Every run, walk or bike ride you record in the app colours the squares you touch in your colour. That’s your territory. It’s on the map under Profile, and on Home as a tile.
Conquering. A square that belongs to nobody becomes yours as soon as you pass through it. If you’re the first ever, that’s new territory and it earns more points. You take over someone else’s square by passing through it yourself.
Holding and losing. A square stays yours for thirty days. If you don’t come back during that time, it expires and belongs to nobody again. The map uses a dotted line to show which part will expire soon, and you get a reminder three days beforehand. If you pass through it again, the thirty days start over.
Who sees it. Under Profile → Location and route sharing you choose who can see your territory: everyone, only your gym, or only you. The default is your gym. With a privacy zone around your home, the squares there stay invisible to others.
Points. New territory, conquered, defended and taken squares each count differently. Per run, the first squares count towards points; the map keeps colouring in regardless. Territory you hold also earns a little every day, and squares that are surrounded on all sides by your own count double.
Season. The count starts again every month. At the start of a new month you see how you finished the previous one. Your territory itself stays as it is.
See also Points, levels and how to earn them and The community and the leaderboard.