Embedding a Komoot tour or a Strava activity in a post is easy: copy the embed code, paste it, done. But in the European Union that embed comes with a question: what happens to your visitors’ data?
What an embed does
An embed is a small window (an iframe) with a page of the other service inside. When a visitor opens your post, the browser loads that page from Komoot’s or Strava’s servers, with their scripts. The service gets the visitor’s IP address and browser details, and can use its own cookies and trackers, under its own privacy policy and not yours.
For this reason many sites in the EU treat these embeds like YouTube videos or social media posts: they block them until the visitor gives consent in the cookie banner, or show a placeholder with a “click to load” button. It works, but many visitors never click, and your route stays hidden behind a grey box.
The alternative: the track on your own site
With the free WP GPX Maps plugin you export the file once (how to export from Strava, Garmin or Komoot), upload it to your Media Library and show it with the GPX Map block. Then:
- The track file is on your server. The route, the elevation profile and the summary are drawn in your page by your site.
- No page of another service, no tracking scripts, no cookies from the plugin.
- The only external requests are the map images (tiles), from the map provider you choose. With OpenStreetMap, OpenTopoMap or CyclOSM the tile servers receive the visitor’s IP address, like any image loaded from another site, and do not set tracking cookies. Mention them in your privacy policy.
- Mapbox maps (3D and satellite) load from Mapbox, a US company. When you enter a Mapbox key in the settings, all the maps of the site use Mapbox: in that case treat it like the other third-party services of your site. Without the key, the maps use OpenStreetMap or the free map you choose.
- The map is always visible, without waiting for consent, and search engines can read the route: every map also writes a text description and structured data.
Komoot embed or WP GPX Maps?
| Embed from Komoot / Strava | WP GPX Maps | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the track is | On their servers | On your site |
| Third-party page and scripts | Yes | No |
| External requests | The whole embedded page | Only map tiles from the provider you choose |
| Usually needs consent in the EU | Yes | Only if you choose a provider that needs it |
| Visible to search engines | Mostly not | Yes, with text and structured data |
| Still online if you leave the app | No | Yes |
Keep using Komoot or Strava to plan and record, they are great at it. Just publish on your site the file, not the embed.
This page explains how the technology works, it is not legal advice. Every site is different: check your privacy policy and your cookie banner with whoever takes care of them.
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