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There are many hidden gems among segments that are nearly impossible to discover unless you happen so see them in someone's ride or run. That is how I discovered many of my most favorite segments. 

Some segments are more like virtual races or FKTs - they are long and may take an hour to a few hours to finish. You'd never see a segment like that in Segment Explorer for the following reasons:

1) Segment explorer only shows 10 most popular segments for any given area.

2) The selected area must include both the segment start and the segment finish

3) Long segments would show up only when you zoom the map out. But zooming the map out also includes a lot of other segments, that are very likely to be more popular. In general shorter segments are more popular because more people are likely to match them.

Basically that keeps longer segments nearly invisible. 

Furthermore the existing filter for running segments only allows to select flat segments vs. hilly vs. steep, but that doesn't actually work correctly. For example if a segment goes to the top of a mountain and back, that segment would be considered flat (0%) because the start and the finish are at the same elevation. Similarly, flat segments include all downhill segments even if they are extremely steep, for example -30%).

The mobile app has a different segment search tool, but it is also finicky and even frustrating to use. I find that it refuses to show me some segments no matter how popular they are. Even if I zoom in all the way and I know that there is only one segment in the shown map area, the mobile segment explorer may still often refuse to show that segment.

What I really want for both the web version and the app version of the segment explorer is to enter a few parameters (e.g. the distance and the elevation gain) and see all segments. Even if the number of segments is too great, there should be a mechanism to discover them all, especially the longer ones that aren't easily discoverable now.

Thanks for the info about the top 10 segments displaying, and I share your sentiment.  Chasing segments is a popular thing amongst the circle of run clubs here, and as most folks are using the app, I feel like they're missing out on the chance to get their names on a leaderboard.

Even something like a text search in the segment explorer tool would be helpful.  If you know at least part of the segment name, type it in, scroll through the results, add to favorites if desired.

"'Segment Name' + Strava' in google is the best way I've found to search for segments I know the name of or close to it. 

It would be nice if you could see a list of ALL the segments in a given area and then sort / filter based on various criteria. (length, vert, climb category, VAM / Pace of current leader, number of stars, attempts, etc.)

Let's look at the following example. I am planning a run on a local mountain. I remember there was a segment going all the way from the parking lot to the summit. I've run it 2 or 3 times. I don't remember the segment name. I don't remember the exact route to the summit, and there are several possible ways.

I can't find that segment in the route editor no matter what. It has a feature to show segments on the map, which is great, however it always shows only 10 most popular segments, and there are a lot of segments in that area. If I zoom the map in, the segment ends no longer fit in the map, so the segment I am looking for isn't shown. If I zoom out, there are too many other segments, so my segment isn't shown either.

The only way for me to find that segment is to remember one of my run activities where I matched that segment and get to the segment from the activity. 

How can this be improved? If a site like https://www.doogal.co.uk/strava can show many more segments, why Strava itself can't?

Also, a feedback about this forum: why when I am editing a post in this forum the editor window is so small that only 3 lines of text are shown in the editor?

@Silentvoyager wrote:

Also, a feedback about this forum: why when I am editing a post in this forum the editor window is so small that only 3 lines of text are shown in the editor?



Are you editing your posts from a mobile device or on a computer? You should see a slider bar or a drag handle on the bottom right in the post editor, allowing you to expand the text area as you type. 

I agree that Segment Explore has limited value in its current form. Part of the problem is that people have created a zillion versions of some popular segments, but part of the problem is the existing filter. Adding user filters could help. Filters such as; segment length, elevation gained/lost, elevation gained/elevation lost (some segments have ups and down, others are mostly uphill) could be useful.

Best tool to use is New Route map in the desktop browser. Of course it shows only 10 results but this API works like this that it works with beginning of segments.

So I use it like this that I zoom in the map to find segment start then it shows me 10 segments that start in small area. When you assume that there is segment start just zoom in the map and hit refresh button. It will return up to 10 segments which starts in zoomed in area. 

You can even travel through the world piece by piece using zommed in map and you will find all of them. New Route map is better than segment explorer because you decide when to ask API for segments by hitting the button. Segment explorerer refreshes automatically so after 15 minutes you will be treated as spammer and API will stop to return segments for some time.


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