Data science boosts urban walking and cycling

Data science embraces sport very strongly. A compass for the physical, technical, and tactical advancement of professional and amateur athletes, it points out near-magical ways to make the race exciting, if possible, memorable. It has also become a mapping for improving the lives of those who wear sneakers or bicycle tires in urban arteries.

The computing horizon stems from the growth of applications within the mathematical community. They became popular amid the appreciation of walking, running and cycling. They seek to facilitate them through a set of analyses, predictions, and guidelines.

Powered by mobile phones, watches and glasses CleverThis information is relevant to health in the daily fights against the couch. They direct the logistics of the training (safety, weather conditions, specifics of the courses, etc.); Preventive and educational strategies behind better performance; The exchange of experiences and oxygen in exchange for the physical and social rewards of athletic activity.

“Most of the time, an athlete wants to go beyond his own brand, and not hers. It’s as if he’s playing by hitting his best. In fact, gamification has been incorporated into the use of data to make practice more fun and rewarding,” notes Rosana Fortes, Director of Brazilian Operations. On Strava, the largest online sports platform.

It has 110 million members from 195 countries. About 45% cycle and 20% are running regularly. “The hiking group has grown, too,” the executive adds.

Rosana punctuates her professional routine with cycling and running trips around São Paulo. They are accompanied by data, an increasingly popular company of veterans and beginners around the world:

“They learn about relative effort, heart rate, routes, etc., and build a modern repository of sports life, to walk, run, and bike more safely, efficiently, and with pleasure.”

Games, audiovisual developments, and immersive resources reinforce the interconnectedness of digital technology and sports participation. It tends to condense it with the Internet of Things (IoT) and transmission speeds hundreds of times faster than 5G.

Rosana notes that “new technologies should encourage people to spend more time not on apps, but on exercise, often outdoors.” PUC-Rio Professor Gustavo Rubicia, founder of ECOA, considers data science to be a critical motivator:

Collecting data on the activities carried out helps in planning and exceeding the goals. It applies both to amateurs, who are looking to improve their physical condition, and to high-performance athletes, who at present cannot give up this ally.”

Post creator about digital transformation at PUC-Rio, Rubishes completed:

“The data creates a knowledge base that can be used for other purposes, such as improving bike paths.”

The increasing number of running, walking and pedaling results in a volume of substantial information about the paths taken. Through programs such as Strava Metro, they are already providing to improve road infrastructure in many cities.

The information subsidy has paved, for example, the 260 kilometers of bike paths installed in London since 2016 and 21 kilometers of the Marginal Pinheiros bike path, in São Paulo, under a concession from the Farah Service. Rio is on the radar for this side use of sports data:

“We are considering a similar partnership in the Rio de Janeiro bike path division related to Mesa do Imperador and Vista Chinesa, to support runners and cyclists in that space,” explains Rosana.

Initiatives like this are in line with the environmental urgency of mandating more capitals suitable for tennis and bicycles. They will remain in the drawer or in the discourse without an effective link between public administration, business, and the third sector to the maturity of urban environments conducive to the democracy of sport and healthy living. Data science can help flesh it out.

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Alexandre Carruta holds a PhD in Communication, an MBA, a graduate degree in Sports Management, as well as a degree in Physical Education..