How accurate is Strava in measuring height gain?

[Aravis]

There was an idea like the century a month challenge for a big climbing ride a month challenge, but nothing came of it (apart from loads of discussion about how to measure it).

I just looked at that thread. It stretched to a magnificent 14 replies, and died abruptly when I made what I thought was a reasonable suggestion

On threads like this, I'm often surprised how much scepticism there is in GPS's ability to measure distance accurately. Personally, I'm completely confident that at the end of I ride I know how long it was to a level of accuracy I am more than satisfied with. On the other hand, with elevation data there is not even any universal agreement about what should be measured, let alone how to measure it.

 

[Alan O]

I'm another who suspects it's probably more due to the device than to Strava - whether it has a barometric altimeter, and what the weather is like. I don't do enough climbing when I'm cycling (and I don't repeat the same route often enough) to verify that thought for Strava, but I do often find my Fitbit Surge gets my daily "stairs climbed" count wildly wrong, especially when there's a pressure system passing over - on a typical 10,000-step day when I'd usually record 10 to 12 floors of ascent, I can suddenly get something silly like 80 or 90 floors when the weather is changeable.

 

[bpsmith]

Strava' dara was known for being reasonable accurate over the US, but a lot less accurate everywhere else. As above, that source dates back a few years, so might be better now. A lot of people seem to use Strava as the benchmark for how accurate their device is. I think this is a mistake, despite agreeing that devices are far from accurate themselves.

A workmate of mine does a lot of climbing. He's strong in the hills, fair play. His yearly elevation is way higher than other colleagues as a result. On hilly long rides that we have done, he can register 10-20% higher total elevation than us, when starting/finishing at the same place.

Whilst I agree that we should use our own devices as a measure for consistency, it is very annoying when you try to push yourself to match other people's elevation only to find they get a head start every time. Lol

 

[Siclo]

Something in Strava's algorithm has changed recently since my commute has gone from having 33m in the morning and 12m in the evening to 84m in the morning and 63m in the evening, same device with no barometer. I reckon it's got something to do with bridges.

 

[ColinJ]

From the Strava horse's mouth.

https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216919447-Elevation-for-Your-Activity

It's dated 2012 but I have no reason to believe any of it is out of date. I think most of the info in here has been said above, but it's interesting anyway.

It's as true now as it was way back in ...

... post #10!

 

[bpsmith]

Something in Strava's algorithm has changed recently since my commute has gone from having 33m in the morning and 12m in the evening to 84m in the morning and 63m in the evening, same device with no barometer. I reckon it's got something to do with bridges.

Are the particularly long/high bridges then?

 

[Siclo]

Are the particularly long/high bridges then?

Nope but there are a few of them, for instance this dip under the rail bridge never used to show in the profile, now its's visible, likewise this always used to show as a flat line. Different if I used a device other than the phone obviously.

 

[Alan O]

I'm another who suspects it's probably more due to the device than to Strava - whether it has a barometric altimeter, and what the weather is like. I don't do enough climbing when I'm cycling (and I don't repeat the same route often enough) to verify that thought for Strava, but I do often find my Fitbit Surge gets my daily "stairs climbed" count wildly wrong, especially when there's a pressure system passing over - on a typical 10,000-step day when I'd usually record 10 to 12 floors of ascent, I can suddenly get something silly like 80 or 90 floors when the weather is changeable.

Just an update on that, my Surge reckons I've climbed four floors already today (which is about 40 feet), despite the fact that I haven't got out of bed yet (I've got flu, in case anyone's wondering - I'm not *that* lazy). And we have a weather front going over.