Squadrats - Map your adventures

Do you know how much have you explored the world during your bike rides, runs or other adventures? If you are biker (the one with pedals) and are on Strava, then you would most likely know about Veloviewer. Veloviewer provides a lot more data and infographics after crunching all the data from your Strava activities. One of the features they have is 'Explorer Tiles'. Based on the GPS data from your activities, the Explorer Tiles maps them in to tiles/squares. The more you explore, bigger your tiles on the map. I was fascinated with this feature and wanted to have a standalone app that provides additional details like Leaderboard, different map levels, challenges etc. After spending some time digging around I came across SquadRats that has quite a few features I was looking for (if not all).

My three day ride in Sharavathi Valley mapped using Squadrats

What is Squadrats?

Similar to the Explorer Tiles in Veloviewer, the core concept revolves around collecting "Squadrats" and in addition expand your Yard and Übersquadrat. The platform syncs with your Strava account, making it easy to track your progress and visualize your growing collection

• Squadrat is a square segment on the map that is of the size one mile by one mile
• Yard is the largest area of visited and interconnected Squadrats. Each of the Squadrats must touch its four adjoining Squadrats
• Übersquadrat is the largest square you have collected filled with visited Squadrats.

In addition to the above three, there are Squadratinhos, Yardinho and Übersquadratinho as well. They are exactly same as Squadrats, Yard and Übersquadrat respectively but smaller in size. While the former group is of one mile by one mile square, the latter are 200 meters by 200 meters.

How do I collect the Squadrats?

1. Connect your Strava account to your Squadrats account.
2. Record your activity. Ensure your activity gets saved to your Strava account. The activity can be a ride, run, walk, swim, boat etc.
3. Make sure your activity is public
4. That's all.

Leaderboard and Route Planning

Leaderboard, as I mentioned earlier this was one of the feature I was looking for to compare where I stand among other explorers. You get to see the standings across all the 6 attributes. One thing that I would like to see in the future is to create teams/clubs and challenge your friends to collect Squadrats. In addition Squadrats has a Chrome extension to plan your routes. This is very helpful when I am out there looking to expand my Squadrats.

Squadrats Chrome Extension

The best feature of Squadrats has to be their Chrome Extension. This is one of the easiest ways to plan your activities to collect new Squadrats. The chrome extension works with multiple route planners - Strava, RideWithGPS, Garmin Connect to name a few. One can plan their route to maximise hunting the Squadrats or Squadratinhos.

Where do I stand on the Leaderboard?

Conclusion

Overall, Squadrats is a great tool for anyone looking to add variety and excitement to their outdoor activities, whether you're a seasoned athlete or just someone who enjoys a good walk. Now I have a nice app to keep track of my adventures and explore further.

One feature I would like to have is the ability to create custom groups/teams. So that I can create challenges with my friends and compete against each other to collect the Squadrats.