What is it?

The elevation profile gives a visual model of the amount and severity of climbing and descending in your activity and where on the route it occurred.

How do I use this?

When set against metrics like pace, cadence, heart rate or power, you can see how elevation and incline (uphill or downhill) affected your output, effort and speed.

This can give you a more complete picture of your activity and whether you met your goals than metrics like pace or speed alone.

Strava uses a variety of methods to calculate elevation. For more details, read the extended help article below.

How Elevation is calculated

It is important to remember that elevation data from all sources (barometric altimeters, GPS signals, and databases) is subject to error and that the elevation gain for an activity is an estimate. We are always working on improving our elevation data sets and algorithms.

Elevation on a segment. Segments are always created from a Strava activity, and as a result, they inherit some of that activity's characteristics.

Elevation on activity pages will be calculated in one of two ways: cross-referencing the GPS data to a database or by using the barometric data in the original file.

Elevation on a route. Our Strava Route Builder uses our own personal database to calculate elevation data. The GPS data for the route is cross-referenced with this database when calculating the route elevation.

The Details

Elevation databases

In the past, we consulted public elevation databases to determine the elevation at each point in the activity. The resolution of these databases varied based on location, and we were not able to control for the many errors in these databases. We now have an elevation look-up service powered by data from the Strava community. Each activity that is uploaded from a device with a barometric altimeter is used to build the Strava elevation basemap.

To account for inherent variability in GPS data, we use an algorithm to ensure that we are "looking up" the elevation for the road or trail you were actually on. The red line in the image below is an example of GPS data that is drifting off the actual trail (represented in blue). Our algorithm has recognized this and will use the elevation data represented by the blue line instead of the actual, and slightly "off," GPS data.

Limitations of the Strava elevation basemap

There may not be basemap data available for all or part of your activity. In this case, we will use a public database to look up your elevation data. A dense road network or poor-quality GPS data could also prevent us from choosing the correct reference points in the basemap or public database.

Barometric altimeters

Barometric altimeters determine altitude by measuring atmospheric pressure. Measurements can be affected by changes in the weather or the sensor holes getting blocked by water or other debris. Device manufacturers may provide basic calibration procedures. For example, Garmin devices with barometric altimeters allow a certain number of manual elevation points to be set; starting an activity near an elevation point causes the device to use the known elevation as the starting point. Consult the manual for your device to learn about calibration procedures. We generally consider the data from barometric altimeters to be of higher quality than the data derived from GPS signals and prefer that when processing activities.

Typical problems with barometric devices

The elevation profile looks like it is drifting over time. This can happen with barometric altimeters as the weather changes (eg. the atmospheric pressure rises or drops, causing the altimeter to measure as though it is at a lower or higher altitude).

Elevation Challenges

Strava hosts a variety of athletic challenges for our athletes, some of which have elevation/climbing goals. Due to the high visibility of these challenge leaderboards, elevation-based errors will surface more easily than they would normally. As mentioned above, there are many uncontrollable variables involved in calculating elevation gain. These variables can lead to exaggerated elevation totals, particularly if the activity takes place in an international, mountainous, or coastal region. If you notice activities with inaccurate elevation gain, please do not flag them. Most of the time this is a result of poor database resolution, which is out of the athlete's control.