Contributing
How to send us a GPX file
A GPX is the recording itself — every point with a timestamp on it. It is what the checks run on, and it is the one thing a share link is not. This page is how to get it out of a watch, a phone, a bike computer, a quad's head unit or a boat's plotter.
The step that stops nearly everyone
Your phone's app being signed in does not sign in your browser. They are separate. And if you open your own activity from a share link, the site shows it to you the way it shows it to a stranger — with no export button anywhere, because it does not think you are you. If you have gone looking for a menu that was not there, this is why. Nothing you did was wrong.
Strava
On a computer or iPad — much the easier way
- Go to strava.com and log in there.
- Click your photo, top right → My Activities.
- Open the activity.
- Three dots "…" below the title, on the right → Export GPX.
- It saves to Downloads. Attach that file to an email.
On an iPhone only
- Open Safari — not the Strava app — go to strava.com and tap Log In. Everything below depends on this.
- Tap aA beside the web address → Request Desktop Website.
- Tap your photo → My Activities → open the activity.
- "…" → Export GPX → Save to Files. Downloads is fine.
- In your mail app, tap the paperclip and pick the file from Files. If your mail app only offers you photos, don't fight it — see the last section.
Garmin
- Garmin Connect on the website, signed in.
- Open the activity.
- The gear icon → Export to GPX.
Apple Watch
The Fitness app has no GPX export, and neither does the watch. If the workout also went to Strava or Garmin, use those steps above. If it only lives in Apple Fitness, a workout app that records to GPX is the way — and if you are not sure, send us a note and we will work it out with you rather than have you guess.
Bike computers
A Garmin Edge goes the same way as any other Garmin: the ride syncs to Garmin Connect, and you export it from the website with the steps above. Wahoo and Karoo rides almost always land in Strava, so use the Strava steps. Ride with GPS and a Trailforks ridelog both export the recording directly.
Quads, side-by-sides and snowmobiles
Polaris Ride Command: open the ride, then Download — it comes out as a GPX file. onX Offroad and Garmin Tread both export tracks as GPX too. If the machine has no head unit, any phone recorder works: machine pace verifies the same way walking pace does.
Boats
Export the track, or trail history — not waypoints and not routes. Those are somebody's plan rather than a record of a trip, and they carry no times, so nothing in them can be checked.
- Garmin (GPSMAP, echoMAP): Info → User Data → Data Transfer → File Type → GPX, then Save to Card.
- Raymarine Axiom: Homescreen → My data → Import/export, and save tracks as .gpx.
- Simrad and B&G: Home → Settings → Files, set the export type to GPX, then Export user objects onto a stick.
- Lowrance: newer units offer GPX; otherwise it writes its own .usr. Send whichever the menu gives you.
- Humminbird: Home → Nav Data → Export All Tracks to the card. It writes .hwr; send that.
- On a phone: Navionics Boating, Aqua Map and iNavX all export GPX directly.
A .usr or a .hwr is not a problem — converting it is our end of the job, not yours. A boat leg is checked by its two ends rather than by covering a line, because this site measures no water: what happens to a boat track →
The one trap, whatever recorded it
A planned route is not a recording. Apps and plotters store both, they are named almost the same, and only one of them has times in it. komoot is the common case — it keeps the route you planned and the tour you rode as two separate files — and a chartplotter's "routes" menu is the same trap in a different place. If you are not sure which you have exported, send it anyway and say so; we can tell in a second and it costs you nothing.
When it fights you
Send it however is easiest. A file that arrives awkwardly is worth more than a file that never arrives — we would rather sort out the format at our end than have you spend an evening on it. And nobody here will ever ask you for a password to any of these accounts; every step above happens on your own device.
What to send with it
- The original file — not a screenshot, not a re-drawn route, not a link.
- Which route or trail it was, and roughly when.
- The name you want credited, or "no name".
What happens next: we check the recording's own physics — a timestamp on every point, plausible speeds, real GNSS wobble, and that it covers a measured line. The file itself is never published. Only which line, the date, and your credit go on the boards, and speeds are never shown anywhere.