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Import trips from a Garmin GPS device to Google Maps

By Cristi - posted on August 31st, 2010

One of the nice feature about Google Maps is the ability of sharing trips with friends or just storing them privately for later reference. Unfortunately the only advertised formats for importing trips are KML, KMZ and GeoRSS - none of which being widely supported by dedicated GPS units.

There are two ways to import GPX files - one that uses a hidden feature of Google Maps and a more elegant approach which converts the GPX files to KML.

Approach 1: Google Maps hidden GPX import

Google Maps does support GPX files, but for some reason they don't advertise it:

  1. Copy the GPX file from the Garmin device to your computer. On my Garmin eTrex Vista HCx, this can be done by mounting the device as USB drive or just by removing the microSD card.
  2. Go to Google Maps and make sure you’re logged into your Google Account.
  3. Create a new map: My Maps -> Create a new map. Enter a title and select the desired privacy setting.
  4. Click on “Import”. You should get a dialog asking you to select a KML, KMZ or GeoRSS file. Even though it’s not listed among the supported formats, you can still select and upload a GPX file.

Approach 2: Convert the GPX files to KML

The preferred, long term approach would be to convert the GPX files to a supported format, such as KML. This can be done using a handy open source tool, GPSBabel - http://www.gpsbabel.org.

  1. Install GPSBabel from the above link.
  2. There are two ways to use GPSBabel - from its graphical user interface or from the command line. Unfortunately due to a bug in the GUI, we will need to use the command line version, in order to tweak its configuration settings. To make this process as painless as possible, you should add GPSBabel to your system path (e.g. the PATH variable on Windows and Linux, probably something similar on Mac).
  3. Open a command window / terminal in the folder where your GPX files are and run the following command:
    > gpsbabel -w -r -t -i gpx -f input.gpx -o kml,points=0 -F output.kml
  4. Go to Google Maps -> My Maps -> Create new map -> Import -> Upload your KML file

GPSBabel offers a multitude of options for converting GPS tracks - for more details, please consult its documentation.