Convert GPX to Shapefile Online — Free GIS Converter
Convert GPX tracks, routes, and waypoints to Shapefile (.zip) for use in ArcGIS, QGIS, Tableau, and enterprise GIS workflows.
Updated May 2026
Converting GPX to Shapefile brings GPS-recorded tracks and waypoints into the format expected by ArcGIS workflows, government data portals, and enterprise GIS environments that still rely on the Shapefile standard.
Why convert GPX to Shapefile?
GPX is a consumer GPS format — excellent for recording a trail run or a survey traverse, but not accepted by most legacy GIS workflows. ArcGIS Desktop, many government data submission portals, Tableau, and AutoCAD Civil 3D all treat Shapefile as the baseline vector exchange format. When you need to bring field-collected GPS data into an enterprise environment — for example, loading trail centerlines into a city parks geodatabase or submitting survey traverses to a county assessor — Shapefile is frequently the required format. Converting from GPX also lets you join your GPS tracks to attribute tables and run spatial queries that GPX alone cannot support.
Why use geodata.plus
- Free tier includes 3 conversions per month with no account required
- Automatic format and CRS detection on upload
- Optional reprojection to any EPSG code — useful when the receiving GIS expects a projected CRS like UTM
- Entirely browser-based — no ArcGIS license or QGIS installation needed
- Encrypted upload (TLS); files stored in Cloudflare R2, automatically deleted after 2 days (free) or 7 days (Pro)
- Output delivered as a
.zipcontaining all required Shapefile components
How it works
- Upload your
.gpxfile to geodata.plus - geodata.plus detects the GPX format and confirms WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) as the source CRS
- Select Shapefile as the output format; choose a target CRS if your GIS environment requires projected coordinates
- Download the
.ziparchive containing the.shp,.shx,.dbf, and.prjfiles
GPX format
GPX (GPS Exchange Format) is an XML schema designed for exchanging GPS data between devices and applications. All GPX data is stored in WGS 84 geographic coordinates. The three geometry types are waypoints (<wpt>), routes (<rte>), and tracks (<trk>). Tracks are the most common output from GPS devices and fitness apps — they record a time-stamped sequence of positions. GPX has no support for polygon features, and its attribute model is minimal compared to what a Shapefile DBF can hold.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Extension | .gpx |
| Type | Vector, single-file XML |
| Coordinate system | WGS 84 (EPSG:4326) only |
| Geometry types | Points (waypoints), LineStrings (routes/tracks) |
| Common software | Garmin, Strava, AllTrails, Komoot, QGIS, ArcGIS |
Shapefile format
Shapefile is Esri's legacy vector format, introduced in the early 1990s and still dominant in government and enterprise GIS. A Shapefile is actually a collection of at least three files: .shp (geometry), .shx (spatial index), and .dbf (attribute table), plus an optional .prj for CRS definition. Shapefiles support any coordinate reference system but carry well-known limitations: field names are capped at 10 characters, there is a 2 GB file size limit, and the format does not distinguish between date and datetime values. Each Shapefile can only hold one geometry type.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Extension | .shp + .shx + .dbf + .prj (delivered as .zip) |
| Type | Vector, multi-file |
| Coordinate system | Any CRS (defined in .prj) |
| Geometry types | Point, Polyline, Polygon (one type per file) |
| Common software | ArcGIS, QGIS, Tableau, AutoCAD Civil 3D, government portals |
Frequently asked questions
Will my GPX track become a Polyline or a Point Shapefile? Track segments and routes are converted to Polyline geometry in the output Shapefile. Waypoints are converted to a separate Point Shapefile. If your GPX file contains both, geodata.plus produces two separate Shapefiles inside the output ZIP so that each file contains only one geometry type — a Shapefile requirement.
Does the conversion keep timestamp attributes from my GPX tracks?
GPX track points include a <time> element. Shapefiles do not support a true datetime field type, so geodata.plus stores the timestamp as a string in the DBF attribute table. The value is preserved but will need to be parsed as text in your GIS software.
My GPX track has many segments. How does the Shapefile represent them?
Each GPX track segment (<trkseg>) becomes an individual Polyline record in the Shapefile attribute table, with a field indicating which parent track it belongs to. This preserves segment boundaries while keeping the data in a format ArcGIS and QGIS can query and style per-segment.