Ready, steady, doodle: how runners and cyclists are using GPS technology to write messages

Want to make a political statement or a declaration of love on your morning run? Ready, steady, doodle...
On your marks...
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Rachael Sigee7 March 2016

Last week Martin Rolfe from Sussex asked his girlfriend to marry him by spelling out “will you marry me?” over an eight-mile run using his GPS tracker.

The body is not the most precise of artistic tools but since runners started tracking their progress using GPS, people realised that the routes they mapped out could be more than just a squiggly line.

Inevitably, some went for the NSFW jugular and started posting pictures of their x-rated routes online to much Twitter-based tittering but the more visionary runners saw the potential of GPS as an art form and soon the internet was flooded with amateur masterpieces.

From dinosaurs to spaceships to Christmas trees, anything goes — but athletes like competition and the stakes have been raised. A runner in Oregon in the US celebrated the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December by creating Darth Vader, Stormtroop and an AT-AT Walker on his Nike+ app.

Vote Labour (Image: Chris Ward)
Chris Ward

Words are apparently easiest because of the straight lines, and once you start trying curves you’ll need to exercise a little off-road improvisation.

The internet royalty of the artform is Canadian Stephen Lund, pictured right, of GPS Doodles, a blog documenting his ever more ambitious drawings including mermaids, birthday messages and a series featuring the character “Musclebound Thug”.

Lund cycles rather than runs his routes around Victoria, British Columbia, meaning the distance covered can be further and the pictures more complicated.

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Whether you’re using your smartphone or a wearable tracker, many apps let you plan and track your run or cycle but GPS art has become a popular enough trend that some apps specifically cater to GPS doodling fans. Trace allows you to draw a picture on a blank screen which is then transposed onto a map as a walking or running route according to your desired duration. The cutesy video explainer shows someone sending a heart-shaped route to their loved one which they will only discover once they complete the course.

FigureRunning turns your daily jog into a creative outlet by focusing not on your speed or distance but the shapes you’re drawing. Proclaiming “you are the pencil”, it will map your route (in a colour of your choice, naturally) so you can see how you’re getting on with your latest masterpiece. And you can change colours as you go if you want to get really fancy. The founders’ ultimate goal is to make their new sport, judged by artistic flair, so popular that it could become an addition to the Olympics.

Marry me Emily?

Enthusiasts highlight that not only does the practice take your mind off the actual running itself, it also encourages you to try new routes.

For inspiration, the hashtags to search on Instagram are #GPSdoodles or #Stravaart (Strava being the social network and app which records athletic activity and allows users to share with each other).

If the idea of boosting endorphins, burning calories and smugly telling your friends about your jog last night still aren’t enough to make you pull on your trainers, perhaps the thought of creating a unique piece of art will be.

That or sketching a phallus around Victoria Park, although we wouldn’t encourage it (unless you’re aiming for the uncanny interpretation of Michaelangelo’s David that is currently on Instagram).

Follow Rachael Sigee on Twitter: @littlewondering

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