Nike+ Running, Strava, Adidas MI Coach, PUMATRAC, Runtastic and Map my Run. That’s just a handful of the many running apps on the market these days. Geolocation apps have taken the fitness industry by storm over the past 2 years, and they are only getting bigger and better.

Geolocation apps like the above are making people want to get outside more to beat their times and share stories with their friends. Many take to social media to tell others that they beat their personal best, or they just completed a race. I personally love how integrated these apps have become with our daily lives, and it can only be for the better that more and more people are getting out there and getting active.

I’ve been a runner for years, and have always relied solely on my trusty Nike+ app. It does the job, monitoring distance, speed, intervals, it integrates with my numerous music apps, it cheers me on when I’m having a slow day, and it awards me with trophies when I beat a personal best.

It integrates perfectly with Facebook & Instagram, telling all of my followers how far and how fast I ran. I can take pictures of the scenery whilst out for run, and it places my route and time on the image and uploads to Instagram with the hashtag #Nikeplus. Cue plenty of likeminded runners from around the world liking my pictures, and lavishing me with encouraging comments (Which is great for morale!).

In short, I love my Nike+ app, and up until recently, I thought it did everything I could possibly want from this type of app.

Then I checked out Strava. Now I can’t help but feel a little jealous. It seems that it does way more than my measly Nike+! The new Strava Local app combines your favourite segments and destinations with similar activities from their community of millions of athletes, then distills that data to reveal some of the highest-quality running and cycling adventures in the world.

The result is a series of city guides designed specifically for athletes, by athletes. In each key city you’ll find a collection of the best running and cycling routes. Routes include the map, distance, elevation and a brief description.

‘Map my run’ also have this feature, where you can find, create and share routes. You can also join groups and find local running events.

This is something which Nike lacks, there is no sense of community. This is something which would be really useful to me (as I’m sure it would others) as it’s very easy to get stuck in a rut, doing the same route week in week out.

One thing Nike are really great at, is promoting the shop on their app, but where they fall down is promoting a sense of a sporting community amongst its users, in terms of sharing routes, creating routes etc. It gives you the feeling that it’s kind of all about money for them (as it should be - they are a business) but to get my full buy in, I want to be provided with an all-round experience each and every time I log in to my app, before I’m willing to buy via the app. And so for that reason Strava wins in the Geolocation app stakes for me.

Will I stop using Nike+ and move to Strava? No. I’m a Nike girl at heart, and I’m not ready to break up with them just yet. But seriously Nike, up your game!