Convert KML to GPX

KML to GPX: why convert

Google Earth and Google My Maps are handy for planning: you draw a path along a trail, mark a few places and save the result as KML. GPS devices and outdoor apps, such as Garmin handhelds and watches, OsmAnd or Gaia GPS, want GPX instead. This converter writes a GPX 1.1 file in which placemarks become waypoints and paths become tracks, so a device can show the line and guide you along it. Names and descriptions are carried over, real heights become elevation, and all folders end up in one file that most GPS software can import. The conversion runs in your browser with GDAL, the library QGIS uses, so your planned trip is not uploaded anywhere.

How to convert KML to GPX

1. Drop your .kml file in the box, or click to choose it. For a .kmz, extract the KML first.
2. Check the placemarks and paths on the map.
3. Click Convert to GPX and copy the file to your device or import it into your app.

What changes when you convert

Paths become tracks, not routes

GPX has two kinds of lines. A track is a path to be followed as drawn; a route is a short list of points to navigate between, and many devices recalculate the way between them along roads. Lines from Google Earth are usually drawn along a trail, so they are written as tracks, which every device and app shows exactly as you drew them. Placemarks with a point become waypoints.

Polygons become their outline

GPX has no areas. A polygon, such as a park or a search area, is written as a track that runs along its outline, with one segment for each ring, and the message after converting says how many. On the device it looks like a closed line.

Only names and descriptions come along

The placemark name becomes the waypoint or track name and the description becomes the GPX desc. Styles, icons, colors and the folder structure cannot be stored in GPX; all folders are combined into one file with the waypoints first and the tracks after them. Values in ExtendedData are not read. Descriptions written in My Maps or Google Earth can contain HTML, which a GPS shows as plain text with the tags in it.

Heights of 0 are left out

Google Earth saves the altitude 0 for every point that is clamped to the ground. Passed on as elevation, it would make a mountain walk look flat at sea level in a GPS app. When every height in a folder is 0, the GPX gets no elevation, and apps fall back on their own elevation data. Paths drawn with real heights, for example in absolute altitude mode, keep them.

No times

A planned path has no time stamps, so the GPX has none either. That is fine for navigation and for importing a planned route, but sites such as Strava expect a time for each point before they accept a file as a recorded activity.