How to Open a GPX File in Google Maps (iPhone, Android, PC)

The Google Maps app can't open a GPX file. To see one in Google Maps, import it into Google My Maps in a browser on a computer (Add layer > Import), then open the Google Maps app with the same Google account and tap You > Maps. The route and pins show up there, but Google Maps won't guide you along the track, and the map needs a connection. To follow a GPX route on your phone, especially offline, an app that opens GPX directly, such as Organic Maps or OsmAnd, does the job better.

This guide covers each route, checked against Google's and the apps' own help pages on November 2, 2026, and when each one makes sense for a trip.

What's inside a GPX file

GPX, short for GPS Exchange Format, is in its maintainer's words "a light-weight XML data format" for "GPS data (waypoints, routes, and tracks)," according to Topografix's GPX page. A file can hold any mix of the three, and the mix decides what you'll see once it's imported. Google Earth's help on importing GPS data defines them this way:

A hiking trail someone recorded is mostly a track. A trip plan exported from a planner is usually waypoints, sometimes with a route per day. Knowing which you have tells you what to expect: pins you can navigate to, or a line you want to follow.

How to import a GPX file into Google My Maps

Google's help page on importing map features lists GPX among the supported files, alongside CSV, TSV, KML, KMZ, XLSX and Google Sheets. KML and KMZ files can be up to 5 MB unzipped; other files, GPX included, up to 40 MB. The steps are for a computer:

1. Sign in to My Maps with the Google account you use in the Google Maps app on your phone. The same account is what makes the map appear there.
2. Create a new map and give it a name you'll recognize in a list, such as "Dolomites hikes" or "Lisbon, May."
3. In the map legend, click Add layer and name the layer. A new map already has one empty layer you can use for the first file.
4. Under the layer, click Import, upload the GPX file and click Select.
5. Check the map. The file's lines and points should appear on the map. Open a couple of pins to see that the names came through.

A map can hold up to 10 layers, so you can import several GPX files into one map, one per layer, and switch each on or off. If the import won't start, Google's troubleshooting list suggests checking the file format and allowing mymaps.google.com to open your Drive in Chrome's site settings.

How to see the GPX file in the Google Maps app

My Maps has no phone app, but its maps show up in Google Maps. Google's page on viewing My Maps in Google Maps gives the same path on iPhone and Android:

1. Open the Google Maps app, signed in with the account you used in My Maps.
2. Tap You > Maps. In some versions the tab is labeled Saved.
3. Tap the map you made. Its lines and pins appear on top of the regular map.

To take it off the screen again, tap a pin or line from the map, tap the My Maps icon at the bottom, tap View Map Legend and tap Close.

Know the limits before you rely on it:

• No navigation along the track. Google documents navigating to places on a custom map, not along a line. Pick a point and Google Maps plans its own route there, which may not follow your trail or scenic road.
• No offline access. Google's Drive help for My Maps says your maps "are available only in Google Drive on the web" and "you can't get to them offline." A downloaded offline area in Google Maps doesn't bring the custom map with it; our guide to using Google Maps offline on a trip covers what a downloaded area does include.
• No editing on the phone. Changes happen in My Maps in a browser.

For a road trip with stops you'll drive between, that's often enough: you see the planned line, tap the next stop and navigate. For a hike in the mountains, it isn't.

Can you import a GPX file on your phone?

Not into Google Maps. Google's Drive help for My Maps says "You can't create My Maps on mobile devices," and every import step Google documents starts on a computer.

If you only have a phone, open the file in an app that reads GPX itself. The table further down covers the options.

Open a GPX file in Google Earth

Google Earth splits in two here:

• Google Earth Pro on a computer opens GPX files. Google's help says to drag the file into Google Earth, then choose how to display it, for example as KML tracks with time data or as plain lines. Drag the result into My Places to keep it.
• Google Earth on the web and on phones doesn't import GPX. Google's developer page on importing data into Google Earth says it "primarily supports KML, KMZ, GeoJSON, and Shapefile (.zip) for direct import," and that other formats, such as GPX, should be converted to KML or CSV first.

Google Earth is good for looking at a route in 3D before a hike or a drive. It isn't a navigation app.

How to convert a GPX file to KML

You can do this with Google's own tools:

1. Import the GPX file into a My Maps layer, as above.
2. In the left panel, click Menu > Export to KML/KMZ, the option Google's help on downloading map info describes.
3. Follow the on-screen steps to download the file.

That KML then opens in Google Earth on the web and on phones, imports into other planning tools, and opens in most offline map apps. If you're working with KML files from here on, our guide to importing a KML file into Google My Maps covers layers per day and the import problems people run into.

Apps that open GPX files directly on a phone

If you want the file on your phone and working without signal, skip Google Maps. These are the options, with what each one's own documentation says:

Organic Maps' import guide gives the steps. On Android, tap the file and choose Open with Organic Maps. On iPhone, find the file and use the share option Import with Organic Maps. Imported pins and lines appear on the map and on the Bookmarks and Tracks screen. The app's site says it supports "100% of features without an active Internet connection," including turn-by-turn walking, cycling and car navigation, once you've downloaded the country or region.

OsmAnd's documentation says to tap a GPX, KML or KMZ file from a chat, email, Google Drive or a file manager and choose Open in OsmAnd. The track lands in an Import folder under My Places, and if the file has waypoints, you can review them before the import finishes.

If you plan on an iPhone and want to stay in Apple's apps, our guide to planning a trip in Apple Maps covers Guides and offline maps, though you'll be re-adding places by hand.

Which option should you use?

• You want to see a route on a map before a trip: My Maps on a computer, then view it in Google Maps. Quick, and it keeps the route next to your saved places. Our guide to mapping a trip itinerary in Google Maps covers using lists and My Maps together.
• You're driving between stops with signal: My Maps plus Google Maps works. Tap each stop on the custom map and navigate to it.
• You're hiking, cycling or traveling without data: use Organic Maps or OsmAnd and download the region at home. Google Maps can't follow a track, and My Maps won't load offline.
• You want to study terrain: Google Earth Pro opens the file directly; the web version needs a KML.

For a road trip, our guide to planning a road trip itinerary covers how to split the drive into days. For a park trip, planning a national park trip covers trail maps and the areas where you'll lose signal.

Where Vidtrip fits

Vidtrip, the tool we make, turns one YouTube travel video into a day-by-day plan. The plan's map has a Download map menu with a GPX file for offline map apps: a waypoint for every stop, named by day and order, plus a route per day. It exports the stops currently shown, so pick a day first to get just that day. For Google Maps, the KML file in the same menu is the better choice, since it imports into My Maps with one layer per day.

The example plans are free to open and have the same menu, so you can test a GPX import with the Lisbon example. For your own video, paste the link, answer four questions and pay $4.99 once; the plan is built in about a minute, and if the video can't be planned from, the payment is refunded automatically.