Lately, something about Strava keeps me coming back for more.  This personal tracking app that runs on both iPhone and Android makes it a snap to log rides.  It’s not the simplicity or the details that has my attention, it’s the unseen potential.  The off the shelf app and plans offered by Strava don’t really give the casual onlooker an understanding of this.  It’s hidden in the myriad of API’s offered by third party developers.

RaceShape.com has a site with three tools to enhance your Strava data.  EREA (Entire Ride Enclosed Area)  lets you calculate the area inside your Strava tracks.  SNAP (Strava needs a polish) fills in gaps that are missing from your gps track data.  VPU (Virtual Partner Uploader) which allows interfacing to Garmin Communicator.  The support for the Heatmap has been moved over to Strava.  This data shows the popularity of tracks taken by Strava riders.

If you liked that, then this will blow your mind.  VeloViewer is a site that leverages the Strava API to reveal the data in a way that is feature rich.   I read this on Ben Lowe’s site, “VeloViewer provides fully sortable and filterable lists, maps, graphs and 3d profiles for your full Strava history with more stats than you’ll know what to do with.”  Really, it’s just that good.  Strava realizes that your data is important and require authorization before granting access to it from third party API providers.  Strava made it clear I still can control access with this statement, “You can revoke access to any application at any time from the Applications tab of your Athlete profile. You can revoke access to any application at any time from the Applications tab of your Athlete profile. ”

The sampler of API’s isn’t over, but I’ll have to wrap this post up with one more.  Strava Tools is another data content reporting site from Jonathan O’Keeffe.  This site offers personal Heatmaps of tracks more commonly traveled.  The annual summary is a simple report that offers a lot of granular detail.  The Segment Details and KOM Notifier aren’t currently running, this is due to the discontinued support for earlier API versions.  Hopefully this will mean greater API options for future versions.  Here the details in regard to the retirement of the earlier versions of Strava’s API.  For those interested in sinking their teeth in the new API, more information can be found here on Strava’s API reference site.