GPX ViewOpen a GPX file in Google Earth
Google Earth does not take GPX everywhere: the version installed on a computer imports it directly, the one running in a browser reads only KML and KMZ. In the second case a conversion is enough — and it is worth knowing what it carries across.
Two versions, two behaviours
The desktop version imports a GPX from its open-file menu, and offers along the way to turn the waypoints into places. The web version opens only projects and KML or KMZ files. That is the whole difference, and it explains half the searches on the subject: the file is not at fault, the door is simply not the same one.
Convert to KML, then import
KML is Google Earth's native format. Converting a GPX to KML needs neither an account nor an install: the tool on this site reads the file in your browser and hands back a KML to import. In the web version it opens from the projects panel; in the desktop version, dragging and dropping is enough.
What the conversion keeps
The line, the elevations, the segment breaks, the track name, and the waypoints with their descriptions. In other words everything that makes the shape of the course and its landmarks: what you see on the globe will be the track you put there, to the metre.
What it leaves behind, and why
The timestamps. A KML line describes a shape, not a journey through time: there is no room for the moment each point was passed. A Google-specific extension could carry them, but many KML readers ignore it — we would rather produce a shape everyone reads than a time few will use. In the other direction, a KML converted to GPX loses its styles: colours, icons and layers, which GPX cannot describe.
KMZ, the export offered by default
A KMZ is a compressed KML, and it is what Google Earth offers first when you export. The tool on this site does not unpack it yet: it says so on screen rather than failing for no stated reason. In the meantime a KMZ opens like any ordinary archive, and the KML inside can then be dropped in as usual.
Step by step
- Work out which version you have
- A globe in a browser tab, with a projects panel: that is the web version, and it wants KML. Software installed on the machine: the GPX goes straight in, and the rest of this does not concern you.
- Convert the file
- Drop the GPX into the converter on this site: the direction is deduced from the file, and a GPX comes back out as KML. The conversion happens in the tab, nothing is uploaded, and the result downloads immediately.
- Import into Google Earth
- In the web version: open a project, then import a file from the computer. In the desktop version: drag and drop, or the open menu. The track appears on the globe and in the side panel, under the name it carried.
- Look at what arrived
- The line and the waypoints should be there; the times of passage will not be. If the line looks cut into several pieces, that is normal: the breaks in the original file were kept, because welding them would have added straight lines nobody walked.
- Go back to GPX if you need to
- The same tool makes the return trip: a KML dropped in comes back out as GPX, for a GPS or a hiking app. The styles particular to KML do not survive the journey back; the line and the waypoints do.
Convert your file
The converter on this site deduces the direction from the file you drop in: a GPX or a TCX comes out as KML for Google Earth, a KML comes out as GPX for a GPS. It all happens in your browser, with no account and no upload, and the page states on screen what the conversion cannot carry.
Frequently asked questions
- Can Google Earth open a GPX without converting it?
- The version installed on a computer, yes, from its open-file menu. The one running in a browser, no: it accepts KML and KMZ only.
- Why has my track no times once imported?
- Because standard KML does not carry the timestamps a GPX holds. That is a limit of the destination format, not a loss caused by your original file, which still contains them.
- Is an account needed to import a file?
- The web version saves projects in online storage, so yes if you want to keep them. The conversion itself needs none: it happens on your machine.
- What about the KMZ Google Earth exports?
- The converter on this site does not read it yet. Unpack it like any ordinary archive: the KML inside can then be dropped in without trouble.