In this post, you’ll learn how to reverse a GPS track quickly and simply, so you can ride the same route in the opposite direction.
I just moved house recently, as regular readers will know. Although I’m only 5 miles or so from my old place, there are lots of little hills and country lanes to discover, and I’m having great fun exploring at the moment!
Last week I plotted a fantastic route – about 25 miles which took me up a couple of thousand feet around a local reservoir, and then back through some forestry roads. There are lovely views, and it’s beautifully quiet, with hardly any traffic.
The route was so satisfying that I immediately thought it would be fun to try it in the other direction. But, I wasn’t confident that I’d remember the whole route from memory and it would be easy to take a wrong turning.
So, what’s the easiest way to reverse a GPS track without starting from scratch and re-plotting it all over again?
At first, I assumed that the route planner in Strava could probably do it. Wrong. This thread is full of people asking for that particular feature, so add your voice to it if you want to see that feature in Strava.
My usual choice for creating routes is RideWithGPS. It seems to be the best all rounder in terms of usability, flexibility and lack of clunkiness. I did successfully reverse the route here, but it took a couple of attempts to get it right.
Garmin Connect, surprisingly, was even easier tham RWGPS for this particular task.
If you don’t want to read through all the text, there’s a video showing you how to do it at the bottom of the post.
Here’s a quick step by step guide to exporting your ride from Strava, and reversing the GPX track
#1 Export your ride data from Strava
This is simple enough to do. Just click the spanner icon, then choose to export the GPX track.
#2 Head on over to either GarminConnect.com or www.ridewithGPS.com
I generally prefer RideWithGPS for all my routeplanning, but I have to say that for this particular task – reversing a GPX route – I found Garmin Connect to be a little quicker. Whichever site you use, you firstly need to upload the ride data. This will then be a “ride” in RWGPS and an “activity” in GC.
#3 Convert the ride to a route (or course)
Don’t get confused by the terminology here. On RWGPS a “route” is the same as a “course” on GC. It’s what you create to plan a route/course in advance.
Copy the data to a new route/course, then view the route/course.
#4 Reverse the direction of the GPX track
There are buttons in each system to reverse the direction of the route.
In RWGPS, it’s hidden under an “edit” link on the left hand side of the screen.
Within Garmin Connect, there is a more obvious button to “reverse” the direction of the course. But like RWGPS, you need to ensure you’re working on a “course”, not the “activity”.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll see this button on the right hand side of the editor.
Still confused? Watch this helpful video!
I’ve prepared a video showing you exactly how to do all of this. Sometimes it’s easier just to watch a video, isn’t it? The video shows you exactly how to export a gpx from Strava, and then reverse the direction of the course using RidewithGPS and Garmin Connect. (You only need one, but I show you how to do it in both, because chances are, you’re already vaguely familiar with one of them.)
This helped greatly. Thanks for the post!
You’re very welcome David, thanks for commenting :-)
Alan how do you upload the route into Garmin Connect? I can’t see any option to achieve this.
Hi Matthew, this isn’t as straightforward as it should be. The solution seems to be to upload the gpx file as an activity, and then copy it over to courses, BUT – GC will often refuse a GPX file (i guess if it’s not an actual ride (just a planned route)). The solution seems to be to run it through a convertor at http://www.gpsies.com – i have not tried this, just read about it on this thread – https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?38387-Import-tcx-gpx-courses-into-Garmin-Connect/page4
Hi,
I use RideWith GPX, and was aware of the function, so tried it on this ride of mine.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/11502356
However it simply won’t reverse it, and creates a whole new route from Sevenoaks to Hythe and back again, never touching Rye or Dungeness.
Very puzzling, so after about 20 mins of faff I simply created a new route, as decided that was going to be easier.
Just tried to reverse that route, and RwGPS simply deleted it and left me with a blank map!
Wonder if their website has gone bang….??
Hi Eric, I just tried it and yes it blanked it first time, but second time it did produce a new route but it wasn’t the reverse of your original route! It was basically out to the coast and back. I wonder if certain factors are complicating it – it’s a long route, and a large portion of it uses the same road albeit in opposite directions. I know it works for simpler, shorter loops. Perhaps one of the RWGPS boys can comment?
Hi Eric,
Tomas of Ride with GPS customer service here.
You’ll need to EDIT your route. Click ADD/REMOVE CONTROL POINTS, then click the route line to add control points along the track. The more points you add, the more the reverse route will be what you intended.
Control points are those white does you see along the track line. Think of these points as pins or gates that connect the track lines together.
Basically, when you click “REVERSE ROUTE”, The site will delete the track, then reverse the order of the control points, then reconnect them together. If you only have two control points along the route, you’ll get the two of them reconnected in the shortest possible distance which is not what you intend to do.
If you ever have any specific questions or problems, always feel free to e-mail us directly at info@ridewithgps.com
Cheers!
-Tomas
Hi,
In case it’s of use to anyone I’ve just knocked this little Windows program up which reverses my Strava gpx files so far without problem.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/reversegpx/
If the link doesn’t work the program can be found searching for ReverseStravaGpx on SourceForge. Tip: if it doesn’t show check results aren’t being filtered by an OS other than Windows.
Amazing, Antony! If I get time I’ll write up a blog post about this.
This worked, BRILLIANTLY. Thanks Antony.
Reversing the route in RidewithGPS worked fine. But is there a way of then re-uploading to Strava to create a route?
Thanks a lot! Worked perfectly!