GPX file format

The GPX file format is an open standard for exchanging GPS data between applications and GPS devices. It essentially consists of a series of GPS points encoding one or multiple GPS traces, and, optionally, some points of interest.

GPX files may also contain metadata, of which the name and description fields are the most useful for users.

Tracks, segments, and GPS points

As mentioned above, a GPX file can contain multiple GPS traces. These are organized in a hierarchical structure, with tracks at the top level.

• A track is made of a sequence of disconnected segments. Furthermore, it can contain metadata such as a name, a description, and appearance properties.
• A segment is a sequence of GPS points that form a continuous path.
• A GPS point is a location with a latitude, a longitude, and optionally a timestamp and an altitude. Some devices also store additional information such as heart rate, cadence, temperature, and power.

In most cases, GPX files contain a single track with a single segment. However, the hierarchy described above allows for more advanced use cases, such as planning multi-day trips with several variants for each day.

Points of interest

Points of interest (technically called waypoints) represent locations of interest to show either on a GPS device or on a digital map.

In addition to its coordinates, a point of interest can have a name and a description.