GPS Activity API: How to Get Route Data from Workouts

For workout sessions themselves, see workout detection; for the broader landscape, see wearable data APIs.

Where you can get GPS route data#

Route data can come from a phone (which has GPS) or a GPS-capable watch or bike computer; a non-GPS wearable relies on the connected phone's location. All provider-specific fields, formats, and terms change often, so treat this table as a starting point and confirm against each vendor's live data dictionary (as of 2026, verify).

Measured or estimated?#

GPS coordinates are measured by the device's GNSS receiver — this is real positional data, not a model. But the measurement is noisy: it is subject to accuracy error, drift near buildings or tree cover, and vendor smoothing. That is exactly why Health Connect tells you to filter low-accuracy samples before writing a route. Distance and pace derived from a route are computations over those noisy points, so two apps can report slightly different distances for the same activity. Never quote a positional-accuracy number — accuracy varies by device, sky view, and conditions.

The Strava restriction trap (verify current terms)#

Strava is the biggest gotcha on this page, and it is a terms problem, not a technical one:

• Rate limits and tightening access. Strava enforces API rate limits and has been narrowing access. For example, the Explore Segments endpoint is documented as moving to an approved "Extended Access" tier, per the Strava changelog (effective date around Sept 2026 — verify current status in the Strava changelog).
• Display and data-combination rules. Strava's API Agreement restricts how its data may be displayed and combined with other providers' data. Common designs — such as merging Strava routes with other sources onto one map — can be blocked by these terms.

Because these terms change and can quietly break a feature after you have built it, treat all Strava display and combination rules as "verify in the current Strava API Agreement" before you commit to a design. Confirm the current status of any endpoint tier and the brand/display rules directly with Strava.

Strava routes: what the API calls reach#

Strava keeps routes, the courses an athlete plans, separate from the activities they record. We could not reach Strava's developer site on October 12, 2026 to re-read its reference, so this section reports what stravalib, the Python client for the Strava API, wraps on its main branch as read that day:

• List an athlete's routes: get_routes, which calls /athletes/{id}/routes and defaults to the authenticated athlete.
• Get one route: get_route, which calls /routes/{id}. Its docstring says the result is detail-level when the authenticated athlete owns the route and summary-level otherwise.
• Get a route's streams: get_route_streams, which calls /routes/{id}/streams. Its docstring says external applications may read streams for all public routes and for the authenticated athlete's private routes, and that the three route stream types, distance, altitude and latlng, are always returned.

None of these calls suggests or generates a route: they read routes an athlete already has. Whether Strava offers a route-suggestion endpoint we could not check against Strava's own reference, so confirm it there before you design around one. The display and data-combination terms above apply to route data as much as to activities.

Which source should you pick?#

• Showing a user their own route (least restrictive): the on-device path — HKWorkoutRoute on iOS, ExerciseRoute on Android. You read it in-app with location permission, no cloud terms to navigate, and no post-sync latency.
• Pulling routes server-side across many users: Garmin's Activity API is straightforward because it hands you standard file formats (.FIT/GPX/.TCX) with full route detail.
• Strava-specific data (segments, athlete activities): use it only after confirming its display and usage restrictions fit your product; do not assume you can combine it freely with other sources.
• Many brands at once: an aggregator (Terra, Junction, Rook) normalizes GPS routes into one schema across providers — but you inherit each underlying provider's terms, Strava's included.

Before you ship#

Route fields, export formats, endpoint access tiers, and API terms are volatile — re-verify each against the vendor's current data dictionary and agreement as of 2026. Filter low-accuracy GPS samples before you store or draw a route, never publish a positional-accuracy figure, and treat Strava's display and data-combination rules as the item most likely to block your design. When you need location permission plus on-device stores versus a cloud pull, see on-device vs cloud health data.