How to import a GPX file into Bikemap
Bikemap reads a GPX file the moment you hand it one, but before it treats that file as a finished route, it asks a question most mapping platforms do not bother with: should this track be corrected against the road and path network Bikemap already knows about, or kept exactly as it was recorded? For a road ride that already followed streets fairly closely, correcting it barely changes anything. For a hike that leaves the road entirely, the same setting can redraw the walk onto the nearest street Bikemap has on file — which is not where anyone actually was.
The short answer
On the Bikemap website, click "New route" in the top bar and choose "Upload GPX/KML file"; in the Bikemap app, choose "Import a route" and then "Upload files". Either way, pick the GPX file from wherever it was saved. Bikemap opens its route editor and asks whether to match the track to roads and paths or keep the original route, with a smoothing pass offered underneath "keep the original" as a middle option. For a hike or a walk that leaves the road network, keep the original — matching to roads is built for a cyclist's track that is already following streets Bikemap recognizes, and it will do exactly that to a trail too, whether or not a road was anywhere nearby.
Why Bikemap asks this at all
Bikemap's whole reason for existing is route planning for cycling on real streets and paths, and it maintains its own network of roads and cycling infrastructure to plan against. Most of what gets uploaded to it is a ride that already followed that network reasonably closely, so matching an imported track to it is not a strange extra step tacked onto the upload — it is the same engine behind Bikemap's route planner, run against a line you brought in rather than one drawn from scratch, snapping ordinary GPS wobble back onto the nearest known road. That is genuinely useful for a ride recorded with an imprecise trace. What it cannot do, working from the file alone, is tell the difference between a track that wandered off a road by mistake and one that was never near a road to begin with.
What "keep the original" actually preserves
Choosing to keep the original route uses the track exactly as it was recorded — the same sequence of points a phone logged along the trail, left where they were. Bikemap still offers an optional smoothing pass at this stage, which softens small zigzags in the line without moving it onto a road; worth trying if the recorded track already looks a little jagged, worth skipping if it looked clean already. Either way, "keep the original" is the option that treats an off-road walk as exactly what it is, rather than as a cycling route that picked up some noise.
What actually comes across in the upload
- The track itself — the sequence of recorded points that draws the line on the map — is what a GPX or KML import brings across, on Bikemap or anywhere else.
- A waypoint or point of interest saved inside the file does not come along. Bikemap's import reads the track and leaves markers behind.
- A photo, a video clip or a voice note pinned to a spot along a hike was never inside the GPX file to begin with, so there is nothing for any import, on any platform, to bring across — that part of a hike only ever lived in whatever app recorded it.
Where TrailCam fits in
TrailCam records a route on an iPhone with GPS the whole time you are out, and works out distance, duration, pace and elevation gain from the points it logs along the way. Exporting that route as a GPX 1.1 file — a single hike or the whole history at once — is what gets it in front of a platform like Bikemap in the first place. Export is part of the optional TrailCam Pro upgrade; the app itself is free to download.
Questions
- Does Bikemap support KML files as well as GPX?
- Yes. Both import and export on Bikemap accept GPX and KML, so a track saved in either format can be brought in the same way.
- What happens if I choose "match to roads" for a hiking trail by mistake?
- The editor reshapes the track onto Bikemap's known roads and paths right away, before anything is saved. If the result clearly does not follow the trail you actually walked, importing the same file again and choosing "keep the original" instead starts over from the exact track you uploaded.
- Can I get a route back out of Bikemap afterwards as a GPX file?
- Bikemap can export a route as GPX or KML, but downloading a file back out is a Bikemap Premium feature, separate from uploading one in.
Recording your own routes
TrailCam is an iPhone app that records your route with GPS, keeps video clips, photos and voice notes pinned to the spot where you took them, and exports the result as GPX 1.1 or CSV. It is free to download.