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Cyclist creates GPS drawings of animals

He managed to create a heart, fish, dog, cat and mouse and his hardest cycle was a dragon.

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James' GPS art. (James Smith via SWNS)

By Emma Dunn via SWNS

A cyclist created GPS drawings of a dog, a cat and mouse, fish and dragon while cycling around London.

James Smith, 37, decided to created the GPS art after getting bored in lockdown, to take advantage of the quiet and deserted streets of London.

He searched similar creations for inspiration before planning out the art as routes on Google Maps and then sending them to his cycle computer.

James managed to create a heart, fish, dog, cat and mouse and his hardest cycle was a dragon which took him two hours and 15 minutes to cycle the 23.2 miles to make the art.

James' GPS art. (James Smith via SWNS)
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"I'd seen people do GPS art before and as London was so quiet I thought I'd give it a go," said James, a social media manager, from Streatham, South London.

"The heart was the first one I did which was 18.7 miles and took an hour and a half.

"Then I kept progressing from there.

"Sometimes you'd have to think on the spot if a road was closed as you can't pause the app once it's recording your route.

"I think you can see on the fish that it's a little wobbly at the tail as I had to go down another road when one was blocked."

Keen biker James started taking on the GPS art challenges in March 2020 and continued up until September 2020.

His dog was 10.7 miles and took him 57 minutes, the fish was 5.4 miles and took 32 minutes, and the cat and mouse was 12.2 miles and took an hour and 20 minutes.

"It's really tricky using GPS as you can't make an error," he said.

"The dragon was the hardest one but I was happy with how it came out.

"I think I've exhausted GPS art in London now but I'd like to give it a go in another big city.

"You definitely need to do it somewhere big though as you need lots of roads to try and create the doodles."

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