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How much of San Francisco have you seen?

Over the years, I've met a number of people with a bold goal: walking or running every street in San Francisco. It's a significant undertaking, covering over 1,000 miles—and closer to 1,500 or 1,700 miles if you include hiking trails.

One person who accomplished this feat, Travis Monson, also took unique photos of the city along the way. He used a paper map, coloring in the streets he completed with a red pen.

I just finished writing my third book, so I’m not committing to such a huge goal right now. Still, I enjoy casually tracking which streets I've visited and which are new to me. While there's something beautiful about the analog method, I knew a tech-based solution would work best for me.

If you're looking for an easy way to track how much of the city you've seen, I recommend CityStrides.

To get started, you'll need a Strava or Runkeeper account (CityStrides supports a few other types as well, but I use Strava). Simply record your walks and runs on Strava, then connect your account to CityStrides.

The result is your "LifeMap." While my home city is SF, CityStrides works for the entire world. The purple lines on the map show all the streets I've completed, and the white space indicates streets I haven't been on yet.

 

A Few Things to Know About CityStrides

  1. It’s for walking and running. CityStrides doesn’t track cycling, so make sure to record your activities as walks or runs if you want them to appear on your map.

  2. There’s a free option. You can use the service for free, or you can pay a small monthly fee (as low as $2/month) to support the creator and refresh your activities more frequently.

  3. Completing a street requires walking its full length. This means a one-block street and a multi-block street like Geary Street both count as a single completed street once you've walked it from end to end. It’s a bit of an odd way of counting, but I've gotten used to it.

Now that I have my LifeMap, I use it to find unexplored areas of the city and create new routes on Strava. It's a fun motivator and a great way to discover new parts of San Francisco. Looks like it's time for me to explore the Outer Sunset!

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Location: San Francisco, CA 94110, USA

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