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Opening GPX, KML, KMZ and FIT files
Every way to bring a track into the app, the formats it reads, and what to do when a file won't open.
From an email, a message or your files
Tap the attachment or the file and choose GPX Atlas in the list of apps. The file is copied into the app and added to your library: the original stays where it was. Choose Always if you want your phone to open these files with GPX Atlas from now on.
You can also send a file to GPX Atlas from the Share button of another app, or open several files at once: up to five are shown side by side on the map; beyond that, they go straight into your library, and a single message sums up what was added, what was already there and what could not be read.
From the app
- Open a file, in the library or in the menu, opens your phone's file picker. GPX Atlas never asks for access to all your files: it reads only the one you choose.
- Open a URL, in the menu: paste the address of a GPX, KML, KMZ or FIT file published on a website (a race course, a club outing) and the app downloads it.
Supported formats
- GPX 1.0 and 1.1, with the Garmin extensions for heart rate, cadence, power and temperature; tracks, routes and waypoints with their symbols. GPZ (compressed GPX) too.
- KML and KMZ from Google Earth and Google My Maps, with their folders and icons.
- FIT from Garmin, Wahoo, Coros and other watches and bike computers: the track with its sensors, laps as segments, course points as waypoints.
- TCX, GeoJSON and LOC (geocaching).
- Zip files full of tracks: each track inside becomes its own entry in the library.
A file can weigh up to 50 MB and hold up to 500,000 points. A file with several tracks keeps them apart: the sheet lets you pick Track 1 of 3, and its numbers and profile follow.
When a file won't open
- GPX Atlas isn't in the list of apps
- Some email and messaging apps only offer the apps they know for a type. Save the attachment to your phone, then use Open a file in GPX Atlas. If the file came from a website, copy its address and use Open a URL.
- The file has a strange name or extension
- Messaging apps sometimes rename files or strip the extension (
.bin,.dat). GPX Atlas reads the content, not the name, so a GPX, KML or FIT file under the wrong name usually opens anyway. - "This file contains no track, route or waypoint"
- The file opened, but it holds no position at all: an indoor ride or a treadmill run recorded by a watch, or a file that only carries notes. A file with waypoints and no track still shows its waypoints.
- The file is too large
- Beyond 50 MB or 500,000 points, split the file on a computer (GPSBabel, for example) or export a shorter period from the app that made it.
- "The file was cut short"
- The file was interrupted while it was being written — a watch whose battery died, a download that stopped. GPX Atlas opens it as far as it goes and tells you how many points it could read.
- Still nothing?
- Send the file to contact@ludiccraft.com. We use it only to fix the problem.
