Know the steps before you set off
Everyone is obsessed with their step count. It’s on your phone, it’s on your watch, it’s everywhere. If you’re desperate to get to your 10,000 steps for the day (which, by the way, has been debunked), how do you know where to get those? Google Maps will tell you a nice walking route, but it won’t tell you how many steps or how many calories that will lead to. gStep is a browser extension that will help you do that.
How it works
How it’s calculated
Steps
gStep divides the route’s distance by your step length. Step length is about 41% of your height, and gStep uses 41.4%. A 180 cm person has a step of about 75 cm, so 1 km is roughly 1,340 steps. Without a height, gStep assumes an adult of 170 cm.
Calories
Calories come from the American College of Sports Medicine walking equation for level ground, using Google’s walking time for the route. That works out at roughly 0.5 kcal per kilogram of body weight per kilometre, plus your resting burn. Without a weight, gStep shows steps only.
Both numbers are a rough guide
Hills, stairs, pace, terrain and fitness all change the real figures, and gStep assumes flat ground. Steps are rounded to the nearest 10, or the nearest 100 above 1,000. Calories are rounded to the nearest 5.
The calorie figure is the total you burn during the walk. Fitness trackers often show “active” calories, which leave out resting burn and so read about 30% lower.
Questions
Questions people ask
- Is gStep free?
- Yes. There is no account, no ads and no tracking. There is a Ko-fi link if you would like to tip.
- Which browsers does gStep work in?
- Desktop Chrome and Brave. Chrome and Brave on a phone do not support extensions, so gStep cannot run there.
- Where can I get it?
- gStep is not in the Chrome Web Store yet. This page will link to it once it is published.
- Does gStep send my height and weight anywhere?
- No. They are stored only in this browser, in the extension’s own storage. gStep has no server, makes no network requests and has no analytics. Its only permission is storage, plus access to Google Maps addresses so it can add the labels.
- How accurate are the estimates?
- They are a rough guide. The calorie equation agrees to within 10% with the Compendium of Physical Activities figure for walking at 3 mph, but hills, stairs, pace, terrain and fitness all change the real figures, and gStep assumes flat ground.
- Does gStep work outside English?
- Distances in kilometres, metres, miles, feet and yards are recognised in any language. Times are recognised in English and the main European languages. Elsewhere gStep finds fewer routes and assumes Google’s usual walking speed.
- Is this the GStep pedometer app?
- No. gStep is a desktop browser extension that labels walking routes in Google Maps. It is not a phone pedometer, and it is not connected to any similarly named app on Google Play or the App Store.
gStep is free
No account, no ads, no tracking. If it’s useful to you, you can buy me a coffee.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi