Do-It-Yourself Mapping

location based services


GPS Visualizer is a free, easy-to-use online utility that creates maps and profiles from GPS data (tracks and waypoints), 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, etc.).
GPS Visualizer can read data files from many different sources: GPX, OziExplorer, Geocaching.com (.loc), IGC sailplane logs, Garmin Forerunner (.xml/.hst), Timex Trainer (v1.3+), Cetus GPS, PathAway, cotoGPS, CompeGPS, TomTom (.pgl), IGN Rando (.rdn), Emtac Trine, Suunto X9/X9i (.sdf), NetStumbler/WiFiFoFum, and of course tab-delimited or comma-separated text. You can also enter waypoint data or street addresses manually, if you just need to plot a few points.

GPS Visualizer can draw maps in SVG, JPEG/PNG, and Google Maps format, and can also create map overlays and KML files for Google Earth. For non-Google maps, JPEGs are easier to deal with, but SVGs are interactive -- to view them, make sure you've installed Adobe's free SVG Viewer plug-in. (NOTE: if you're using Mozilla or Firefox for Windows, you'll need to download the latest beta version of the plug-in.)

To the left is a map that was created by GPS Visualizer (click to enlarge). You may also want to check out the other examples of GPS Visualizer's output, or a sample SVG map (if you have the plug-in installed).
Draw a map · Draw a profile (Help links are available on the next page)


Help keep GPS Visualizer free At the moment, I'm not charging anything for the use of GPS Visualizer; 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 PayPal; $10-$25 is suggested. Or, you can send me something from my Amazon.com wish list.
Other sponsors:
Marine GPS Shopping
NEW STUFF
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!
TOPOGRAPHICGOOGLE 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 MAPSPOINT 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 EARTHOVERLAY 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 THEHELP 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 INGOOGLE 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.
GOOGLECOLORIZATION
[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.
AIRPORTDATABASE
[12/14/05] You can 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
Try out my Interactive Weather Mapper. (U.S. and Canada only.)