
How to Use Strava Heatmaps for Hiking
Strava’s heatmaps are dynamic maps that highlight popular routes by displaying track activity through colour-coded “heat”. Heavily trafficked routes appear as red-hot lines, while less frequented ones are cold-blue and faint. What sets these maps apart is their ability to reveal not just usage patterns, but also provide insights into track quality and difficulty. This makes them an invaluable tool for navigation and planning.
In this guide, we will walk you through how to use Strava’s heatmaps for planning and navigating when hiking.

How Heatmaps Can Help You Navigate
Heatmaps display trail usage patterns. Analysing these can help you assess the navigational difficulty of the trail, as well as provide insights into the track quality.
Below, we will run through some examples of how you can interpret the heatmap to better understand the trail you are looking at.
A strong heatmap has thick, red lines that indicate frequent use or high activity. It usually signifies high-quality and well-established tracks. You can be confident that this trail will be relatively easy to navigate.
A weak heatmap is fainter and blue in colour. This indicates that the route is less trafficked compared to other trails. The fainter the heatmap, the less activity the trail gets.
A weak heatmap does not necessarily mean that the trail is difficult to navigate. In the example above, the heatmap is still a solid line. This indicates that the trail is likely easy to follow but doesn’t get much use.
If the heatmap through an area is ill-defined, it means there is likely no consistent or obvious route. Whilst there may be semi-defined routes that hikers follow, the scattered nature of the heatmap indicates that the trail is not easy to follow. In these sections, it’s good to not be too concerned with staying on the exact “trail” as you can end up wasting a lot of time and energy. Instead, it is probably better to navigate generally in the right direction until the individual routes converge again on the heatmap.
When the heatmap differs from the map
An example of a track with a heatmap that does not align with the map.
This example shows a defined heatmap that does not fully align with the route on the map. This indicates that the route may be inaccurate. In this case, the heatmap provides a better sense of where the trail actually goes (this is a common occurrence on the AAWT!).
No heatmap
If a trail does not have a heatmap, it means that very few/no people on Strava travel along that path. This is normally caused by two different reasons:
1. The track is remote and unpopular:
An example of no heatmap activity in a remote and low traffic area.
In this example, the trail and fire road are remote and difficult to access. Correspondingly, there is no heatmap activity in the surrounding area. Because of this, it is hard to ascertain the quality or existence of the tracks. It is likely that the trail (pictured left) is overgrown and poorly maintained. On the other hand, fire roads (as pictured right) can often be of excellent quality despite having no heatmap. This is when utilising another data source such as satellite imagery can be useful.
No heatmap on a trail quickly becomes suspicious when there is strong heatmap activity in the surrounding region. In this example, all trails have strong heatmaps except for the one over Spion Kopje. This could raise alarm bells, suggesting that the trail may not actually exist, and that caution is warranted.
Using Strava heatmaps in CalTopo and Gaia GPS
For the Strava heatmap to be useful when hiking, you need to be able to access it offline. It is possible to import the heatmap as a base layer into navigation apps such CalTopo and Gaia GPS. This can be done without paying for a Strava subscription but requires a subscription in Caltopo or Gaia.
Using CalTopo
CalTopo is a versatile mapping tool that helps you create highly customised maps for your hikes while also providing in-depth trail analysis. The platform has an intuitive interface that allows you to easily import and overlay map layers.
To overlay a Strava heatmap into CalTopo, follow these steps:
- Get a low resolution Strava heatmap URL: https://heatmap-external-a.strava.com/tiles/run/bluered/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
- Log in to caltopo.com.
- Locate Add on the left panel, and then select Custom Source.
CalTopo’s Custom Map Source window.
4. In the Custom Map Source window, select Tile for the type.
5. Name your new custom map and paste the heatmap URL into the URL Template field.
6. Set the Max Zoom to 16.
7. Click No — Base Layer for the Overlay selection.
8. If you wish to access this layer on all maps, click Save To Account.
9. Save the new map layer. The Strava heatmap should now appear as a basemap option. If you clicked Save to Account, you will need to reload the page for it to appear in the Base Layers.
A Strava heatmap integrated with CalTopo.
10. Remember to download the map onto your phone before hiking to ensure you can access it offline.
Using Gaia GPS
Gaia GPS is another mapping and navigation app designed for use in the outdoors. Much like CalTopo, you can also import Strava Heatmaps into it.
To overlay a Strava heatmap into Gaia GPS on the web, follow these steps:
- Get a low resolution Strava heatmap URL: https://heatmap-external-a.strava.com/tiles/run/bluered/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
- Log in to gaiagps.com.
- Click Layers in the left panel. Then, proceed to Add Map Layers.
- Scroll down and click Add Custom Source.
Gaia GPS’ Custom Source Panel.
5. In the Custom Source panel, name the new map.
6. Paste the heatmap URL.
7. Select the maximum value for the Zoom Range.
8. Hit Save. The heatmap should now be available in the Layers panel.
A Strava heatmap successfully imported into Gaia GPS.
9. Remember to download the map onto your phone before hiking to ensure you can access it offline.
Similar steps can be followed to add the map from the mobile app.
Customising your heatmap
Heatmap activity type
Strava categorises heatmaps by activity. For example, the Strava Run heatmap highlights tracks commonly used by runners and hikers. In contrast, the Strava All heatmap displays routes utilised by all activities recorded in the app. For this guide, by default we have used the Strava Run heatmap.
The available activity options are:
- all
- run
- winter
- ride
- water
Heatmap colour schemes
Strava also provides various colour customisation options for its heatmaps. This is a personal preference and can be used to distinguish the heatmaps from other elements in your mapping software (such as GPX files or trails).
The available colours are:
- bluered (blue to red)
- hot
- blue
- purple
- grey
Modifying your heatmap URL
To change the heatmap you import into Gaia or CalTopo, you need to change the URL.
We initially imported:
https://heatmap-external-a.strava.com/tiles/run/bluered/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
If you wanted to plan a ski-touring trip you could use the winter heatmap with the hot colour scheme.
The corresponding URL would be:
https://heatmap-external-a.strava.com/tiles/winter/hot/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
You can then repeat the steps listed above to add a new map layer.
Low-resolution vs high-resolution heatmaps
Strava allows external use of a low-resolution version of its heatmap (which is what we are covering in this article). To access the full-resolution version externally for personal use, you must be a Strava subscriber and generate an authenticated heatmap URL. However, we find that this can be cumbersome, as the URL expires every two weeks, making it less practical for ongoing use.
Conclusion
Strava heatmaps provide invaluable insight into track popularity and quality, whilst also potentially highlighting tricky navigation sections. It is a great tool to have both in your planning and mid-hike navigational toolbox. Despite this, it is still only a single data source and is best used in conjunction with other information such as trail guides, satellite imagery, official maps and online groups.
Expand your outdoors!