Strava Metro Data as an Urban Planning Input

The fitness platform Strava gathers data from its users that the company repackages and shares through its Strava Metro platform. Municipalities have been using these data to inform their active transportation planning efforts, but less is known about how they use these data and account for their limits. Through interviews with municipal staff who are long-standing Metro users, this paper examines how decision-makers use these data and mitigate for their limitations. It concludes with reflections on the role of third-party data in urban planning efforts and their impact on planning outcomes.