How to save your Google My Tracks data before it shuts down on April 30th

• Andrew
• 9 years ago

Earlier today, Google announced its popular mapping service, My Tracks, will be closed down on April 30th. This isn’t an April Fools joke or anything, instead just another of Google’s apps to bite the dust. But don’t worry about losing your data, we outline backup options below, allowing you to easily import your information to another application.

Some of the features that Google had cooked into My Tracks have already made their way to Google Fit, since that’s the de-facto activity tracking application from Google. If Fit isn’t your cup of tea and you’re on the fence looking for an alternative, Google was kind enough to list a few apps to consider. Don’t take too long to decide: the servers will be shut down on the 30th, making it impossible to access any of your logged My Tracks travels after that date.

The biggest reason for dropping support for My Tracks is detailed in the press release from Google:

We’ve made the tough decision to invest our efforts into other, more wide-reaching, mapping projects.

Other applications that Google have suggested are:

• Strava
• Endomondo
• Map My Run
• Map My Hike
• GPS Logger for Android
• GPX Viewer

If you’re worried about having to spend any money on a new GPS tracker for your runs and hikes, you can rest easy. All of the above suggestions from Google are available for free on the Google Play Store.

Here are the instructions on how to extract said data from My Tracks, and import the information into either an external storage device, or Google Drive:

Export your data to Google Drive

1. Open the My Tracks app
2. Touch More -> Settings
3. Select Sync to Google Drive

Your files will be saved in a KML/KMZ format within Google Drive.

Export your data to external storage

1. Open the My Tracks app
2. Go to the Main menu
3. Touch More -> Export All
4. Choose the file format you’d like to export as (KML, GPX, CSV, or TCX)

Once you’ve exported your data from My Tracks, you can navigate to the /MyTracks folder, and access all the downloaded information. Then you can either transfer the information to a more secure location, like your computer, or import into a compatible application.

With the emergence of Google Fit, My Tracks has somewhat fallen to the wayside, but still has between 10 million and 50 million downloads. In addition, the application was just updated today with “a new map layer, Earth, for viewing tracks in 3D”. If you’re one of those who use My Tracks on a regular basis, you can continue to do so, just keep in mind that the service will be coming to a screeching halt at the end of April.

[via Google]