Strava’s Recommended Routes now feature recent photos posted by users in the past day to month, showing current and recent trail conditions. The idea is to help you plan, and also to choose the right route if you’re looking for a certain type of trail.
They’re using machine learning to (so far) select about 2.3 million photos from the 200+ million public activities posted in the past year, using AI to reject photos with identifiable faces and specific gear (like your bike) that could make it known who’s been where and when. They’re also sorting by recency to help athletes get a sense of recent conditions. About 30,000 new photos are added weekly.
The feature works for all sport types – Run, Trail Run, Walk, Hike, Ride, Mountain Bike Ride, and Gravel Ride.
Premium subscribers will see photos while browsing route recommendations in mobile apps. Unsubscribed community members see photos on saved routes and routes sent from a subscriber.
Strava Recommended Routes Photos Privacy + Opt Out Details
Users can opt out of having their photos used for this feature by going to Privacy Controls > Public Photos on Routes or adjusting your activities or profile to “followers only” or “only me” privacy settings. No photos from activities or profiles with privacy restrictions (followers only/only me) will be included, and photos shown in recommended Routes are not linked to the accounts that uploaded them.
