This would only be possible on the individual activity pages (not the LifeMap).
Instead of green/red pins indicating the start/stop points, have the activity line gradually transition from green → orange → red (without the orange at 50% the overall line ends up pretty muddy).
It seems like this would be easier/faster to see the direction of the activity.
Maybe bump up the line width as well:
Cool idea. I like it.
I like the idea.
Alternatively,Could the colors represent % of pace ? Max Tempo of run is green, lowest tempos is red with orange gradient in between? Nike had this in the past and I liked it a lot. My CS runs these days typically mean running to a far end of my city at a decent pace, then search all corners for nodes an d return at a decent pace. Would be cool to see this represented in the snail trail
I like the idea!
But it would be nice to the option to switch to one other colorscheme (gradient from light to dark blue, or something similar). Red/green colorblind is most common colorblindness type… And without zooming in it was quite hard to differentiate beginning from and end 
Thanks for pointing that out! This now also makes me worry about the existing red/green pins - sounds like, regardless of whether or not I go with the gradient idea, I definitely have to make some change.
I’m working with the colors from Customizing Colors - Tailwind CSS
I should probably stick with the purple theme…
I wonder if dark->light is the best “start->end” depiction, as well…
I should probably stick with the purple theme…
Red/green is still probably most intuitive for majority people, after all - it’s the default for a reason. Just some websites/games/programs have some kind of colorblind mode you can switch.
Current pins are not bad, they’re quite distinct! There are helpful tool which somewhat simulate different types of colorblindness, like for example:
At least with deuteranopia it looks not bad at all! Not sure is we have any users with protanopia and how they see them, since simulated preview looks kinda confusing.
Interesting - when I view that page, the pins also look the same to me.
Is it any better if I use the exact shades of red/green in the line as I have in the pin?
I’m not expecting it to be, but just in case, is it helpful to include the pins as well?
I appreciate your input on this - thanks!
Thin lines with tweaked shades sadly don’t make much of a difference…
But start/end pins help a lot! Bigger monocolor objects are much easier to determine color of. But they don’t look so neat/cover a bit of a map - not sure others will like them 
Looking at other products - Garmin uses similar pins, but their shade choice is much worse, colors almost identical, only “play/stop” pictograms helps.
Smashruns on the other hand uses plain letter to avoid whole color situation 
I kinda like it. It is nice sometimes to be able to discern the actual route taken, especially on some of our more complicated “citystride” type runs.
If it is low-hanging fruit, sure, if not - bring on the OSM update 
I like the Smashrun style!
The feature itself is super easy, but getting it right so that it’s usable for everyone is challenging ( 
convo about color blindness)
I’m strongly considering the “play” and “stop” icons, because “s” and “e” are English-language-centric … gotta consider all 70 countries (which, I’m not sure I do a good job of, to be honest)
runner emoji (start) and checker (finish)?
I’ve been thinking about this again… I’ve got new start/stop markers to help with colorblindness & I’ve been considering an animation to provide the sense of direction:
It’s a little bit much to have on all the time, so I was considering the idea of clicking marker to enable/disable the animation.
I think I still prefer the gradient, because you can see the direction instantly - you don’t have to wait a few frames of animation to figure it out. The animation also gets a bit difficult to follow in more hectic routes.
I figured I’d share it anyway … an interesting idea, if nothing else.
I think the animation looks pretty cool.
It gets really difficult to keep track of in particularly wonky paths. The gradient version (green → red) seems a bit easier figure out at a glance:
The color alone isn’t great for accessibility, but there are mile markers and ‘play’/‘stop’ style markers. One suggestion in this thread is a setting to select start/stop colors - I don’t think that would be too difficult…
To be honest, I find the colors kinda confusing. Arrows would work for me. The animation is also OK.
PS. Re colors, when they pertain to effort (speed / heart rate /elevation change), I do like that!
Yeah, I’ve received other similar feedback… Currently going to add the new start/stop markers & the mile/kilometer markers, but not going to change the coloring.
When a created route has some overlap with itself on different parts of the run (eg, mile 2 and 9 pass the same block) and some degree of complexity, I find it to be difficult to look over the map before my run to familiarize myself. If the route had a gradient texture (eg, rainbow) to it, it would be easier to visualize I think. Same goes for viewing the run afterward in my activities. Thanks!
I’ve gotten some conflicting feedback on my past efforts around this idea: Gradient activity lines
For the issue of figuring out the direction of travel, it would be more useful to have arrows. I load my complex routes into a Garmin 945 for turn by turn directions (which are good if there are 90 degree or greater turns, but when you get to a fork, you have no idea which is correct) and also into an Apple Watch via an App called WorkOutDoors. WorkOutDoors does not do turn by turn, but it shows a map on the watch screen with arrows which really help figure out what to do when the Garmin isn’t helping. The phone app side of it lets you view your loaded route with arrows as well (and shows your position along the route while you are on it). Below are screenshots of an entire complex route and detail of a section of it, showing how useful arrows are:
