Welcome to the MSF Tracks Database - a global database of open water swimming GPS tracks.

Usage

From the Map page:

• The “swimmer” icons represent individual swim tracks. Click to view them.
• The colored circles with numbers represent clusters of swims. Click these circles to zoom in on the cluster.

From the List page:

• Search by swimmer name or swim description.
• Sort by date, duration, or distance.
• Click a row to display a map of the swim track.

Interpretation

The data contained herein are for educational and entertainment purposes only. While a GPS track is an important component of a well-documented open-water swim, it does not, in itself, authenticate the swim (a GPS track does not “prove” that a swim occurred as claimed).

Track Distance vs. Route Distance

The distance of the GPS track (shown as “Track Total”) is not the official distance of the swim! In open-water swimming, the distance of the swim is the distance of the route. A swim route is typically the shortest possible line (or series of connected line segments) between the start and finish.

“Track Total” is merely the sum of the distances between each trackpoint, which can vary depending of many factors, including navigational precision, accuracy of the GPS device, distance of the GPS device from the swimmer, and trackpoint frequency.

For more information, see here.

Contact the Developer

Questions, suggestions, or bug reports? The developer (MSF co-founder Evan Morrison) welcomes your feedback. Please use the general MSF contact form

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dave Van Mouwerik, Karl Kingery, and Mike Tyson for testing and feedback during development.

I’m also grateful to the many individuals who contributed data to the project, and especially the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association.