Manual GPX generator
Draw the line you already know.
Click the map to trace any road, trail, waterway, or route. Map to GPS does not snap the line to a routing engine, and your coordinates never leave the browser.
How do you make a GPX file from a map?
Search for a place, then click or tap the map in the order you want to travel. Each point becomes part of one continuous track. Drag a point when the line misses a bend; use Undo for the last point; enable hillshade when terrain matters. The distance and elevation profile update while you work.
The line follows the points you place instead of calculating roads or turns. You can therefore trace informal trails, waterways, field boundaries, or a route from a paper map. Check access, current conditions, and whether the route is safe before following it.
01
Plot
Click to add points. Drag a point to correct the line.
02
Check
See distance and elevation while the route is still on the map.
03
Download
Save one GPX 1.1 track for a GPS device or phone app.
What does the downloaded GPX contain?
The download is a GPX 1.1 XML file with one track and one track segment. Every point includes latitude and longitude; elevation is included when terrain sampling is available. It does not contain turn-by-turn instructions, timestamps, waypoints, or GPX route elements. GPX-compatible mapping tools and GPS devices can open the file as a track.
“trk represents a track - an ordered list of points describing a path.”
— Topografix, GPX 1.1 Schema Documentation
The official schema distinguishes a route—a list of turn points—from a track, which describes a path. The downloaded line is stored as a track. For element-level details, read the GPX guide.
Will the track work with Garmin and phone apps?
GPX is an exchange format, so compatibility depends on how the receiving app treats tracks. Garmin Connect accepts GPX files for manual upload, and Garmin also documents GPX as a supported format when importing a third-party course. A phone app that imports GPX tracks can read the same file, but names, elevation, and course behavior may be interpreted differently by each product.
“Supports .fit (up to 50MB), .gpx, or .tcx (up to 25MB).”
— Garmin Customer Support, manual upload requirements
If your goal is a Garmin course rather than an activity upload, follow our Garmin GPX instructions and check the instructions for your exact device. Keep a copy of the original file before converting it elsewhere.
Does Map to GPS upload your route?
No. Plotting, editing, GPX parsing, and GPX generation happen in your browser. The draft is stored locally on that device. Map tiles, terrain tiles, and place-search results still require network requests, but the GPX file and its coordinates are not sent to a Map to GPS server.
A share link is different: it encodes the line in the URL so another person with the link can open it. Treat that link as route data and only send it to people you trust. See the privacy policy for details about local route data, analytics, and third-party map services.
Where do the map data and GPX definitions come from?
The basemap is rendered through OpenFreeMap using OpenStreetMap data. OpenStreetMap describes its database as open data under the ODbL and requires attribution; the interactive map carries that attribution. Terrain shading and elevation estimates come from Terrarium-format public terrain tiles and should be treated as estimates, not survey measurements.
- Topografix GPX 1.1 schema — the official element and attribute definitions used by the export.
- Garmin course import guidance — official steps for bringing third-party GPX files into Garmin Connect.
- OpenStreetMap copyright and license — data license and attribution requirements for the basemap.