GPS Visualizer

GPS Visualizer: Do-It-Yourself Mapping

GPS Visualizer is a free, easy-to-use online utility that creates maps and profiles from GPS data (tracks and waypoints, including GPX files), driving routes, street addresses, or simple coordinates. Use it to see where you've been, plan where you're going, or visualize geographic data (business locations, scientific observations, events, customers, real estate, geotagged photos, "GPS drawing," etc.).

To set more options, use the detailed input pages:

Google Maps

Google Earth KML

JPEG/PNG/SVG maps

Plot data points

Profiles (elevation, etc.)

Convert to GPX

Convert to plain text

Geocoding

Freehand drawing tool

Help keep GPS Visualizer free

GPS Visualizer is a free service and hopefully always will be; however, if you find it interesting, time-saving, or just plain fun, you can say "thanks" -- and encourage further development -- by clicking the button above and making a contribution via credit card or PayPal. Or, you could send an Amazon wish list item.

GPS Visualizer can read data files from many different sources, including but not limited to: GPX (a standard format used with many devices and programs, including Garmin's eTrex, GPSMAP, Oregon, Dakota, Colorado, & Nüvi series), Google Earth (.kml/.kmz), Google Maps routes (URLs), Geocaching.com (.loc), FAI/IGC glider logs, MS Excel, Google Spreadsheets, XML feeds, Garmin Forerunner (.xml/.hst/.tcx), Timex Trainer, OziExplorer, Cetus GPS, PathAway, cotoGPS, CompeGPS, TomTom (.pgl), IGN Rando (.rdn), Emtac Trine, Suunto X9/X9i (.sdf), Fugawi, NetStumbler, and of course tab-delimited or comma-separated text.

GPS Visualizer is based in Portland, Oregon, and has been on the Web since October 2002.

NEWS & UPDATES

UTM output	[08/30/10] The conversion utility now has an option to convert latitude & longitude to UTM coordinates when generating plain-text output. Look for the new menu near the bottom of the "advanced options" section. (Fields called `utm_easting`, `utm_northing`, and `utm_zone` can also be used in the "synthesize names" or "synthesize descriptions" features.)

Range rings around waypoints	[08/24/10] If you supply a "circle_radius" or "range_ring" field in a manually-created (plain-text) waypoint file, you can simultaneously draw circles around multiple points. In fact, if you separate a list of distances with commas (e.g., "10mi,20mi,30mi"), you can even draw multiple rings around multiple points. (Triangulation and range ring examples)

Extended data in KML files	[08/14/10] Placemarks in Google Earth KML files can contain an <ExtendedData> tag, with extra information that can be displayed in Google Earth markers. GPS Visualizer will now read that extended data, which means it can then be used in "synthesized" names, descriptions, or labels. (See the map form's help file for more info on synthesizing fields with GPS Visualizer.)

Label colors	[08/11/10] You can now use a "label_color" parameter in your input data, if you want some markers' "name" (in Google Earth) or "label" (in Google Maps) to have a different color than the default. Read more about manually creating input files in the waypoints tutorial.

Cleaning up Garmin's mistakes	[08/04/10] It seems that Garmin's technical support department has been referring people to GPS Visualizer to help get their corrupt GPX files cleaned up! This week, two more patches have been added to GPSV's code specifically to deal with more of Garmin's bugs.

Sport Tracker .gst files	[07/30/10] GPS Visualizer can now read raw .gst files from the "GPS Sport Tracker" application for Windows Mobile.

New legend and track options	[07/27/10] There are two new options in GPS Visualizer's map input form: first, you can enable "color blocks" in the colorization legend, to make it easier to see which colors correspond to which values. Second, you can make it so tracks are not "clickable" in Google Maps; this may allow very complex maps to load a bit faster. Both new items are in the "advanced" track options.

Garmin Edge raw .dat files	[07/25/10] Support has been added for the raw .dat files that are found in a Garmin Edge's file system when it's connected to your computer (e.g., "/Garmin/History/Laps/1/Lap1.dat"). Turns out they're a lot like .tcx files, but with a bit less information in them.

MapMyIndia .bin files	[07/19/10] GPS Visualizer can now read binary tracklogs produced by "MapMyIndia" GPS devices.

Facebook	[07/12/10] There is now a GPS Visualizer page on Facebook. In the future, updates that are posted down here will also go on the Facebook page. To get GPSV updates on your Facebook feed, be sure to click the "Like" button.

GPSed files	[07/09/10] GPS Visualizer now supports binary .gpsed files from the "GPSed" BlackBerry app.

Wintec WBT-202 .TES files	[06/07/10] GPS Visualizer now supports binary tracklogs (with a .tes suffix) from the Wintec WBT-202 Bluetooth Data Logger.

About GPSV	[05/15/10] There is finally a page where you can learn a little bit about GPS Visualizer.

Canmore .logg files	[05/06/10] A bit of code has been added that allows GPS Visualizer to read decompressed .logg files produced by Canmore GPS loggers -- for example, the Canmore GT-730F(L).

Jeppesen FliteStar .fpl files	[04/26/10] GPS Visualizer can now read XML files exported from Jeppesen FliteStar flight-planning software. These files normally have a .xml or .fpl extension. Note that FliteStar's route packs (binary .rpk files) are not supported.

"Link to this view" in the sandbox	[04/15/10] The Freehand Drawing Tool ("The Sandbox") now has a link in the lower-right corner that you can click on to get a URL that will take you back to the same view later. This could be helpful if you want to show a specific location to a friend, using the background map of your choice.

Label alignment in Google Maps	[03/29/10] A minor but potentially useful new feature for power users: in addition to label_offset, you can now specify label_left or label_centered to adjust the position of permanent labels on markers in Google Maps. See the waypoint tutorial for more on customizing and fine-tuning Google Maps.

Chrysler MyGig .wpt log files	[03/15/10] GPS Visualizer can now detect and read ".wpt" files from the MyGig navigation system in Chrysler/Dodge vehicles. (Despite the waypoint-like filename suffix, these are actually time-stamped tracklogs.)

New Magellan binary formats	[03/14/10] Support has been added for a couple of new file formats that come from the SD cards in Magellan GPS devices: ".bin" files from Magellan Roadmate GPS (which are really just standard NMEA data wrapped up in some binary junk); and ".pvt" files from Magellan Maestro GPS units. For the .pvt files, only latitude and longitude are supported so far; more sample data is needed before the other fields can be confidently decoded.

Newer, bigger Garmin icons	[02/21/10] When you create a Google Map from files created by Garmin's software (Garmin Mapsource, Garmin Road Trip, etc.), GPS Visualizer uses Garmin's actual icons whenever possible. Until now, I've been using the icons as displayed on the GPSMAP series of devices, but now you have to option to either use the small 16x16 icons from GPSMAP (), or the newer, larger 24x24 icons that come with the newer versions of Garmin's applications (). Look in the "advanced" section of the waypoint section of the Google Maps form to enable the larger icons if you want them.

Easier-to-edit Google Maps	[02/15/10] I've made some behind-the-scenes changes to the way GPS Visualizer builds Google Maps. The appearance of the maps themselves hasn't changed, but the JavaScript commands that build the various configurable options are formatted differently. In the new format, they take up a little more room but should be a little easier to follow, and there are more helpful comments at the end of each line, in case you want to edit the HTML yourself.

Cross/plus waypoint icons	[01/12/10] Google Maps created by GPS Visualizer now have a new set of icons available for waypoint markers: crosses (or plus signs, or crosshairs, or whatever you want to call them; they look like this: ). They're available in any color and opacity.

Dates included in profile labels	[01/05/10] A minor update to the profile utility: if you use "time" as one of the axes and your data spans more than 36 hours, the date will be included in the gridline labels.

UTM Coordinates	[12/16/09] I've finally implemented support for UTM coordinates in plain-text input. Just be sure to label the columns correctly; you need one for UTM Zone, one for Easting, and one for Northing. The ellipsoid will be assumed to be WGS-84. If you convert from plain-text to plain-text, the output file should contain both latitude/longitude and UTM coordinates, which may be helpful.

More input formats	[12/14/09] Support for several GPS data file formats has been added in the last couple of days, including: MapAsia MapKing track logs (.ppg or .tr7 files); MemoryMap (.mmo files); Nokia Sports Tracker XML export files; and a weird old Garmin text format whose header begins with "Garmin:Trk:L001".

Northstar waypoints	[12/10/09] GPS Visualizer can now read waypoint databases (possibly named "NSTAR_DB.DAT") from Northstar marine GPS systems; the files are a modified NMEA format where each line begins with "$PNTI". Routes in these files (which are basically lists of waypoints) should be supported as well.

Bearing/distance calculator	[12/09/09] The Calculators page now includes a form that will tell you the latitude and longitude of a point at a given distance and bearing from another point.

FlightAware track logs	[11/29/09] FlightAware is a Web site that tracks commercial airline flights and allows you to see a "track log" of any given flight. If you select the text in a table containing track log data on flightaware.com, you can paste it into GPS Visualizer's input forms to map it, see it in Google Earth, or convert it to GPX. Supplying the URL of a FlightAware tracklog page will work too.

Excel 2007-2008 (.xlsx) files	[11/24/09] You can now upload newer Microsoft Excel .xlsx files to GPS Visualizer. However, copying and pasting from your worksheet into the input forms is still quicker and easier in many cases!

Fugawi .trk files	[11/23/09] GPS Visualizer can now read binary track log files (.trk) from Fugawi navigation software. Time stamps may or may not work properly, depending on the version.

Server crash!	[11/19/09] GPS Visualizer's server suffered a fatal hardware malfunction on November 17. I had it running on a backup server for a couple of days, where a few things were unavailable (notably the elevation database). But I've been working non-stop to reconstruct everything on the original server, and most functions should work again. There's still quite a bit of cleanup left to do, though, so please let me know if you encounter any problems at all.

Garmin Nuvi track logs	[11/06/09] Many models in the Garmin Nüvi series of GPS devices have the ability -- via either an obvious menu or some button-pressing voodoo -- to store a raw GPS track log. These files, typically called "gps.bin" in the device's file system, can now be read by GPS Visualizer. (See GpsPasSion for a thorough discussion about these tracklogs and how to enable and access them on your Nüvi.)

Garmin GPS Custom Maps	[10/14/09] I've made some small behind-the-scenes changes to the way KML overlays are created, to allow them to be used as Garmin Custom Maps with Garmin's latest handheld GPS devices (Oregon, Colorado, and Dakota series); this will allow you to easily load topographic maps, among others, onto your Garmin device. There is also a new Garmin-optimized version of the network link/plug-in that creates overlays from within Google Earth.

Sonocaddie golf GPS files	[10/04/09] GPS Visualizer can now read .bin files from Sonocaddie devices, which record your track on a golf course. Note that the files must retain the default name of "RecordTrack.bin" or "RecordShotTrack.bin" for GPS Visualizer to recognize them as Sonocaddie files.

Axis titles on profiles	[09/24/09] A long-overdue option has been added to the profile input form: the names of the X and Y axes (e.g., "Distance" and "Elevation") can be printed below and to the left, respectively, of the graph. Drawing the axis labels is the new default behavior; if you want to turn them off, open the "advanced options" in the General Parameters section.

Star icons on Google Maps	[09/23/09] I've added a new star-shaped icon to the collection of built-in icons that can be used in Google Maps. The list of recognized symbols is now: `circle`, `square`, `triangle`, `diamond`, `star`, `cross`, `pin`, `airport`, `camera`, `googlemini`, `googleblank`, `google`, & `blankcircle`. Of course, as always, you can also supply the URL of a graphic on the Web, but keep in mind that only the built-in ones can be colorized or made semi-opaque.

OpenCycleMap global topos	[09/20/09] This has actually been in place for a couple of months now, but it should be formally announced: in Google Maps created by GPS Visualizer, you can now select map tiles from OpenCycleMap.org as the background. But this isn't just good news for bikers; OpenCycleMap is also the only free map source I know of -- besides Google's physical "terrain" layer -- that provides labeled topographic contours for the entire world. And the contour interval is smaller than in Google's terrain layer (10m vs. 20m), so the topography is shown in a little more detail and at higher zoom levels, albeit without Google's fancy 3-D shading.

TMQ C-Plot .usr/.mrk files	[09/19/09] GPS Visualizer can now read marine waypoint/marker files generated by TMQ's "C-Plot" software; these files have a suffix of .usr or .mrk. Support for C-Plot tracklogs should be coming soon.

Filters in dynamic data	[09/14/09] When you create a Google Map using dynamically-loaded data (e.g., from a Google Spreadsheet), you can apply filters that will only cause some of the data to be read from the source document. For example, you can only let in the first X or last X markers (e.g., `first:10` or `last:2`), or you can filter on any data field using text-matching patterns (e.g., `filter:{field:'name',pattern:'[A-M]'}`). This filtering needs to be applied by editing the map's HTML after it's been created, so contact me if you have questions on how to set it up.

Clickable tracks	[09/06/09] In Google Maps created by GPS Visualizer, you can now click on tracks and polygons to see their name and description (if they have one). Note that unlike some other improvements, this one is not retroactive; maps created before today will not have clickable polylines.

Custom icon defaults	[08/27/09] In the Google Maps and Google Earth input forms, you can now specify the URL of a graphic on the Web as your default marker icon. (Just keep in mind that in Google Maps, you can't apply a color to a custom icon.) Select "custom icon" from the bottom of the marker icon drop-down menu, and a box will appear where you can enter the URL of your image.

GPSMeter .gpm files	[08/12/09] GPS Visualizer can now read .gpm files from GPSMeter PDA, an application for measuring areas and lengths with a GPS-enabled PDA or mobile phone.

GPSLogger .gpl files	[07/26/09] GPS Visualizer can now directly read raw files from GPSLogger, a track-logging application for Blackberry devices. GPSLogger binary files have a suffix of ".gpl"; it's the same file extension as DeLorme tracklogs, but GPS Visualizer can detect the difference in the structure of the files.

WKT polygons	[07/23/09] I added support today for text files containing the "POLYGON" command from the WKT (Well-Known Text) markup language, which is apparently used to pass information around between various GIS systems. Note that only polygons are supported so far; more WKT support may be added if there is demand for it.

USGS NED elevation data	[07/01/09] There's a new choice in the "Add DEM elevation data" menus in GPS Visualizer conversion and profile utilities: The USGS's 24-gigabyte "National Elevation Dataset." It only covers the United States, but in many cases it seems to be more accurate than the SRTM data, and more importantly, there are no "holes" in the coverage. Read more about elevation data.

Open Street Maps	[06/16/09] When you draw a Google Map with GPS Visualizer, you can now choose road map tiles from OpenStreetMap.org as the background; supposedly, in some areas, they have more detail than Google's street data.

Multi-stop Google routes	[05/26/09] GPS Visualizer can now draw complete maps and elevation profiles from Google Maps URLs that reference multiple destinations. (Due to a bug in Google's KML output functions, previously only the first leg of the trip would be mapped.) Just plan your trip in Google Maps, then click the "Link" button to get a URL that you can paste into GPS Visualizer's input forms.

Geocoder updated	[04/02/09] GPS Visualizer's "Quick Geocoder" now uses JavaScript for faster results from Google and Yahoo, and displays results on a map so you can double-check the location of the address you entered.

New file types supported	[03/27/09] I've added support for a number of new file types. GPS Visualizer can now read files from Furuno NavNet 3D (_wpt.csv waypoint files, _trk.csv track files, and *_rte.csv route files); from Silva Multi-Navigator (.cwp waypoint files, .ctr track files, and .crt route files); and .nav files from some unknown GPS logger (they're usually called "gps_log.nav" or "gpsdata.nav"; if you know the source, please tell me).

Elevation data installed	[03/06/09] Thanks to a much bigger hard disk on the new server, GPS Visualizer is now hosting 70 gigabytes of worldwide digital elevation data from NASA, which can be plugged into your data upon request. Look for the "Add SRTM elevation data" menu in the profile, conversion, and Google Earth input forms, or read more on the Elevation Lookup Utility page.

New server!	[03/02/09] GPS Visualizer is now running on a new Linux server. It's not orders of magnitude better than the old setup, but it's definitely faster and has 4 times as much memory; hopefully those midday overloads will a bit be less frequent.

Tracklist zoom links	[02/01/09] It's a minor detail, but "track lists" in Google Maps now include a small icon by each track's name that allows you to zoom in on that track. (Clicking the track's name still toggles the track's visibility.)

Map-enabled geocoder	[01/30/09] The multiple-address geocoding utility now shows a progress map while it's finding your locations. It also has the ability to use Google again.

Locate-GPS CSV export	[12/26/08] I added a few lines of code to handle the bizarre .csv export files from locate-gps.com, the online service associated with tracking devices such as the Espace Mobilité "Locate Box" or the Flextrack "Lommy."

iGO 8 files	[12/18/08] Tracklogs (.trk files) from Nav-N-Go's "iGO" software for Windows Mobile devices are now able to be detected and read by GPS Visualizer's mapper and converter.

Geosetter track logs	[12/10/08] Geosetter tracklogs (.gst files) are now supported by GPS Visualizer.

Dynamic GPX example	[09/26/08] A side effect of GPS Visualizer's new-found ability to read data dynamically (e.g., from Google Spreadsheets) is the ability to read KML and GPX files on the fly; I've posted an example map that reads tracks and waypoints from one of my GPX files.

NoniGPSPlot track logs	[08/27/08] Track logs (.ngt files) from the PocketPC program NoniGPSPlot are now supported by GPS Visualizer.

MyTopo.Com topo maps of Canada	[07/29/08] GPS Visualizer Google maps can now access topographic data from MyTopo.com. This is especially good news for Canadians: the MyTopo layer has complete, high-quality NRCan topo maps for all of Canada. MyTopo's coverage also includes USGS maps for the U.S., and in many areas, the maps are higher-quality than the ones previously available through terraserver-usa.com. (By the way, MyTopo's business is selling waterproof or poster-size maps, optionally with your data overlaid on them.)

Google Docs spreadsheets	[07/01/08] You can now supply the URL of a "Google Docs" spreadsheet as input for a Google Map. When the spreadsheet is updated, the map will be updated! See an example here; to try it with your data, paste its location into the "URL that will be loaded into the map dynamically" box in the Google Maps input form. (And make sure your spreadsheet is "published," preferably using the "auto-publish" feature.) Note that if you want to use data from a Google Spreadsheet but DON'T want the map to be dynamically updated, you can supply its URL in the "static data" box.

Google Maps marker folders	[06/17/08] When you enable a "marker list" in a Google Map (look for "Generate list of waypoints" in the form), you can now group the markers into "folders" in the list by simply providing a "folder" field in your input data. An example map is here.

Synthesized "desc" fields	[06/06/08] A new input widget for "power users": Using the "synthesize descriptions" box under the map form's Advanced Waypoint Options, you can build a description field for points that don't have one! For example, if your data has columns labeled "x", "y", and "z", you could enter this into the description synthesis box: `coordinates = {latitude},{longitude}<br>x = {x}<br> y = {y}<br> z = {z}` -- this would cause each bit of info to go on its own line, thanks to the HTML <br> (line break) tags. There's no limit to how much stuff you can load into a description; just insert existing field names by surrounding them in {curly brackets}, and include any HTML tags you want. (Note that any existing "desc" field you may have supplied will be overwritten, although you can use it in the new description by including `{desc}`; this might be useful to, for example, quickly apply a style or color to all descriptions.) This new feature should be easier than having to dump your data into Excel and building text formulas.

Google Maps marker filters	[05/28/08] This is sort of an advanced feature, as it involves editing the HTML of your maps after GPS Visualizer creates them, but it's potentially very useful: you can use the new `GV_Filter_Waypoints_With_Text` JavaScript function to filter markers on a map based on their name, description, or color. To see how it works, look in the source of this example page, and feel free to drop me a note if you have questions.

Tracks in custom folders	[04/24/08] A small update to last month's "custom folders" feature: you can now use a "folder" field put both tracks AND waypoints into custom folders in a Google Earth file.

Google Earth custom folders	[03/07/08] It's a small thing, but it may come in handy for some people: you can now supply a "folder" column in your raw waypoint data, and GPS Visualizer will use that field to group your points into folders in Google Earth (but only in Google Earth; maybe some day I'll come up with something similar in Google Maps?).

3-digit ZIP codes	[02/26/08] You can now plot ZIP codes (and Canadian postal codes) using only the first three characters, which could be very helpful for plotting information using the data form. Note that GPS Visualizer will not automatically truncate and compile 5-digit ZIPs; you must reduce them before uploading. (It's easy to do it in Excel.)

Google Maps tickmarks	[12/06/07] Distance- or time-based tickmarks in Google Maps now show the direction you were traveling at that point, indicated by a small triangular icon. Look for "tickmark interval" in the advanced track options.

Freehand drawing tool	[12/04/07] This is an interesting new utility, still in the experimental stage: the Freehand Drawing Utility (a.k.a., "The Sandbox") lets you click on a map to create tracks and waypoints, which can then be saved as GPX or KML files. It's also handy for exploring alternate background imagery (e.g., USGS topo maps) using a Google Maps interface.

Easily editable Google Maps	[11/29/07] You've always been able to edit the HTML source of Google Maps created by GPS Visualizer to make them meet your specifications, but it's much easier now. Most of the parameters you'd want to change are in an easy-to-edit list in the guts of the page.

Google Maps BG opacity	[10/05/07] You can now alter the background opacity in Google Maps; this could be very helpful for creating maps that are intended for printing. And despite the fact that this is the first "news" item in almost 4 months, smaller updates are happening all the time...

Directional KML icons	[06/15/07] It was recently brought to my attention that icons in KML files can be rotated, so distance/time tickmarks in Google Earth are now much more useful. (Instead of a circle, they are now represented by arrows pointing the appropriate direction.) You can also manually rotate any waypoint's icon by including a "rotation" field in your plain-text data.

Automatic geotagging	[04/12/07] GPS Visualizer can now assign coordinates to time-stamped waypoints that have no latitude and longitude, as long as you provide other valid time-stamped data (such as a tracklog) from which the waypoints' locations can be interpolated/extrapolated. This may be very helpful for things like mapping digital photos.

Address distances	[03/21/07] New on the Geographic Calculators page: the ability to find the great-circle distance between two addresses. (Before, you needed to enter a latitude and longitude for each point.)

Elevation lookups	[03/13/07] I've slapped together a new, experimental Elevation Lookup Utility, which takes pairs of coordinates and adds elevation data from NASA's Shuttle Radar Topography Mission via a remote Web service.

Easy Batch Geocoder	[03/01/07] GPS Visualizer is now home to a JavaScript-based Batch Geocoder, which lets you geocode a whole pile of addresses -- using either Yahoo or Google's geocoding API -- without the intervention of my server.

Canadian postal codes	[02/26/07] I finally broke down and spent $100 on a database of Canadian postcodes, so looking up codes in Canada should be quite a bit faster now. (Before, you could do it, but it was slow because they had to be fetched from a remote site.) Donations to offset the cost of the new data would, of course, be much appreciated!

Globalsat & iBlue support	[02/26/07] GPS receivers by both Globalsat (DG-100) and Transystem (iBlue 727, 737, 747, 757) come with software that produces strange output files, but I've found a way to sensibly read the .csv track files that each produces. Please let me know if it doesn't work for you.

Excel files	[02/07/07] GPS Visualizer can now read .xls spreadsheet files from Microsoft Excel. Of course, a header row is still required.

Garmin icons	[01/28/07] If you draw a Google Map using a file that came from Garmin MapSource or a Garmin receiver, GPS Visualizer will now attempt to display the Garmin icons that you applied to your waypoints. To turn this feature off, say "No" to "Preserve waypoint colors and symbols" in the advanced waypoint options.

Forerunner .TCX files	[01/25/07] GPS Visualizer now supports the latest XML format generated by Garmin's "Training Center" software: .tcx files. (I wish they'd stop changing the export format every few months!) The Forerunner splitter can read them too.

Google Maps controls	[12/04/06] I made some behind-the-scenes changes to the way GPS Visualizer's widgets (track legend, coordinates, marker list, etc.) are added to Google Maps; specifically, I'm now using the GMap GControlPosition command, which should make it much easier if you need to customize the position of these things in the HTML source.

New input formats	[12/04/06] I added a couple of new formats to the list of file types that GPS Visualizer recognizes: plain-text track logs from Jeppeson Flightdeck, and "course files" (.crs) from Garmin's Training Center software.

Customized spectrums	[11/05/06] You can now specify the starting and ending hues of the colorization spectrum on your maps and profiles. This means, for example, that you could set minimum values to green and maximums to red, instead of always going from red to magenta (which is still the default, of course). Enable "advanced track options" to see the new hue controls.

Tutorials	[09/20/06] I've finally started working on a set of tutorials that will show you the best way to organize your data for upload to GPS Visualizer. They're not complete yet, but I may as well make them available while I chip away at them.

Google Maps improvements	[09/15/06] Two notable updates: (1) When you draw a track on a Google Map, GPS Visualizer can automatically reduce the number of points in a way that won't seriously alter the shape of the track. (2) Tracks are now hidden when "off-screen." Both of these improvements should result in slightly faster performance with Google Maps.

Google marker lists	[09/07/06] When you create a Google Map that includes waypoints ("markers"), GPS Visualizer can now automatically generate a list of markers; mouseover or click on the list items to identify the markers on the map.

.ZIP input	[08/22/06] You can now transmit zipped (.zip) or gzipped (.gz) files to the map forms.

New server	[06/02/06] GPS Visualizer now has its own server. Of course, having a dedicated server isn't cheap, so keep those donations coming!

Topographic Google Maps	[05/06/06] This is huge: you can now use USGS topographic maps with Google Maps. The USGS 1m black-and-white aerial photos are also available, as are NRCan/Toporama maps for Canada.

Easy geocoder	[05/01/06] The address converter page now has a Quick Geocoder for finding the coordinates of a single location (street address, city, ZIP code, airport) without having to worry about the formatting.

Google Maps point labels	[04/26/06] Thanks to the "ELabel" function at Mike Williams' very helpful Google Maps API Tutorial, you now have the option to display permanent waypoint labels on Google Maps.

Google Earth overlay plugin	[03/13/06] There is now a GPS Visualizer Network Link for Google Earth that allows you to download static KML overlays (aerial photos, topo maps, etc.) of your current position.

Yahoo! Maps	[03/03/06] I've started experimenting with creating Yahoo! Maps; unfortunately, tracks are not supported yet, but waypoints are, and they work pretty well. Suggestions are welcome.

KML overlays	[02/23/06] There's a new utility that creates alternate overlays for use with Google Earth. That means USGS aerial photography and topo maps for the entire U.S., as well as NRCan maps for Canada and daily satellite views of the whole world.

Updated the help file	[02/14/06] I've finally written up some documentation about all the newest options available in GPS Visualizer's map forms, including the Google Maps and Google Earth parameters; the help file pops up when you click on the little help icons next to the map form input widgets. One of these days I'll write a tutorial on building useful CSV data files by hand.

Legends in Google Maps	[01/29/06] Now, when you choose colorization in a Google Map, you can also get a legend showing what the colors mean; the legend can be moved around, plus you can click on the track names to hide or show them.

Google colorization	[01/20/06] Tracks drawn in Google Maps and Google Earth can now be colorized by altitude/elevation, speed, heading, etc. It actually works very well with Google Earth KML files (even though each track must be broken into innumerable individual placemarks to allow for different colors), but it's quite slow in Google Maps, so be careful.

Airport database	[12/14/05] You can now enter waypoints as 3- or 4-character airport codes. Also, the geographic calculators page supports airport codes in the Great Circle Route and Range Rings forms.

Google Earth	[11/13/05] GPS Visualizer can create Google Earth KML files from your data. Please let me know how it works.

Google maps	[11/07/05] GPS Visualizer can now plot your data using Google Maps.

GPS Babel	[11/03/05] I've created an on-line interface to the freeware program GPSBabel. It'll come in handy if you have data that's in a format that GPS Visualizer's map form doesn't support (e.g., Garmin Mapsource binary files).

JPEG output	[05/19/05] GPS Visualizer can now draw maps in JPEG and PNG format in addition to SVG. These bitmapped graphics aren't nearly as versatile, but they don't require a plug-in. Just choose "JPEG" or "PNG" from the "Output format" menu on any map input form. See the FAQ for the pros and cons of SVG vs. JPEG.

Calculators	[04/15/05] I've put together a page with some useful geographic calculators on it. For now, you can convert between decimal degrees and degrees/minutes/seconds and draw the great circle route between two points. More to come later, if I think of other things I could add.

Weather maps	[01/01/05] Try out my Interactive Weather Mapper. It's got nothing to do with GPS Visualizer, really, but it's still interesting.

Print or download travel guides to your iPhone or GPS: Skyline to the Sea Trail • Hiking the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim • Half Dome • The Boston Freedom Trail • Upper Yosemite Falls Hike • Lands End, San Francisco • Angel Island State Park • Cataract Trail Loop in Marin County • Coyote Creek Loop at Henry Coe State Park • Half Moon Bay Coastal Trail • Bay Area Wildflower Hikes • Bay Area Scenic Drives • Sunol Wilderness • Stanford Dish Hike • Grand Canyon: Kaibab to Bright Angel Trail • The Grand Canyon Rim Trail • Best Bay Area Backpacking • The High Sierra Trail • Best Bay Area Day Hikes • Great Hikes in the Grand Canyon • Queen's Garden Trail, Bryce Canyon Utah • Berry Creek Falls Loop at Big Basin Redwoods State Park • and more...

GPS Visualizer: Do-It-Yourself Mapping

Get started now:

To set more options, use the detailed input pages: