API questions around analytics and caching

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David Mason

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Dec 13, 2022, 6:48:02 AM12/13/22

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Hi,

I have a couple of questions about the API agreement that aren’t clear to me. I am the developer of a windows-based cycling analytics platform originally focussed on aerodynamic analysis and race planning, but now starting to incorporate a more general analytics feature set.

The app does not currently store much data online other than the minimum necessary for user account management, with the main processing done on the user’s machine. The app downloads activity data files to the user’s home machine and keeps them there in an internal database.

It wasn’t clear to me if this would violate Strava’s API agreement if the app were to download Strava activities and display different analytics dashboards in the app. Specifically, the API guidelines appear to suggest data can be cached for 7 days, but I wasn't sure if that meant data must be deleted after 7 days or refreshed. The intention would be to download the activity data and then use that within the app. No other data is needed (e.g. segments etc), just the raw activity streams. There is also some mention of analytics prohibition in the API agreement although it would appear that other apps using Strava data are performing similar analytics capability so again it isn’t clear to me what is permitted by Strava in this area or whether it relates to customer analytics and not activity data.

Is anybody able to help clear up these points for me? I would appreciate any info.