Proposal for Enhanced Route Builder Functionality in Strava

[verst01n]

As an avid user of Strava, I have greatly enjoyed the route-building feature, but I believe there is an opportunity to further enhance its functionality. I'd like to propose a new feature for the Route Builder that I believe would greatly improve the user experience for cyclists and runners alike.

Feature Proposal: Advanced Route Building with Personal Heatmap Integration

1. Build Routes Based on Preferred Roads:

• Allow users to flatten their personal activity heatmap, prioritizing frequently used roads or paths when creating new routes.
• This feature would enable more tailored route suggestions based on the roads I enjoy and use most often, creating a personalized experience.

2. Discover New Roads Automatically:

• Implement a comparison between a user's personal heatmap and the global Strava heatmap to identify roads or paths the user has not yet explored.
• Offer a toggle feature for users to select the desired level of road discovery:
  • "No/Limited New Roads"
  • "Few New Roads"
  • "Lots of New Roads"
• This feature would allow users to easily find new roads to explore based on their personal preferences while maintaining control over how much new terrain they want to cover.

3. Specify Road Surface Preferences:

• Ensure that users can still specify the road surface (e.g., paved, gravel, etc.) during route creation. This is important to maintain route suitability for different types of activities.

Current Limitation:

At present, I find that the automated route generation often doesn't align with my preferences. By integrating personal heatmap data and offering more refined route discovery options, the route generation tool could become significantly more effective and user-friendly.

I believe these improvements would appeal to a wide range of users, especially those looking to optimize their activities based on their past experience while also exploring new terrain.