The short version: everything goes through a GPX
It does not matter which platform you start from. The process is always the same and has three steps: download the GPX, check it, and load it onto the device. The only thing that changes is where each site hides its download button.
GPX is the common format that virtually every watch and handheld GPS understands. If you want to know what it stores internally, we cover it in what a GPX file is.
Downloading the route from each platform
Wikiloc
Open the route and look for the Download button in the right-hand column. It offers several formats: pick GPX track. Two things to watch out for: the free web tier has a daily download limit, and many Wikiloc routes are tracks recorded on foot rather than planned routes, so they usually come with GPS noise and long stops baked in.
Strava
Open the activity in a browser (not in the app), click the three dots at the top right and choose Export GPX. If the activity belongs to someone else, you can only export it if their privacy settings allow it. For routes built with the planner, the option lives inside the Route Builder itself.
Komoot
Open the tour, expand the options menu and use Export GPX. Komoot exports the planned route, usually very clean because it is calculated along real paths, but with a huge number of points: on long routes it is easy to exceed what some older GPS units accept.
Load the GPX you just downloaded and check it before it reaches your GPS.
Open the GEPYX editorBefore loading it: check the track
This is the step almost everyone skips, and the one that prevents unpleasant surprises in the mountains. A track downloaded from a social platform usually carries the same typical problems:
- The drive to the trailhead: plenty of people start recording in their own driveway. The track includes kilometres by car that you do not want.
- GPS noise in forest or canyon terrain: impossible zigzags that inflate distance and, above all, elevation gain.
- Long stops: dozens of points piled up in the same spot, at lunch or on the summit.
- Too many points: some GPS units truncate tracks beyond a certain count, usually without warning you.
In GEPYX you can open the GPX, delete the leftover sections, move stray points and check on the elevation profile whether the gain figure makes sense before exporting it again. If that number surprises you, how elevation gain is calculated explains why every app gives you a different one.
Loading it onto the device
Garmin
The easiest path is to upload the GPX to Garmin Connect (Training > Courses > Import) and send it to the device over Bluetooth. The classic alternative still works: connect the watch or GPS over USB and copy the file into the /GPX/ or /NewFiles/ folder depending on the model.
Suunto and Coros
Both import GPX from their phone app or website, in the routes section, and sync it to the watch on the next connection. Suunto converts the route to its own internal format, so it pays to send it a clean track.
Phone
If you are going to navigate with your phone, most hiking apps let you import a GPX straight from the file manager or by sharing it with the app.
A note on rights and common sense
Downloading a route for personal use is normal and expected by the platforms. Redistributing it in bulk or publishing it as your own is not. And above all: a route being on the internet does not mean it is safe or up to date. Always check the season, the state of the terrain and the weather forecast before you set off.