Many people jog in places they consider beautiful, but these running maps look more like works of art themselves.
Statistician Nathan Yau, Ph.D., at FlowingData sampled public data records from workout app RunKeeper to map where people run in 22 cities across America, Canada and Europe. The result is a series of gorgeous and intriguing visualizations.
These maps reveal areas with the most foot traffic, indicated with thicker, darker lines. Other, less traveled routes are fainter and harder to see. It comes as no surprise that parks, waterways, and other more picturesque areas tend to be the most popular courses people take.
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However, the data Yau pulled for the project is not particularly comprehensive of all runners, just the ones who use RunKeeper. Data may also be skewed by other factors. The map of New York City, for instance, shows a dark outline which follows the route of the New York City Marathon, a race that includes over 50,000 runners.
On the FlowingData website, Yau states that he hopes these maps are not only interesting to look at, but can also serve a greater purpose, such as helping to "plan future workouts or even city planners who make sure citizens have proper bike lanes and running paths."
Yau was inspired by another project by Nikita Barsukov, who created maps using data from the running and cycling app, Endomondo.
Here are 15 major cities Yau has mapped out. All 22 appear on the FlowingData website.