GPS Navigation for
Offroad Riding

Road navigation is a solved problem. Type an address, follow the blue line, arrive. Offroad navigation is different. The roads you're riding don't have addresses. They often don't appear on standard maps. Turn-by-turn directions don't work when there are no turns — just a track that forks, fades, or disappears into a riverbed. And you're doing all of this with gloves on, a helmet limiting your vision, and no phone signal.

Your phone is the best navigation tool you can carry offroad. It has a GPS receiver that works without signal, a high-resolution screen, and the ability to run offline maps and follow GPX tracks. You just need to set it up correctly before you leave.

What is a GPX file

GPX stands for GPS eXchange Format. It's a small file — typically a few kilobytes — that contains a sequence of GPS coordinates forming a route. Think of it as a breadcrumb trail: a series of latitude/longitude points that, when plotted on a map, show you exactly where to ride.

A GPX file is not turn-by-turn navigation. It doesn't say "turn left in 200 metres." It shows a line on your map, and you follow that line. This works better for offroad riding than voice navigation — you see the full route ahead of you, can read upcoming forks and junctions at a glance, and immediately see when you've gone off-route and how to get back.

GPX files can also contain waypoints — marked points along the route with names or notes. A well-built GPX file might include waypoints for fuel stops, water sources, difficult sections, or overnight spots. These show up as pins on your map and give you context that a plain line doesn't.

GoraAdv's planner generates GPX files with your complete route, all waypoints, and any custom markers you've placed. The file downloads to your phone in seconds, ready to open in any offline map app.

Offline maps

Your phone's GPS receiver works everywhere — it uses satellites, not cell towers. But the maps that display your position need data, and data needs signal. No signal, no map tiles loading, no visible map. You're a blue dot on a blank screen.

The fix is offline maps. Before you leave, download the map region you'll be riding through to your phone. The map data is stored locally, so your position and your GPX track display even in areas with zero signal. Most offline map apps let you download entire countries or specific regions.

Download more area than you think you need. If your route crosses the edge of the region you downloaded, you lose the map right when you might need it most — when you're off-route in unfamiliar terrain trying to find your way back. Download generously. Map data is small compared to photos and videos.

Satellite imagery is useful as a second layer. Switch between the standard map and satellite view to check whether a track on the map actually exists on the ground. A line on a topographic map might be an abandoned logging road that washed out three years ago. Satellite imagery shows you what's actually there.

Phone setup for offroad

A phone on a motorcycle handlebar faces four problems: vibration, power, heat, and water. Solve all four before you leave.

Vibration. Offroad terrain sends constant impacts through the handlebars into your phone. Over time this can damage the optical image stabilisation in your camera. A vibration-dampening mount uses silicone or elastomer isolators to absorb the worst of it. Alternatively — and this is what a lot of riders do — keep an old phone dedicated to navigation. Most people have one in a drawer. It doesn't matter if the camera gets damaged, the battery is mediocre, or the screen is cracked. It just needs GPS and offline maps. Dedicated nav phone, main phone stays in your pocket.

Power. GPS, screen brightness, and offline maps drain battery fast. A full day of navigation with the screen on can empty a phone in four to five hours. Wire a USB charger to your bike's battery, or carry a power bank large enough for a full day — 10,000 mAh minimum, 20,000 for multi-day trips. Charge overnight, start every day at 100 percent.

Heat. Direct sunlight on a phone mounted on the handlebars, with the screen at full brightness and GPS running, generates serious heat. Most phones throttle performance and dim the screen when they overheat. In extreme cases, the phone shuts down entirely. Angle the mount so the phone isn't in direct sun if possible. A white or reflective case helps. On very hot days, take a break when the phone gets warm — it needs cooling time just like you do.

Water. Rain, river crossings, puddle spray. A waterproof phone case or a mount with a rain cover keeps the screen usable when wet. Touchscreens don't work well with water on them — some mounts include a rain cover with a clear window that protects the screen while keeping the display visible.

Following a track

Navigation on a GPX track is different from following turn-by-turn directions, and it takes a small adjustment in how you read the screen.

Your GPX track appears as a line on the map. Your position is a dot. The job is to keep the dot on the line. When the line turns, you turn. When the line forks, you follow the fork your line takes. When the dot drifts off the line, you've missed a turn or taken a wrong track — stop, zoom in, and figure out where the route diverges from your current position.

Zoom level matters. Too far out and you can't see small turns or track forks. Too close and you lose context about what's coming. Most riders find a zoom level that shows roughly 500 metres to one kilometre ahead works best — enough to see the next decision point without losing the big picture.

Set your map orientation to direction of travel, not north-up. When the map rotates with your heading, left on the screen means left on the trail. With north-up, you have to mentally rotate every turn, which is slow and error-prone at riding speed.

Glance, don't stare. You're riding offroad, not reading a book. A quick look at the screen every few hundred metres is enough to confirm you're on track. If you need to study the map — a complex junction, a confusing fork — stop the bike. Trying to read a detailed map while riding loose terrain is how you hit a rock you didn't see.

Planning the route

The quality of your ride depends on the quality of your GPX file. A good file follows real tracks on the ground. A bad one follows lines on a map that may not exist as rideable trails.

GoraAdv's planner is built specifically for offroad route planning. Set your start and end points, add waypoints for places you want to pass through, and the routing engine calculates a path that prefers dirt roads, forest tracks, and gravel over paved highways. The route follows actual mapped tracks from OpenStreetMap, not straight lines between points.

The elevation chart shows you climbs and descents before you ride them — critical for judging whether a section is within your ability and your bike's capability. Place custom markers along the route to note fuel stops, water sources, photo spots, or tricky sections. All of this exports with the GPX file and appears as waypoints on your phone when you're riding.

GoraAdv's fuel tool adds another layer. It shows where you'll hit half tank, 10 percent remaining, and empty based on your fuel consumption. At the 10 percent mark, it searches for nearby fuel stations and lets you reroute through one. On a long offroad route with no guaranteed fuel, this can save your trip.

Save your route to your account so you can access it from any device, share it with riding partners, or modify it later. Plan at home on a big screen, download the GPX to your phone, and ride.

When you lose the track

It happens. The trail forks and neither fork matches your GPX line. The track you're following dead-ends at a gate or a washout. You took a wrong turn five kilometres ago and didn't notice.

First, stop. Zoom out on the map and locate yourself relative to the GPX track. Most of the time, you can see a parallel trail or a connecting road that gets you back on route within a few kilometres. If not, backtrack to the last point where you were on the line. Backtracking feels like losing time, but it's almost always faster than trying to push through unknown terrain to rejoin the route ahead.

This is where waypoints earn their value. If your GPX file has markers at every major junction, you can navigate between waypoints instead of following the exact line. Missed a section? Skip to the next waypoint and reroute from there.

Carry a paper map of the region as a last-resort backup. It can't run out of battery, it shows the full area at a glance, and it works when your phone doesn't. On a multi-day trip through remote terrain, a paper map weighs nothing and can save everything.