The document analyzes crowd-sourced bicycle tracking data from the RenoTracks app to understand bicycling patterns and preferences in the Reno-Sparks area. It summarizes analyses of popular routes, bicycle volumes by street, and street grades. High bicycle volumes were found on streets in downtown Reno and along McCarran Boulevard. Popular routes included portions of existing trails as well as many north-south streets in eastern Reno-Sparks. The analyses aim to inform future bicycle planning by identifying preferred routes and comfortable grades.

1. Where are the Tracks?
Advanced GIS analysis of crowd sourced bicycle tracks in Reno-Sparks, Nevada
Introduction
RenoTracks is a smartphone app for recording bicycle trips in the Reno-Sparks
area. The data collected from the app will provide the city planner with primary
information to build future bicycle facilities. The raw data from this app’s database
consists of several GPS points collected along a route. Converting this data into
volume counts at each street is necessary for future track analysis.
The essential question we seek to address is where do people ride? Our analyses
treat this question from different approaches.
The first two analyses are related to“which areas of the region do people bike the
most?”
Further analyses answer questions such as: what type of street grades and travel
distances affect people’s decision to ride? Lastly, the trip distance analysis tries to
find out what’s the most comfortable bicycling distance.
Popular Rides was generated to
address the lack of contiguous routes
with bicycle facilities. The desire
of the citizen-driven Bicycle and
Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC),
in conjunction with the Regional
Transportation Commission (RTC), was
to identify north-south and east-west
routes for commuters and recreational
bicyclists alike.
These routes were sourced from a
group page with GPS tracks of popular
rides led by the Procrastinating Pedalers
of Reno Tahoe, a recreational riding
group (E. McNeill & R. Collins, personal
communication, December 15, 2014).
For our analysis, we were curious to
know if RenoTracks data revealed any
correlative popular tracks or pinpointed
previously undetected popular tracks.
This analysis reveals certain tracks
collected by the app do follow existing
Popular Rides (portions of the Verdi
Loop, Arlington-Plumas north-south
route). However there was a significant
finding of a great volume of north
south tracks taking place along regional
roads in the eastern Truckee Meadows
(Double R, Longley, Rock, McCarran,
Baring, Sparks, Los Altos, and Vista)
The frequency of bicycle volumes
was an analysis based on a query
to better understand where
people are riding in the Truckee
Meadows, sourced from the
data generated from RenoTracks
app users between January and
August 2014.
This map divides the data
analyzed into five classes;
the blue showing the lowest
volumes (1-5) and the red lines
boasting the highest (41-219).
The streets that exhibit the
highest volumes are labeled
for reference. Peak volumes
are observed in the downtown
Reno area on the road segments
of East 2nd Street from Evans
Avenue to Lake Street. Bicycle
volumes are also high in the
Startup Row vicinity.
Another high peak is observed
in the eastern portion of the
Truckee Meadows on McCarran
Boulevard where volumes are
highest south of the Mill Street
intersection.
The bicycle facility slope map was
produced to give cyclists a better
understanding of the slope anticipated
on existing bike lanes and paths.
This map was developed from a 10
meter digital elevation model providing
the slope data necessary for analysis.
Applying the extract by mask tool in
ArcMap yielded the slope data on bicycle
facilities. That data was then converted
to a percent grade value by calculating
the rise over run.
The output here is the street grade
with blue facilities demonstrating level
terrain while facilities highlighted in red
indicate grades over 18% and potentially
an uncomfortable ride depending on the
user. Grade classification was gleaned
from 2014 San Francisco Bike Map &
Walking Guide.
Moritz, William E.“Survey of North American bicycle commuters: design and aggregate results.”Transportation
Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board 1578.1 (1997): 91-101.
Royal, Dawn, and Darby Miller-Steiger. National Survey of Bicyclist and Pedestrian Attitudes and Behavior. Volume III:
Methods Report. No. HS-810 973. 2008.
San Francisco Bike Map & Walking Guide [Map]. (2014). San Francisco, CA: Rufus Graphics
References
RenoTracks, 2014. | http://renotracks.nevadabike.org
Washoe County Census and Demographic Information, 2014.
| http://www.washoecounty.us/comdev/publications_maps_products/census_demographic/census_
demographic_index.htm
Data sources
This was the product of a final project for Geography 407/607 Advanced GIS Analyses taught in fall 2014. Our
work would not have been possible without the generous support and guidance of Dr. Jeremy M. Smith,
course instructor.
Thank you also to Dylan Kuhn of RenoTracks for providing the valuable data set that made this analysis
possible.
About
Dongmei Lin
Dian Mao
Piera Mburia
Jean-Paul Torres
Project Team
Tracks on Maps
Through cartographic expression of crowd sourced data afforded by GIS analyses, the RenoTracks dataset is now more accessible to
members of the community and may later quantitatively inform regional bicycle planning.
9240.62
1588.28
85%
15%
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20000
Men Women
MILES
GENDER
Miles Tracked by Gender
0
8%
12%
19%
45%
10%
22%
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
under
18
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
MILES
AGE GROUP
Miles Tracked by Age
Groups
45%
44%
5%
2% 2% 1% 1%
Miles Tracked by Type
Commute
Exercise
Social
School
Work
Errand
89
166
181
110
77
43 47 46
53
34
23 24
38
28
10
103
83
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
NUMBEROFTRIPS
Trip Frequency vs. Distance
9240.62
1588.28
85%
15%
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20000
Men Women
MILES
GENDER
Miles Tracked by Gender
0
8%
12%
19%
45%
10%
22%
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
under
18
18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+
MILES
AGE GROUP
Miles Tracked by Age
Groups
45%
44%
5%
2% 2% 1% 1%
Miles Tracked by Type
Commute
Exercise
Social
School
Work
Errand
Other
89
166
181
110
77
43 47 46
53
34
23 24
38
28
10
103
83
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
<1
1-2
2-3
3-4
4-5
5-6
6-7
7-8
8-9
9-10
10-11
11-12
12-13
13-14
14-15
15-20
>20
NUMBEROFTRIPS
TRIP DISTANCE (MILE)
Trip Frequency vs. Distance
DemographicsDemographic data was sourced from the RenoTracks‘tallies’webpage. Here we get a quick snapshot of the RenoTracks app user
which tells us who is riding and for what purposes. In summary, more men than women are riding by a large margin, almost half
of all riders are late Boomers, early Gen X (45-54 age group), and commuters just beat out fitness based trips by 1%. We also
observe the majority of trips taken are 2-3 miles in length.