GPS art: walking a shape onto the map
GPS art means planning a route so the track you leave behind draws a picture: a heart, a star, an animal, a word. It is a fun way to walk, and it takes you down streets you would never otherwise choose.
Plan on real streets
The trick is to find the shape in the streets you have, not to force streets into a shape. Look at a map of your area and squint: grids make letters and stars easy, curving roads make hearts and circles, rivers and parks give you long free strokes.
Start simple. A square, a triangle or a heart is a good first piece. Bigger shapes look better, because small details disappear at street scale.
Walking it
- Keep the route on your phone or a printout and check it at every turn.
- Walk the shape in one go if you can, so it reads as one line.
- Expect GPS to wobble a little in narrow streets and under tall buildings. It adds character.
- Footpaths through parks are useful for curves and diagonals that streets cannot make.
Sharing what you drew
FOG has walk cards made for this. Start a walk by hand, walk your shape, and end it, and FOG offers a card of exactly the shape you just walked, ready to post as a square, a story or the bare shape. With walk cards turned on in Settings, longer walks recorded automatically get a card too.
And the shape stays on your map for good, cleared out of the fog, so a city slowly collects your drawings.
About FOG
Exploring is free and walk cards are free. FOG Unlimited is one purchase that adds the higher ranks, every character path and history import. No account, no cloud. It is a phone app, on iOS and Android.
Questions people actually ask
What is GPS art?
Drawing a picture with the GPS track of a walk, run or ride, by planning the route so the line forms a shape.
How do I share a GPS drawing from FOG?
Start a walk by hand, walk the shape and end the walk. FOG offers a walk card of that shape to share.
Does the shape stay on the map?
Yes. Every walked street stays cleared from the fog permanently.
Start with a dark map.
FOG is free to explore. No account, no subscription, and your map never leaves your phone.
free to explore · one purchase unlocks everything · never a subscription