

gps-snake
Distance: 22.3 km, Time: 1:07:28, Date: 19 May 2016. More info on my Strava page.

The way I did it

  1. First I looked at the streets in my neighbourhood on Google Maps and tried to find distinct shapes that could depict something (like a face or an animal).
  2. When I found a cool shape, I drew it on the map. (I used the route planner on movescount.com which is the website of my Suunto Ambit3 Peak GPS watch but you can also use Google My Maps or simply draw on a printed map with a pen of course).
  3. Finally I walked, ran or biked the shape in the city while tracking everything with my GPS. This is also a fun navigation activity. (I’ve set up my watch so that afterwards, all data is automatically synced with Strava, an athletic activity website where some friends follow me).

If you’re also a GPS track artist, let me know what you drew!

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