Fastest Known Time

Strava (U.S. Patent No. 9,664,518)

Fastest Known Time (FKT) by Jon Western

Boston Marathon. Canceled. New York Marathon. Canceled. Chicago Marathon. Canceled. Your local 5K fun-run. Canceled. Name a race scheduled to take place in 2020, and it was probably canceled (or replaced with a virtual “race” … sigh), leaving runners and other endurance athletes all over the globe searching for ways to test their fitness and scratch that competitive itch.

Enter the FKT: Fastest known time. The concept is simple. An FKT represents a speed record on any given route. The route, which may include anything from long-distance hiking trails or “up-and-down” times summiting an iconic peak to country back roads or even a popular hill in a nearby park, may be attempted by anyone, at any time, on any day. In contrast with formal races, FKTs are usually chased solo, hence their enhanced appeal amid a socially-distant 2020.

Traditionally, FKTs have been (and still are) tracked manually, and painstakingly so. The fitness-tracking service, Strava, has set out to change that. Based in San Francisco, Strava mixes exercise tracking with familiar social networking elements to provide an online social network for athletes. Originally designed for cycling, the company has since expanded its tracking capabilities to running, walking, swimming, and myriad other “self-powered” activities.

Most notably, Strava utilizes GPS data from its millions of users’ activities to construct routes called “segments.” A segment, according to Strava, designates “specific features or portions of a route – such as a climb, a tricky stretch of trail or part of an open-water swim.” Each time a user runs (or bikes, swims, etc.) along a pre-established segment – provided the user is carrying a GPS-enabled device such as a watch or a phone – the time taken to complete the segment is recorded. Strava compiles these results to create a leaderboard showing the fastest times for completing a given segment (optionally categorized by gender, age, weight, and so on), thereby automating the process of tracking FKTs. What’s more, Strava empowers users to chase after “personal FKTs” by comparing his or her own performances on a given segment over time.

Aspects of Strava’s segments are described in U.S. Patent No. 9,664,518 (“Method And System For Comparing Performance Statistics With Respect To Location”). Referring to the example user interfaces below, a GPS-enabled device or “tracker” records a user’s time and position (i.e., latitude and longitude) during an activity such as a run, hike, bike ride, and so forth, resulting in a “track,” e.g., track 11, which represents a collection of positions, or points, as the user traverses a route. Upon recording the user’s track along a given route, Strava employs an algorithm using location data as input to align the track with previously recorded tracks along the same route and then compares them against each other. The patent explains: “The alignment can be thought of as laying one track on top of the other in two-dimensions.” Results of the track comparisons are displayed in various formats, such as a distance-elevation plot, as shown below, or an historical leaderboard showing the FKTs (recorded with Strava) along a particular segment.

Claim 11 of the patent recites:

“aligning [a] first track and [a] second track to facilitate comparing the performance data associated with [a] first activity and [a] second activity …;

comparing the performance data associated with the first activity and the second activity …; and

outputting, in a visual display, the comparison of the performance data associated with the first activity and the second activity with a corresponding distance along the route.”

Importantly, because Strava uses location—not time—to align different tracks, any number of athletes can compete against each other for the fastest time on a single route at completely different times. The patent explains: “The location based alignment of tracks eliminates the need for synchronized tracker start. The trackers can be started at anytime and an alignment can be done later on any portion of the route.” The patent further notes that users “may also want to compare to their own ride from another time,” providing a means for a user to measure his or her own performance on a given segment over time.

Admittedly, I am a Strava-addict. Their patented segments are a major reason why, as they provide an extra dose of motivation, whether I am keeping track of my own performance progress or measuring how my training stacks up to others. While writing this very blog post, in fact, I received a notification that a segment FKT I once held was stolen by another runner. I am already plotting my revenge…

Though there are many fitness tracking services, Strava distinguishes itself by its patented technology, separating the company from the rest of the pack.

Meg (Employee), “Strava Support.” support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216917137-What-s-a-segment-

Column 5, lines 18-20, Column 8, lines 28-31, Column 2, lines 4 and 5