The Strava Developer Summit will go down as a highlight for VeloViewer in 2025, and it was a pleasure to join the Strava API community for this event.
Held at Strava HQ in San Francisco, the Summit was designed to support and share learnings across the Strava API ecosystem. The inaugural event was a celebration of innovation, and the in-person meet up allowed for peers to swap stories, and spark new collaborations across the developer community.
Alongside VeloViewer, core Strava API users present included Wahoo, Epic Ride Weather, Track Tunes, City Strides, Roast my Strava, Oura, Google, Meta, Apple and Wandrer.
With attendees from across the globe, 100 were present in San Francisco, along with 800 registered for livestream.
VeloViewer x Strava
Those that have followed our journey will know VeloViewer has used Strava’s API since inception in 2012. This has been a fantastic working partnership, and the advancement of technology in this 13 year period has been immense.
Working with the API team has been an evolving relationship and the success of this is testament to the fact 600,000 users have connected their Strava accounts to VV.
VeloViewer: Gamified Exploring Panel Q&A
With long term usage of the Strava API, VeloViewer Founder Ben was asked to sit on a Q&A panel exploring the ways in which data can be gamified. Ben joined CityStrides founder Jim Chevalier and the talk was chaired by Brian Bell, VP and Head of Global Communication and Social Impact at Strava.
Image courtesy of Strava.
Ben and Jim drew on how gamified experiences in VeloViewer and City Strides inspire activity through exploration and adventure – with both focused not on performance goals, but instead on people getting out and exploring. Both companies shared a view that they wanted to limit people’s time spent scrolling, the direct opposite of many app developers objectives, and instead encourage people to enjoy real experiences and visit new places.
Ben highlighted VeloViewer’s Explorer Tiles feature and how this has encouraged Strava users to develop their exercise goals by ticking off squares to create Max Squares and Max Clusters. Users set personal activity objectives, and the Explorer Tile leaderboards provide the ability to compare stats and explorations with other users around the world. The tiling community has provided endless inspiration, and Ben has recently released the Explorer Score, Explorer Spans, Max Columns/Rows and connected tile stats to complement the original features.
Both VeloViewer and City Strides have had very organic growth, born from the desire to build products that both Ben and Jim would want to use themselves as Strava users. They also acknowledged how valuable input from their respective online communities has been in providing endless inspiration for new features, and solving tricky development challenges.
Ben shared a story of how the tiling community helped him to find a solution to the ‘inaccessible tile’ challenge with the creation of Max Clusters.
For City Strides, Jim talked about being inspired by one of his users to run every street in Sheffield (coincidently the home town of VV!). It turns out he will have run past our HQ at some point all because of the inspiration, structure and support provided by City Strides.
It is these stories which drive VeloViewer on to support users in their quest for adventure.
Snapshots of the Summit
Alongside the VeloViewer x City Strides Q&A there were other panel sessions which generated engaging discussions:
Inside the Wahoo Integration
This explored how Wahoo devices integrate with Strava to enhance training and performance. Featuring Wahoo CEO Gareth Joyce and pro cyclist and Wahoo athlete Alison Tetrick they talked about the challenges of introducing new features, and personal favourites.
The Making of Runna
Guests were treated to a look behind the scenes at how Runna leveraged Strava’s API to build a fast-growing training platform – from launch to acquisition. Featuring Runna CEO Dom Maskell and CTO Walter Holohan, moderated by Strava CEO Mike Martin.
Summit Summary
After a whistle-stop trip, VeloViewer Founder Ben shares his reflections on what was an inspiring trip to San Francisco:
“Strava certainly underscored their commitment to supporting the API ecosystem, and events like this provide such an important way to connect and share information. There was talk of future events – we have our fingers crossed!
“We had the best time in San Francisco, it is such a beautiful city to explore. The hospitality and support from Strava was brilliant and it was so great to finally meet members of the Strava team who we have worked closely with for years.” Said Ben.
