first of all i have to say im so glad strava is working on implementing this feature, it was the one thing that was making me consider getting a garmin but if you guys can get it working well you will save me a lot of money and im sure there will be a lot of happy users!

had a quick go at loading some .gpx files on the beta and had mixed results from flawless recreation of the .gpx file to endless "computing route" message as mentioned by previous users. is there anything in particular that we as users can do to get better results? keeping my fingers crossed that you can get it sorted!

Thank you Paul Mach for the gpx to route generator link http://labs.strava.com/gpx-to-route. I am supporting some corporate customers coming from around Australia for a weeks worth of riding at the Tour Down Under in January. I was able to download each stage gpx file from the official TDU website and upload them to Strava using this developmental feature you guys are working on. It worked well so I am looking forward to it being released.

Thank you Paul Mach (and Martin Grace). The gpx to route generator (http://labs.strava.com/gpx-to-route) works spectacularly! It took me all of about 20 seconds to convert the gpx for the 2016 Triple Bypass into a route. Good stuff!

"It seems to work fine with roads but dirt track..."; "The gpx to route generator (http://labs.strava.com/gpx-to-route) works spectacularly!"; "It worked well so I am looking forward to it being released."

The platitudes are impressive. And very wrong. It does not work fine with roads. It does not work spectacularly or well. It may work fine if there are only a few roads where you live. However, here in NYC, it doesn't work properly at all. It never follows the GPX route submitted; but rather decides on its own streets. This, apparently, Strava considers to be a feature. In fact - it makes the route generator not-ready-for-prime-time. (And often unusable.)

See the attached file showing a typical example that did not work. The 'red' lines are where Strava decided to change my route. These red lines include about 50% of the most important points of interest on this ride! As well, the long 'red line' in the lower right-hand corner, Strava has decided to take me off the relatively safety of the Glenwood Road, a very wide, single-lane backstreet. Instead, Strava feels its better for me to ride 26 blocks down Flatlands Avenue, which is essentially a four-lane speedway with no room for bicycles. (In NYC, this is akin to Strava putting you onto an interstate divided highway.) Why? I have no answers. (This is not the only place that Strava has moved me from a safer route, to a more dangerous one on this particular ride.) Why does Strava feel that its computer knows better where I should be riding, than me? OK - at least let me have my choice. Have a button that allows me to chose: A) My route exactly, -or- B) Strava's 'optimized' suicide routing.

Also, Strava labs likes to call the results an 'editable route'. If I could use Strava to fix the incorrect route it generates; I would agree. However,Strava doesn't have a GPX editor, so I am not sure what they mean. The Strava application does not allow you to insert waypoints, or relocate existing ones (only delete them). Has anyone from Strava actually tried to use this? What is the status? When will you fix it?

Keep in mind this feature is still in development, and if the GPS data in the GPX file doesn't match the road and trail data in our basemap, the Strava Route builder will not be able to render these sections of the route.

I have tried to convert several GPX files and every time the lab page says "Error computing route". I know the files are fine. They are furnished by large races and work on other sites (e.g. MapMyRide).

Hi Elle, when I use either a fellow Strava member's activity via Copying & Pasting the URL or the GPX file downloaded from his activity, and then I upload it using the link you provided, I just get a "Error Computing Route: Reset" message. It appears as though most of the route populates, so it would be great to still save it despite whatever errors there are, but then again it would also be great to have zero errors calculating a route from one of Strava's own activities. Any thoughts?

Well I and I bet most of the users don't like couple of things on your site. Which ones- I won't explain either, its not the style of this site.

Looking back, there are a small percentage of people who really can track down this page about the issue. Among them there is a really small percentage of people who actually takes an effort to comment here or vote. So do the math, from 2012 there is an immense need for a simple, easily relatable need for a feature on the page to work more humanely and bring the site huge amount of users that makes the current user base a laughably small number, and still in 2016 its still buggy, unexplained and not usable. Why? Is there only one sole developer on this site? Isn't it bringing enough revenue? Or is the revenue already too satisfactory? Please, Strava, just for the sake of mankind, make the one sports tracker social site that makes world a better place. You have the power. You are already there, just couple of steps to the finish. Please. I beg you. I'll try being a better person myself in future. I'll do anything. Please. I really want to find a sports tracker that I'd be willing to get the premium. A tracker that is everything like Strava, with Importing-exporting, creating and using Routes, sharing them and most important- Has events that can use the created Routes.

Strava routes are not good to use for mountain biking. I use "osmand" on my phone for gpx navigation. It has offline maps, nav, and audible turn by turn directions. Strava maps are not offline so it leaves you without anything to reference.

@Gareth - we'll be fixing a minor Strava Route bug next week, which may be affecting you when creating a route from GPX using the Labs tool. Sorry for the trouble, there are a few things that could be happening with your specific route and it's difficult to diagnose exactly.

In the meantime, you can either manually recreate the route (by hand, clicking the points on the map) or try to find the original activity on Strava and from the Actions menu click "create Route".