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Maps · head to head

Foursquare Spatial Studio vs Ride with GPS

Foursquare Spatial Studio logo

Foursquare Spatial Studio

Maps

The product formerly sold as Unfolded, now a Foursquare platform rather than a standalone company

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ride with GPS logo

Ride with GPS

Maps

Cycling route planning and navigation with a genuinely usable free tier and two paid tiers above it

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Ride with GPS has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Foursquare Spatial Studio unfolded no longer exists as a product or a contracting entity, so buyers researching under that name find documentation, pricing discussion and comparison material that no longer applies to what Foursquare sells; Ride with GPS turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps are locked behind the paid tiers, so the free tier alone is not enough for navigation in an area without signal.
  • They diverge on capability: Foursquare Spatial Studio covers Browser rendering at scale, Ride with GPS covers Route builder.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Foursquare Spatial Studio and Ride with GPS actually diverge.

Attributes where Foursquare Spatial Studio and Ride with GPS differ
AttributeFoursquare Spatial StudioRide with GPS
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteFreemium, per user per month
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Maps).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Foursquare Spatial Studio

  • Browser rendering at scale
  • H3 spatial indexing
  • Data joins
  • Time animation
  • Map sharing and embedding
  • Cloud data connections
  • Foursquare data access

Only in Ride with GPS

  • Route builder
  • Global heatmap
  • Turn-by-turn navigation
  • Offline maps
  • Garmin sync
  • Extra map layers

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Foursquare Spatial Studio

  • A retail property team comparing catchment overlap between candidate sites using hexagonal aggregation rather than drive-time polygonsnot Ride with GPS
  • A telecommunications planner visualising a national dataset of measurements in the browser without building a tile pipelinenot Ride with GPS
  • An analytics team that already writes deck.gl in-house and wants a hosted environment so non-developers can explore the same datanot Ride with GPS
  • A marketing group that wants Foursquare places and movement data joined to its own customer geography in one toolnot Ride with GPS

Ride with GPS

  • A cyclist planning a multi-day touring route who needs offline maps for areas without signalnot Foursquare Spatial Studio
  • Someone who wants turn-by-turn voice navigation on unfamiliar roads rather than checking a screennot Foursquare Spatial Studio
  • A rider who wants to see popular local routes via the heatmap before committing to a paid tiernot Foursquare Spatial Studio
  • A cyclist syncing custom routes directly to a Garmin computer for a big ridenot Foursquare Spatial Studio

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Foursquare Spatial Studio

  • Unfolded no longer exists as a product or a contracting entity, so buyers researching under that name find documentation, pricing discussion and comparison material that no longer applies to what Foursquare sells
  • Pricing is not published at all, and because access to Foursquare datasets can be bundled into the same agreement, separating the cost of the software from the cost of the data requires explicitly asking for a split quote
  • Much of the visualisation capability exists in kepler.gl and deck.gl, which are free and open source, so the paid product must justify itself on hosting, collaboration and data rather than on rendering
  • Foursquare's core business is selling location data, which means the analytics roadmap follows what makes that data sell, and a customer using only its own data is not the priority segment
  • It is analysis and visualisation, not a spatial database or an editing environment, so organisations still need PostGIS, a warehouse or a GIS for the authoritative data and its maintenance

Ride with GPS

  • Turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps are locked behind the paid tiers, so the free tier alone is not enough for navigation in an area without signal.
  • There are two separate paid tiers rather than one, and some navigation-adjacent features are split between Basic and Premium in ways that are easy to misjudge before subscribing.
  • It is general cycling focused, not mountain-bike trail specific, so a trail rider is better served by Trailforks for singletrack detail.
  • The web-based route builder is more capable than the mobile app for planning, so serious route creation is awkward to do purely from a phone.
  • Exact free-tier limits, such as any cap on saved routes, are not clearly published, so a heavy free-tier user may hit an undocumented limit unexpectedly.

Pricing, plan by plan

Foursquare Spatial Studio

On request
  • Foursquare Spatial Studio$undefined/year
    • Quoted by users, data volume and which Foursquare datasets you take
    • Cloud warehouse connections on the higher tier
    • Not published

Ride with GPS

Free
  • StarterFree
    • Route creation
    • Ride recording
    • Global heatmap access
  • Basic$7.99/month
    • Turn-by-turn navigation
    • Offline route maps
    • ETA and advanced route planning
  • Premium$9.99/month
    • Everything in Basic
    • Extra map layers: wind, air quality, cell coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose Foursquare Spatial Studio if

  • You need browser rendering at scale.
  • You also want h3 spatial indexing.
Foursquare Spatial Studio review

Choose Ride with GPS if

  • You need route builder.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want global heatmap.
Ride with GPS review

Questions people ask

Is Foursquare Spatial Studio or Ride with GPS better?
Neither clearly leads. Foursquare Spatial Studio starts at On request and Ride with GPS at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Foursquare Spatial Studio or Ride with GPS?
Ride with GPS has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Foursquare Spatial Studio and Free for Ride with GPS.
Does Foursquare Spatial Studio or Ride with GPS run on more platforms?
Foursquare Spatial Studio runs on Web. Ride with GPS runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Ride with GPS for free?
Yes. Ride with GPS has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Foursquare Spatial Studio starts at On request.
What is Foursquare Spatial Studio best used for?
Foursquare Spatial Studio is most often used for a retail property team comparing catchment overlap between candidate sites using hexagonal aggregation rather than drive-time polygons, a telecommunications planner visualising a national dataset of measurements in the browser without building a tile pipeline, an analytics team that already writes deck.gl in-house and wants a hosted environment so non-developers can explore the same data, a marketing group that wants foursquare places and movement data joined to its own customer geography in one tool. Of those, a retail property team comparing catchment overlap between candidate sites using hexagonal aggregation rather than drive-time polygons and a telecommunications planner visualising a national dataset of measurements in the browser without building a tile pipeline are not what Ride with GPS is typically brought in for.
What can Foursquare Spatial Studio do that Ride with GPS cannot?
Foursquare Spatial Studio covers Browser rendering at scale, H3 spatial indexing, Data joins, Time animation. Ride with GPS covers Route builder, Global heatmap, Turn-by-turn navigation, Offline maps.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Foursquare Spatial Studio: Can I still buy Unfolded?

No. Foursquare acquired Unfolded in 2021 and sells the product as Foursquare Spatial Studio. There is no Unfolded contract.

Ride with GPS: Is Ride with GPS free?

A free Starter tier exists with route creation and the heatmap, but turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps require the Basic or Premium paid tier.

Foursquare Spatial Studio: Is kepler.gl the same thing?

No. kepler.gl is the free open source visualisation library from the same original team. Spatial Studio is the hosted commercial platform built around it.

Ride with GPS: What is the difference between Basic and Premium?

Premium includes everything in Basic plus extra map layers such as wind, air quality and cell coverage.

Foursquare Spatial Studio: What does it cost?

Foursquare does not publish pricing. Ask for the software and the data licences to be quoted separately.

Ride with GPS: Is it mountain-bike specific?

No, it is general road, gravel and touring focused; Trailforks is the mountain-bike trail specific option.

Foursquare Spatial Studio: Do I need Foursquare's data to use it?

No, you can load your own, but the commercial proposition is strongest for customers who also want the places and movement datasets.

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