Artist cycles over 22,000km drawing pictures with his bike and GPS, World News

PUBLISHED ONFebruary 22, 2016 9:40 AM

Arm an artist with a bicycle and a GPS tracker and you get a masterpiece like no other.

Stephen Lund is one of the many 'Strava artists' who have been using the GPS tracking app to cycle 'doodles' on maps, often creating impressive artworks or messages.

Using the route mapping feature, the Canadian cyclist has managed to draw animals like a giraffe, killer whale, and even a hummingbird by cycling through lanes and back alleys.

Stephen's canvas is Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, and the ink is his blood, sweat and tears as he cycles thousands of kilometres just to get the perfect doodle.

The 50-year-old budding artist attempted his first doodle on Jan 1, 2015 to wish his friends a 'Happy 2015', Cycling Weekly reported.

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He now plans his route carefully to create elaborate designs, and clocked over 22,300 km in 2015. 85 masterpieces were created in 2015, which were posted on his website GPS Doodles.

"If you can move, you can doodle. In fact, when I coined the term GPS doodles, I did so because 'GPS art' felt a little too lofty and exclusive," Stephen said at a Ted conference about his experience with GPS doodling.

"Everybody doodles. And anyone can GPS doodle."

grongloh@sph.com.sg