[pwake]

Segment explorer and segment search are no longer working correctly with only a very few segments being displayed/located.

I put in a support ticket and got the response “We are reviewing features that were originally designed for athlete motivation and inspiration to ensure they cannot be compromised by people with bad intent.”

So the recent military base segment story looks to have totally screwed Strava segments. I’m in the USA so was wondering if this was just a USA thing or is it also the case in Europe/RoW?

Topic

[EddyBerckx]

I’ve always found Strava
I’ve always found Strava segment explorer to be really flaky (I mean rubbish), both in the app and on the website. Huge numbers of segments I know to exist (not hidden ones) never display no matter the zoom level or number of other segments displayed. Pretty much have to click on another segment then on someone else’s ride and hope they’re on the same route you want then look at what segments are actually there in order to get it to work. Weird they haven’t upgraded this in all this time.

They dropped a bomb on including hidden rides on the heatmap though!

[IanMunro]

Yrcm wrote:

Not sure, seems to be working as normal for me in the UK, even when looking at parts of the USA?

Just looked at my local area of the UK, and most of the running segments and off-road segments have disapeared from the map.

I’m not convinced it actually fixes anything. For instance. I went on the heat map a couple of weeks back when this was first in the news,  and saw a road in North Korea that had a faint trace. I then created a gpx file along that road, altered the gpx so that it looked like I had ridden the route. Uploaded to Strava, then created a segment and waited.
A few hours later I had the details of all the people who had ridden in an obscure bit of North Korea. Of course other people won’t be able to see that segment in segment explorer, but it matters not as I still see the segment and names and dates as I created it.

[fenix]

I doubt that any of these

I doubt that any of these military bases were a shock to the locals. The US don’t really do understated military bases. 

 

Strava probably has to be seen to be doing something. 

[Jimmy Ray Will]

ConcordeCX wrote:

samcannadine wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

so nobody will know that all the blank areas on the map are the military areas that we aren’t supposed to know about, but which are still on every other map in the world including google maps, and sign-posted on nearby roads. That should work fine.

As someone who logs data for personal use to look at over the year, i would have an issue with this. BUT maybe just not log the rides to and from military areas?

indeed. I don’t see this as Strava’s problem, frankly. If I were a potential target I’d make damn sure I wasn’t publishing that sort of data, and if I were their CO I’d be issuing orders about it.

 

I am with you… I don’t see this as being a Strava problem, this is a military security issue. The easy, immediate and 100% effective way to deal with this is for the military to ask its personnel to not use strava on base, or when commuting to and from military bases.  

Yes, slightly annoying for military personnel, but on the grand scheme of things, the easiest solution for all. 

[rkemb]

Quote:

although having said that, and having thought about it for nearly a minute, Strava could do something to help.

I think the issues is caused by them using their entire dataset [i]including hidden activities[/i], albeit in anonymised form, for the heatmaps. They could offer an “I’m in the military” button which would automatically hide activities and exclude them from the heat map datasets.

[Anonymous]

ConcordeCX wrote:

samcannadine wrote:

As someone who logs data for personal use to look at over the year, i would have an issue with this. BUT maybe just not log the rides to and from military areas?

indeed. I don’t see this as Strava’s problem, frankly. If I were a potential target I’d make damn sure I wasn’t publishing that sort of data, and if I were their CO I’d be issuing orders about it.

although having said that, and having thought about it for nearly a minute, Strava could do something to help. Perhaps they already do this (I only use it to log some of my rides, not for sharing, so I don’t know all its functionality): they could offer free premium membership to the military and similar, with publication automatically turned off, and have private groups that are invitation-only, like WhatsApp, so that members can share and compare with each other, without it being all over the internet for everyone. 

[Anonymous]

samcannadine wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

so nobody will know that all the blank areas on the map are the military areas that we aren’t supposed to know about, but which are still on every other map in the world including google maps, and sign-posted on nearby roads. That should work fine.

As someone who logs data for personal use to look at over the year, i would have an issue with this. BUT maybe just not log the rides to and from military areas?

indeed. I don’t see this as Strava’s problem, frankly. If I were a potential target I’d make damn sure I wasn’t publishing that sort of data, and if I were their CO I’d be issuing orders about it.

[Anonymous]

alansmurphy wrote:

I believe the issue with the military bases is a user interface error, do the black ops wear hi viz?

hi-viz camouflage.

[alansmurphy]

I believe the issue with the

I believe the issue with the military bases is a user interface error, do the black ops wear hi viz?

 

[CygnusX1]

Time to switch to MapMyRide?

Time to switch to MapMyRide?  

[samcannadine]

ConcordeCX wrote:

samcannadine wrote:

It is the case in Europe, atleast it is in the Netherlands. I also believe in the UK. GPS data logging has been a contentious issue for a while now and it seems it’s STRAVAs turn now. I will assume military areas will be patched out somehow so you will have your ride data without GPS logging of it

so nobody will know that all the blank areas on the map are the military areas that we aren’t supposed to know about, but which are still on every other map in the world including google maps, and sign-posted on nearby roads. That should work fine.

The issue i believe is not the knowing of military bases and areas, its the who is travelling to and from and at what times, so people can be targeted. i realise the issue is more complicated than just having someones data fall off when they enter a zone and by powers of deduction it can be worked out what they are doing.

As someone who logs data for personal use to look at over the year, i would have an issue with this. BUT maybe just not log the rides to and from military areas?

[Anonymous]

samcannadine wrote:

It is the case in Europe, atleast it is in the Netherlands. I also believe in the UK. GPS data logging has been a contentious issue for a while now and it seems it’s STRAVAs turn now. I will assume military areas will be patched out somehow so you will have your ride data without GPS logging of it

so nobody will know that all the blank areas on the map are the military areas that we aren’t supposed to know about, but which are still on every other map in the world including google maps, and sign-posted on nearby roads. That should work fine.

[samcannadine]

It is the case in Europe,

It is the case in Europe, atleast it is in the Netherlands. I also believe in the UK. GPS data logging has been a contentious issue for a while now and it seems it’s STRAVAs turn now. I will assume military areas will be patched out somehow so you will have your ride data without GPS logging of it

[Yrcm]

Not sure, seems to be working

Not sure, seems to be working as normal for me in the UK, even when looking at parts of the USA?

[hdb]

I have noticed on Segment

I have noticed on Segment Explore in New Zealand and Australia that those with lower volumes of riders (roughly fewer than 1,000 attempts) appear to have been filtered out. I can still find them by name but not via Explore.

Strava have definitely over-reacted to this issue and hopefully will come to their senses.

[Author]

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