Google Maps uses several labels for saved pins, and they don't all behave the same way. For exporting, one rule matters: a list you built yourself has a share link. Starred places don't.
What each label means
- Starred places: the pins you starred. Google's help says you can't share them.
- Favorites, Want to go, Travel plans and Saved places: lists Google creates for you. You add to them from a place's Save menu. Sharing options vary by list, so open a list's menu and see whether Share is offered.
- Your own lists: collections you name and build, like "Colorado 14ers" or "Dispersed Camping, Idaho".
Which ones you can share as a link
A list has two privacy levels in Google Maps. Private means only you can find it. Shared means anyone with your link can find it. The list's sharing menu has a Send a link to view option, and that link is what MapsLinkQuest reads to build your GPX or KML file.
Starred places can't be shared, so there's no link to paste. If someone tells you they shared their Starred places, they didn't. Ask them to add the places to a list and share that.
How to turn Starred places into a list
- In Google Maps, create a new list and give it a name.
- Find each Starred place and tap Save, then pick the new list. It's a few taps per place, so a long Starred list takes a while.
- Open the new list's sharing options, set it to Shared, and copy the link to view.
- Paste that link into the converter above.
Which ones MapsLinkQuest can convert
Any list with a share link. Paste it into the converter above and pick GPX for a GPS app, KML for Google Earth, or CSV for a spreadsheet. If someone else sent you the link, the shared list page walks through it. If you built your pins in My Maps instead of a list, that's a different export path, and the list vs My Maps page explains it.
Big lists and the free tier
The free tier converts up to 25 places per list. The Trip Pack raises that to 1,000 for one list, and the Explorer Pass removes the cap. Google Maps itself limits a saved list to 3,000 entries, so a list can grow well past what the free tier converts.
Google Takeout is the other way to get your places out. It exports names without coordinates, and the Takeout page explains why. For a straight conversion to a file, the GPX page is the place to start.