Converting GPX to KML turns GPS waypoints, routes, and tracks into a Google Earth document for visualization.
What is GPX?
GPX (GPS Exchange Format) is an open, XML-based schema for exchanging GPS data such as waypoints, routes, and tracks between devices and applications.
GPX models data through three primary elements: waypoints (individual named points of interest), routes (an ordered list of routepoints describing a planned path), and tracks (recorded paths made of one or more segments of trackpoints, often carrying timestamps and elevation). It is the common tongue of handheld GPS units, fitness watches, and outdoor apps like Garmin, Strava, and Komoot. It is a point- and line-oriented format built around navigation, not a general-purpose polygon or attribute-table format.
What is KML?
KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is an XML-based format for expressing geographic annotation and visualization, adopted as an OGC standard and popularized by Google Earth.
KML describes Placemarks, geometries (points, lines, polygons), and their presentation using an XML tree that also supports folders for organization, rich styling (icons, colors, line widths, fills), balloon descriptions, and ground overlays. It is designed for display and sharing rather than analysis, and is opened natively by Google Earth, Google Maps, and most GIS packages. Because it targets a single global view, it has no concept of reprojection.
Why convert GPX to KML?
KML lets you show recorded GPS tracks and waypoints in Google Earth for review and sharing without any GIS software. It is ideal for presenting a hike, survey route, or set of field points on the familiar globe. Point and line data becomes browsable placemarks and paths.
Coordinate systems
The GPX specification fixes all coordinates to WGS84 latitude/longitude with elevation in meters, so like KML it carries no projection information and any exported data is expressed in EPSG:4326.
KML coordinates are always geographic WGS84 longitude, latitude, and (optionally) altitude in that order; the format has no CRS or projection field, so any data written to KML is expressed in EPSG:4326 by definition.
What to watch out for
- Both formats are WGS84, so coordinates transfer without reprojection.
- GPX waypoints become point placemarks and tracks/routes become line placemarks.
- GPX-specific data like timestamps and elevation is preserved where possible but may appear only in placemark descriptions.
- KML has no analytical attribute table, so GPX fields become placemark attributes/description rather than queryable columns.
How to convert GPX to KML
- Drag your GPX file (.gpx) into the converter above, or click to browse.
- Confirm the source is GPX and choose KML as the output format.
- Optionally pick a target coordinate system (EPSG) to reproject.
- Click Convert and download your KML file. Everything runs in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I open the result in Google Earth?
- Yes. The .kml opens directly in Google Earth and shows your waypoints and tracks as placemarks and paths.
- Do coordinates change?
- No. GPX and KML are both WGS84, so coordinate values pass through unchanged.
- Is elevation and time data kept?
- Where present it is preserved, though it may surface in placemark descriptions rather than as structured fields.