An Easy Way to Map Your Running Progress

Date: 21 April 2009

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During February's Great Lake Relay around Lake Taupo, mapping enthusiast and occasional runner, Karl Majorhazi recorded his progress and shared it with the world using basic consumer-grade spatial technologies.

Mostly free

The only piece of technology requiring payment was Karl's iPhone (with built-in GPS). The other two elements were the free RunKeeper iPhone application, available from the iPhone application store, and Google Earth and Google Maps.

The results

View the final map of Karl's relay leg in Google Maps.

RunKeeper records stats such as duration, distance, average speed, and calories burned. The application also produces a graph plotting distance, speed, and elevation. Note in Karl's example below the fast start, the speed blip around the 3.86 km mark (a technical error), and the quick finish.           

   Karl's results on the RunKeeper website

How it was done

If you would like to produce something similar, here is how to do it:

  1. Record your run with an iPhone using the RunKeeper application.
  2. Upload the track to your history on RunKeeper's website using the application's "save to history" option.
  3. Log on to your account at the RunKeeper website to see the graph and map. Hovering over the graph will give you speed, distance, and elevation readings.
  4. Use RunKeeper's "view in Google Earth" option to open up Google Earth view with the track overlaid.
  5. In Google Earth, add any placemarks and annotation (for events of special significance).
  6. Use Google Earth's "save place as" option to export it to a KML file.
  7. Create a new map in Google Maps.
  8. Import the exported Google Earth KML file into the new Google Map.

Some handy hints

  • For the best results, don't run with the iPhone in a pocket. You degrade the GPS signal which decreases the accuracy of your statistics and the resolution of the track.
  • Altitude readings are not all that accurate.
  • Try the free versions of other applications, such as iMapMyRun, as they have different strengths and weaknesses to suit your preferences.
  • Try to carry a full charge on the iPhone if running for more than an hour. The GPS uses a reasonable amount of battery power.

Since the relay, Karl has upgraded to RunKeeper Pro, which gives out voice readings of your progress and does not carry ads.

Thanks to Karl for sharing this with us, and congratulations on the relay!

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