What This Tool Is, In Plain Terms
This is a free, browser-based tool that reads GPX files you upload and draws them as a single glowing heatmap image you can download as a PNG. It requires no account, no payment, and no data leaves your device during the process. It is built for runners who want a personal heatmap similar to Strava's paid Personal Heatmap feature but do not want to pay a subscription, and who are comfortable exporting GPX files from whatever app already tracks their runs. It supports multiple files at once, works for any GPS-tracked activity including cycling and hiking, and offers a choice of three color palettes for the final image.
Running Heatmap Generator
Upload your GPX files and see every route glow into a single heatmap image, right in your browser. No account, no upload to a server, no subscription.
Drop GPX files here, or click to browse
Accepts one or more .gpx files. Parsed locally, never uploaded.
Your GPX files never leave your browser. Parsing and rendering happen locally using the FileReader and Canvas APIs, with no upload to any server.
A Heatmap Shows Where You Went. Territory Shows What You Own.
This tool renders a static picture of your past runs. Motera turns the same streets into a live game: every run claims real tiles on a map, rivals can take them back, and fog of war reveals new ground the moment you step onto it. Free on iOS, no export or upload required.
MoteraFrequently Asked Questions
Do my GPX files get uploaded to a server?
No. Every file you drop into this tool is read and parsed entirely inside your own browser using the FileReader and DOMParser APIs built into modern browsers. Nothing is sent over the network, nothing is stored on Motera servers, and closing this tab clears everything. You can confirm this yourself by opening your browser dev tools and watching the network tab while you upload a file, no request will appear.
Where do I get a GPX file of my runs?
Most running apps let you export an individual activity as a GPX file. In Strava, open an activity, click the three-dot menu, and choose "Export GPX." Garmin Connect, Apple Health (via third-party export tools), and most other platforms offer similar per-activity export options. This tool accepts one GPX file per upload, and you can add as many as you want to build up a fuller heatmap.
How many GPX files can I upload at once?
There is no hard limit built into the tool itself. Practically, browser memory is the only ceiling, and most people uploading a few dozen to a few hundred runs will have no issue. If you have hundreds of activities, upload them in a few batches for the smoothest experience.
Why does my heatmap look sparse compared to Strava's?
Strava's personal heatmap draws from your entire account history, potentially years of GPS data, in one automatic pass. This tool only uses whatever GPX files you manually upload in this session. Export and upload more runs to build a denser, more complete-looking heatmap.
Can I use this for cycling or hiking GPX files too?
Yes. The parser reads standard GPX track points regardless of what activity recorded them, so cycling routes, hikes, and walks all render the same way. The tool is built with runners in mind, but the underlying format works for any GPS-based activity.
Is this a replacement for Strava's heatmap?
It covers the core need, a visual density map of where you have been, for free and without a subscription. It does not replicate Strava's automatic account-wide sync, global community heatmap layer, or route-builder integration. For a one-off shareable image built from your own exported files, this tool does the job without a paywall.
What is the difference between a heatmap and territory capture?
A heatmap is a passive record. It shows density, the streets you have run the most, after the fact. Territory capture is an active game layered on top of your GPS data in real time: streets you run become owned tiles on a live map, rivals can contest and retake them, and the map updates as you run rather than only when you export a file later. A heatmap tells you where you have been. Territory tells you what you currently hold.
Does the downloaded image include my exact GPS coordinates?
The PNG you download is a rendered image, a picture of lines on a canvas, not a data file. It does not embed latitude and longitude metadata the way an original GPX or photo EXIF file might. Still, treat any route image you share publicly the same way you would treat sharing your run map on Strava: it visually reveals the streets you frequent.
More Running Tools
How It Works
Each GPX file you export from a running app is really just a text file listing latitude and longitude points recorded along your route, wrapped in an XML structure. This tool reads that text directly in your browser using the built-in FileReader API, parses the XML with DOMParser to pull out every track point, and draws each route as a glowing line on an HTML canvas.
Where routes overlap, the glow layers stack and brighten, which is what creates the classic heatmap effect: streets you have run once show a faint trace, streets you have run dozens of times burn bright. Upload more files and rerun the same street on a different day, and you will watch that segment intensify. The whole process, reading, parsing, and drawing, happens in a few hundred milliseconds per file with no round trip to any server.
Why It Never Leaves Your Browser
A lot of online GPX tools, this one included in spirit, exist because runners are understandably wary about handing over files that reveal exactly where they live, work, and run. This tool is built so that concern does not apply: there is no upload endpoint at all. The file input reads bytes directly into browser memory, the parsing happens with DOMParser, and the rendering happens on a canvas element, all client-side JavaScript with zero network requests involved in the process.
You can verify this claim yourself. Open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab, and upload a GPX file. You will not see a single outgoing request tied to the file's contents. Refresh the page and your uploaded routes disappear completely, because nothing was ever saved anywhere outside your current browser tab.
Heatmap vs Territory Capture
A heatmap and a territory capture map look similar at a glance, both are visualizations built on top of your GPS routes, but they answer different questions. A heatmap is retrospective: it aggregates every route you feed it into a single static image showing where you have spent the most GPS-tracked time. It does not update itself, does not know about other runners, and does not change unless you upload new files.
Territory capture, the mechanic behind apps like Motera, is a live, ongoing system. Every street you run becomes a tile you currently hold on a shared map, visible the moment you finish the run, not after an export-and-upload step. Other runners nearby can retake tiles you have claimed, which means the map is never finished the way a heatmap is. A heatmap documents your running history. Territory capture makes your next run matter right now.
Strava's Heatmap Paywall
Strava draws a clear line between its two heatmap features. The Global Heatmap, an aggregated view of activity across the entire Strava community, is free to browse for anyone. Your own Personal Heatmap, the one showing specifically where you have run, is a subscriber-only feature, gated behind a paid Strava membership according to Strava's own help center documentation.
That leaves a real gap for runners who already export their own GPX files and just want to see the same kind of glowing personal map without paying an ongoing subscription for it. This tool fills that gap using files you already have, or can export in a couple of clicks from whatever app you already track your runs with.
Can I edit or crop the heatmap after it is generated?
Not inside the tool itself. It renders one square PNG image sized for sharing on Instagram or as a profile background. If you need to crop, add text, or combine it with other images, download the PNG and edit it in any photo app afterward.
Will uploading the same GPX file twice double-count it?
Yes, the tool has no duplicate detection, since it only knows about files you actively upload in the current session. If you upload the same run twice, that route's glow gets brighter, the same way running the same street twice in real life would. Remove a duplicate with the trash icon next to its filename if you want to correct it.
Does this work on mobile browsers?
Yes. The FileReader, DOMParser, and Canvas APIs this tool relies on are all standard in modern mobile browsers on iOS and Android. Uploading many large GPX files at once on an older phone may be slower than on desktop, but the core parsing and rendering works the same way.
