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Gene Lu uses GPS to map his runs on a phone.
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These days, that's pretty normal.
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But the way he does it, isn't like most people.
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Gene is drawing something here.
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Before he runs, Gene spends hours mapping a route to create an elaborate drawing.
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He then traces it on the ground using GPS during the run.
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Sometimes I try to remember not the next turn, but maybe two or three turns ahead.
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Sort of, like, a way to distract myself on the run.
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Turning your run into a doodle isn't an easy way to train.
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But something else he's doing is.
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Using GPS can make you into a better runner, no matter what route follow.
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In the 1970s, the US military created the Global Positioning System, or GPS, by launching a network of satellites into orbit.
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Transmitting precise, jam-resistant radio navigational signals.
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A GPS receiver measures its distance from multiple satellites in order to pinpoint where you are on Earth.
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By the year 2000, the government made the system fully available for public use, and around that time the first GPS watches were released for consumers.
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Clunky design and high prices meant only hardcore data nerds were using them for exercise.
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But over time, devices became cheaper and sleeker and eventually, mobile apps made GPS tracking widely accessible.
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These days, it's commonly used by casual runners.
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I've become very accustomed to running with technology on me...
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When I go running without my stuff, I sort of feel like...
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Almost like drowning a little bit.
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Performance in running is measured by just a few variables: distance, time, and speed.
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GPS makes it easy to monitor those elements.
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In 2016, Runner's World conducted a survey of their global audience and found that 80% of runners used GPS to track their runs.
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I go for a run, I track my run, and I am given that data about that run.
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So based on that, I can now do it again and either up my distance, lower it, so on so forth.
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Using GPS to collect data about your runs makes it easy to track your accomplishments.
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But there's another reason GPS tracking is gaining popularity.
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Putting your run on a map with a time and pace, gives runners a better story -- to tell on social media.
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What's missing from it is, I think, the narrative to that run.
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Like, what was that run about?
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Where did you run?
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Was it hard?
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Was it easy?
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I think social media has sort of changed how people approach running.
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For me one of the big factors or one of the big motivations for running these shapes is to be able to share it.
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To a lot of people, this looks like bragging.
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I'm going to share it to social media, I'm going to get all these likes and then I'm going to do more.
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But, it turns out, sharing your runs on social media actually makes you a better runner.
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This visualization comes from researchers at MIT that analyzed GPS data from millions of runners and correlated it to social network sharing.
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They found that when runners share their accomplishments, they run farther, faster and longer.
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According to their research, “an additional kilometer run by friends can inspire someone
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to run an additional three-tenths of a kilometer and an additional ten minutes.”
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Gene isn't your average example, but sharing his runs has made him a better runner.
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With social media being at the forefront of everything, there's this social media feedback loop that sort of merges with the sport of running.
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Everytime I did the run I would post it onto social media and my friends would just sort of freak out and say, “Whoa!
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I didn't know that there was the Dire Wolf in Queens!”
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And so because of that, I started to do more and more.
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Did the lion in Minneapolis.
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The octopus.
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The bear in Jackson Heights.
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C-3PO.
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Darth Vader.
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Storm Trooper.
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TIE Fighter.
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AT-AT Walker.
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AT-ST Walker.
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At some point, it started to go into ten-plus miles.
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And for me that was sort of an achievement because at the time I was only doing five miles.
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There is, however, a downside.
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Using GPS to track our runs has raised privacy concerns.
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When the popular fitness tracking app Strava released their global heatmap showing data collected from runners around the world,
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they unknowingly revealed detailed military information from locations where users had been tracking their jogging routes.
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While you might not be stationed on a secret military base, sharing information about your
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run can make your daily routine and home address publicly available.
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But it's a tradeoff.
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The same technology that's driving people to share their progress and location, at the
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cost of their privacy, it's also helping them stay active.
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At least we are getting more people to run.
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We're getting more people to run because of GPS and, on top of that, social media.
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I think with all this tracking,
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I think you just need to be able to turn it on and off.
