Visualizing World Marathon Routes as Map Animations

Every major marathon course tells a story. NYC crosses five boroughs, Boston runs point-to-point through Heartbreak Hill, London loops the Thames, and Tokyo doubles back through Ginza. Animated as a map, that story fits in thirty seconds of race-day content.

Trace the course

Open the Route Builder from the bottom dock, set Walk mode, and add stops at the landmarks that define the race: start village, halfway bridge, the famous climb, the finish stretch. A few well-placed stops snap the path to the real 26.2-mile course, and per-leg durations let you linger on the sections commentators always talk about.

Follow the runner

1. In the right panel, open Camera Director and add a follow shot locked to the route marker.
2. Keep framing tight through dense sections, then pull wider for bridges and park crossings.
3. End on a zoom-in reveal of the finish line with a label naming the winning time.

Cut it for race day

Recaps live on phones, and a horizontal course map wastes most of a vertical screen. Duplicate the project as a vertical map animation for TikTok and Instagram, reframing each shot for 9:16 so the course still reads on a small screen. The same project exports both formats, so the Sunday-morning recap and the YouTube breakdown come from one build.

For pacing that feels like a real runner (steady miles, then a surge at the finish), shape the speed with Motion Curves.