Hello @Newlands 

Thanks for posting about this.  Have you changed settings by any chance?  The Global Heatmap will correspond to the same Sport Type for the route you're trying to create. So if you try to create a ride route, the heatmap will default to ride, and for runs it will show runs.  I recommend checking your settings to ensure they're set correctly.

Hi Jane, 
Thanks for your suggestion, but I only have my route type set to rides.  It just seems that it has become harder to see tracks on the global heatmap where there are only a few rides, especially on the default map.   
I also discovered that it's much easier to see heatmaps on the "winter" map theme.  
Here is default:

notice also that the heatmap color could be easily confused with "water" on the map.

Here is the same map in "winter" mode:

Now the heatmap on the road going off to the lower right is very clear.  Unfortunately, the smaller, white roads are now virtually impossible to read against the white backgound...

Ciao Strava team! Any chance to have this improved on mobile app? I think almost all use the app and less the desktop so... 

I look at Strava heatmap for winter activities with winter map overlay daily for backcountry ski beta on my desktop. Is there anyway to revert back to not have todays changes? I can no longer change what color the global heatmap track is and it defaults to blue, which is almost impossible to see on any may overlay for areas that are not extremely popular/

Most likely its due to the everyone's public activities completed during the Covid period no longer appearing on the global map