GPS artists running and cycling

Belinda Smith often begins her runs with a “round piece of anatomy”.

“It might be an eye, or maybe a butthole,” she says.

Because most of her animals are drawn as outlines, she begins and ends her run in the same spot on the map.

“So it makes sense for the start/finish to be a dot,” she adds.

Smith, who is an ABC journalist, is an accidental GPS artist.

Back in 2013, she was training for a half marathon by doing 20km runs. Traversing the same route each day, she became “intensely bored”.

“I was just looking at the map, thinking, ‘Where can I go?'” Smith says.

“So I did, and ran it, and that’s sort of where it began.”

In 2013, Smith had never heard the term “GPS art”.

But in running a “cat” while connected to an app called Strava, she was unwittingly partaking in the niche hobby, sometimes also called “Strava art“.

“Strava art” refers to the app Strava, which Smith uses to visually “map” her movements as she runs, often through the northern suburbs of Melbourne.

In keeping with the name of her blog — animal pun runs — Smith plots her routes in the shape of various animals, before signing them off with a witty pun.

When at home in Australia, Smith also tends to stick to her own neighbourhood, rather than travelling to another part of the city.

“There’s something to be said about having constraints,” she says.

“It forces you to be a bit more creative when you’ve only got a canvas so big.

“Otherwise, you can feel a bit overwhelmed by all the potential places to go.

“Plus, in the northern suburbs, most of the streets are parallel or perpendicular, so it’s quite easy to make those recognisable shapes.”

‘I’ve seen more places in Melbourne than a few locals’

Source
Kate O’Halloran
ABC News