Heat Maps Reveal Where People Run in Major Cities

Many people jog in places they consider beautiful, but these running maps look more like works of art themselves.

Statistician Nathan Yau, Ph.D., at FlowingData sampled public data records from workout app RunKeeper to map where people run in 22 cities across America, Canada and Europe. The result is a series of gorgeous and intriguing visualizations.

These maps reveal areas with the most foot traffic, indicated with thicker, darker lines. Other, less traveled routes are fainter and harder to see. It comes as no surprise that parks, waterways, and other more picturesque areas tend to be the most popular courses people take. Read more...