If you ride green lanes, sooner or later you'll come across a GPX file. It's the standard format for sharing and following off-tarmac routes, but newcomers often don't know how to actually use one on the bike. This guide covers what a GPX file is, where to find them, and, crucially for the UK, how to make sure the route you're following is legal to ride, and how to navigate it even with no signal.
What a GPX file is
A GPX file (GPS Exchange Format) is simply a route recorded as a sequence of coordinates. It contains the track your bike should follow: every turn, every junction, every unsurfaced stretch. It's a universal format, so a track recorded by another rider will open in your navigation app without any trouble.
GPX files contain two kinds of content: tracks, the full route point by point, and waypoints, individual points of interest such as a fuel stop, a viewpoint or a tricky junction.
The UK catch: a GPX being shareable doesn't make it legal
Here's the point that matters more in the UK than almost anywhere else, and it's one the Trail Riders Fellowship itself stresses. Because the green road network is fragmented and full of routes that look rideable but aren't, some shared GPX files include roads or paths where it isn't legal to ride, such as bridleways or footpaths.
A GPX file existing does not make the route legal. Before you follow any downloaded track, you need to confirm that every part of it is a Byway Open to All Traffic (BOAT) or a legal Unclassified County Road (UCR), and that no Traffic Regulation Order restricts it. We cover this fully in the guide on which routes are confirmed as legal to ride. Treat an unverified GPX as a suggestion, not permission.
Where to find GPX routes
The most reliable GPX routes come from trusted sources. The TRF and GLASS provide mapping resources to members, and local groups often share verified tracks for their areas, checked by people who know the lanes and their current status. Beyond that, riders share routes on various online platforms, but here the caution above applies double: verify before you ride.
The gold standard is a route shared by a local group or organiser who has confirmed its legal status. The riskiest is an anonymous track from an open platform with no verification.
How to navigate a GPX on the bike
A GPX track on its own is just a line on a map. What turns it into usable navigation is the app and the preparation:
Before you ride, load the GPX into your app and download the offline maps for the whole area, with a margin around the route. The green road network is fragmented and remote, and phone signal is often absent, so offline capability isn't optional. Check the track on the map to confirm it makes sense and matches the legal routes.
On the ride, keep the app in navigation mode with the screen readable in daylight, and rely on an off-route alert rather than staring at the screen, so you stay focused on the riding and on the terrain.
How WildTrack handles GPX
With WildTrack you load any GPX track, download offline maps of the area, and navigate where there's no signal at all, with an off-route alert if you drift off the intended line. Given how much staying on the legal route matters in green laning, being warned the moment you leave the track has genuine value, straying onto a footpath or bridleway is an offence, not just a wrong turn. It recalculates your position with terrain-adaptive tolerance even where the GPS signal is weak, under trees or in valleys. It works on iOS and Android, with no extra hardware.
In summary
A GPX file is the basic tool of every green laner, but in the UK it comes with a vital condition: the route must be legally rideable, and a shareable track is not proof of that. Get your GPX from trusted sources, verify every route against BOAT and UCR status before you ride, download offline maps in advance, and navigate with an app built for off-tarmac use. Done right, a GPX turns an unfamiliar lane into a confident, legal ride.