Gaia GPS reads waypoints out of a GPX file the same way whether you're on gaiagps.com or the app, and once they're in, they behave like anything you'd placed by hand: fully editable, sortable into folders, and available offline once you've downloaded the map area that covers them. That offline part matters more here than with most GPS software, since the whole point of Gaia is usually a place with no signal at all. Google Maps doesn't give you any of that on its own. A saved or shared list hands you pins, nothing you could actually feed into Gaia. This page covers both real ways people end up doing the import, gaiagps.com from a computer and the app on your phone, since which one makes sense usually comes down to whether you're planning ahead of time or already standing at the trailhead.
Website and app stay in sync automatically once you're logged into the same Gaia account, so it doesn't actually matter which one you import into first, whatever lands in one shows up in the other within a few seconds. Pick whichever is in front of you: the website if you're planning at a desk, the app if the GPX file is already sitting on your phone. Either way, nothing gets duplicated or lost crossing between the two, it's the same account, the same saved data, just two different screens to look at it from.
Whichever way you plan to import it, the first step doesn't change. Paste your list's share link into the converter above and download the GPX file. Every place on the original Google Maps list becomes a waypoint in that file, same name, same position. What happens after the download depends on where you're importing it, which is the rest of this page.
From gaiagps.com (the website):
- Go to gaiagps.com/map.
- Click the Import Data button on the right-hand toolbar, or just drag the GPX file straight onto the map.
- Review what's about to import in the sidebar on the left. Deselect anything you don't want.
- Click Save Item to finish.
- Find it afterward under Saved Items, or through your profile name in the top right.
Gaia sorts an import into its own folder named after the file, and if a waypoint's icon doesn't match something in Gaia's own icon set, it gets swapped for a plain red marker. Cosmetic only, and editable afterward, and it has no effect on the coordinates or the name attached to the waypoint underneath it, so there's nothing to fix beyond how it looks on the map.
From the Gaia GPS app (iOS and Android, same steps on both):
- Tap Saved at the bottom of the app.
- Tap the three dots in the top right.
- Tap Import File.
- Find and tap the GPX file, wherever it landed on your phone, usually Downloads.
- Wait for the confirmation message. iOS shows "All imports complete," Android shows "Successfully Imported File."
No file sitting on your phone yet? Downloading the GPX file straight from your phone's browser works exactly like it does on a computer, MapsLinkQuest doesn't care what device is asking. If you'd rather not deal with a browser download at all, email the file to yourself and open it with Gaia GPS from the Mail app's share menu, or drop it in Dropbox or Google Drive and open it there with Gaia GPS instead of your usual viewer. All three land in the same place as a direct import. This matters most for a genuinely large list, an Explorer Pass conversion of a few hundred places, since juggling that many waypoints is easier on the website's bigger screen even if you end up using the app in the field.
One number worth knowing ahead of time: Gaia's own website caps a single import at 1,000 features per file, separate from anything MapsLinkQuest limits. It happens to land on the same number as MapsLinkQuest's own Trip Pack tier, so most paying users never notice it. Someone converting an unusually large list on an Explorer Pass, several hundred places or more, is the one case where it's worth knowing the ceiling exists on Gaia's side too, not just MapsLinkQuest's.
Want the same points printed onto a custom map? The CalTopo page covers loading the same file into CalTopo.
Import paths, at a glance:
- Website (gaiagps.com): Import Data button, or drag the file onto the map
- iOS app: Saved → ⋮ → Import File
- Android app: Saved → ⋮ → Import File, identical to iOS
- No file on your phone: email, Dropbox, or Google Drive, opened with Gaia GPS
Troubleshooting:
- The import finished but nothing shows on the map. Check that the Waypoints overlay is toggled on. Gaia can import a file successfully and still hide it if that overlay, or the folder it landed in, is switched off. It's a display setting, not a sign anything actually failed, so check visibility before assuming the import itself is broken.
- The waypoints are there, but the folder itself seems to be missing. Same fix, folder visibility toggles separately from the waypoints overlay, so check both.
- Every waypoint shows the same plain red pin instead of a real icon. Gaia swaps any icon it doesn't recognize for its default marker on import. Nothing's broken, the icon is just editable one by one afterward if it bothers you.
- A very large list won't fully import on the website. Gaia's own web importer caps at 1,000 features per file, which happens to line up with MapsLinkQuest's own Trip Pack limit. Convert an unusually large list with an Explorer Pass and you may still need to split it into smaller GPX files for Gaia's side. MapsLinkQuest doesn't split files automatically, so this is a manual step if you ever hit it.
- The app says the file is too large to import. Gaia's mobile app caps imports at 15MB. A waypoints-only file, which is all MapsLinkQuest produces, almost never gets close to that even at a few thousand points, so this one's rare.
- The waypoints imported fine, but the map goes blank the moment you lose signal. That's not an import problem, it's Gaia's own free-versus-Premium split. Downloading a map area for offline use needs a Gaia membership, importing the waypoints themselves doesn't. Worth sorting out before you leave service, not after, since there's no fixing it once you're actually standing somewhere without a signal to download anything.