Turn Your Running Route into a Map

From app screen to wall map

Every GPS-tracked run is already a map — a precise line of coordinates your watch or phone recorded as you moved through the city or the hills. Route Posters takes that line and renders it the way a map deserves to be rendered: large, sharp and printable. Upload the GPX, TCX, FIT or KML file from any run and the editor draws the route instantly, scaled and centred on a poster canvas.

You choose how map-like to go. The street-map styles place your route over real light or dark map tiles, so the city grid, river and parks are all visible around your line — the classic "running route map" look. The minimal styles strip the geography away and leave the route as pure shape, which works beautifully for distinctive courses. Either way your real stats — distance, time, pace, elevation — are pulled from the file and set underneath.

The export is a 300 dpi print-ready PDF (A3/A2 proportions) or high-resolution PNG. No account, no watermark, no upload to a server — the file is processed entirely in your browser.

How to view and export your route map from your app

Before you can print the map, you need the route out of the app that recorded it. Here is where each platform hides it:

1. 1

   Strava

   Open the activity on strava.com — the route map is at the top of the page. To export it as data, click the ⋯ menu below the title and choose "Export GPX". Full walkthrough: poster from Strava.

2. 2

   Garmin Connect

   Open the activity; the map sits beside the stats. Click the gear (web) or Actions menu and select "Export to GPX". Details: poster from Garmin.

3. 3

   Apple Fitness / Watch

   Apple shows the route map in the Fitness app but offers no built-in export. A free companion app such as HealthFit reads your workouts and saves them as GPX. Steps here: poster from Apple.

4. 4

   Everything else

   Komoot, Wahoo, Coros and Suunto all export GPX natively — see the full how-to index. Once you have the file, drop it into the editor and the map draws itself.

Routes that make great map posters

Race courses are the obvious candidates — a city marathon traces a route through landmarks that locals recognise instantly on a wall. But the routes with the most staying power are often personal: the loop you have run five hundred times, the first 10K you ever finished, the route you ran the morning your kid was born. If the line means something, it earns the frame.

Want the route as a moving line instead of a still map? The animated route poster draws your run as a GIF or MP4 — same file, different medium.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make a map of a route I run regularly, not a race?

Absolutely. Any recorded activity works — your daily 5K loop, the river path, the commute run. Export the GPX from whichever app tracked it and upload it to the editor. Routes you run often are usually the most meaningful ones to print.

Does the poster show actual streets, or just the route line?

Both options exist. The editor includes street-map background styles (light and dark) that draw your route over real map tiles, plus minimal styles that show only the route line on a clean or textured background. You can switch between them with one click and compare.

My app only shows the map — how do I get the file out?

Every major platform has an export hidden somewhere. Strava: activity page → ⋯ menu → Export GPX. Garmin Connect: activity → gear/Actions → Export to GPX. Apple Fitness has no native export, so use a free companion app like HealthFit to save workouts as GPX. Our how-to guides cover each platform step by step.

What does it cost to turn the route map into a print?

Creating and downloading the poster is free — no account, no watermark. The export is a 300 dpi PDF proportioned for A3/A2; printing that at a copy shop or online lab typically costs a few dollars, and that is the only cost involved.