GPS art routes on real streets

GPS art means running or riding a route whose track draws a picture. Cartograph places a shape on the map and turns it into a route along real streets of your extract – with its own shortest-path routing, no routing service involved.

Start with the heart template

1. File → New from template… and pick Heart run.
2. The Route art tab shows the streets of Vaduz in grey, the heart as a dashed purple line and the snapped route in orange. The orange dot marks the start.

Route facts in the panel tells you how good the result is:

• Route length – what you will run.
• Shape length – the length of the drawing itself.
• Shape covered within 25 m – how much of the heart has the route close by. Above about 70 % the picture reads well on a GPS track.
• Mean distance from the shape and Largest gap – where the streets could not follow.

Move, size and turn the shape

• Drag the shape in the preview, or type a Shape centre.
• Shape width sets its size on the ground. Larger shapes usually fit the street grid better.
• Rotation turns it clockwise. A star often fits better at 10 or 20°.

With the keyboard: focus the preview, then arrow keys move, plus and minus resize, the brackets [ and ] rotate, and Enter snaps again. Each change snaps the shape automatically after a short pause; Snap to roads does it at once.

How the snapping works

The shape is sampled into waypoints along its outline. Each waypoint is moved to the nearest street node (dead ends are avoided where possible), and consecutive waypoints are joined by A* shortest paths. Stay-on-shape weight adds a cost for every metre away from the drawn line: with 0 you get plain shortest paths, with higher values the route prefers streets that hug the drawing even if they are a bit longer. Waypoint spacing controls how often the route is pulled back to the shape (0 = automatic).

Walking or cycling

Travel mode decides which ways may be used:

• On foot (running, walking) uses streets, footpaths, steps and tracks, but never motorways, trunk roads or ways tagged private or no access.
• By bike (respects one-way streets) also skips steps and footways that are not open to bikes, and follows one-way streets unless cyclists may ride both ways.

Try File → New from template… → Star ride for a bike example.

Download the GPX

Press Download GPX. Load the file into your watch or running app as a course. The Export menu also offers Route as GeoJSON and Route sheet as SVG.

Before you go: the map does not know about closures, building sites, private grounds or safety. Check every route on site.

Next: draw your own shape.