Why export your Google Maps favourites?
Google Maps stores your places in lists (Favourites, Want to go, Starred, plus your own custom lists). It can show them on the map, but it won't let them out: there's no export command in the app, and sorting by category or area is done by hand, list by list. Exporting hands control back to you: backup, switching tools, and sharing a clean map with friends.
It's also the only way to safeguard years of research. Lose access to an account, or accidentally delete a list, and hundreds of saved spots vanish with it. A CSV export is your insurance.
Why is there no “Export” button in Google Maps?
This is the question behind most searches that land on this page, and the answer is short: Google Maps was never built as a place to keep data, only to browse it. There is no export command in the app, no “download list” menu, and no official route from a list to another mapping tool.
What Google does offer is Google Takeout, its account-wide data-download service, which sits outside Maps entirely. That is why the process feels indirect: you are not exporting from Maps, you are downloading a copy of your Google account data and picking the Maps part out of it. Everything below follows from that one fact.
Where to export: phone or computer?
You can start the export from any device, but a computer is easier: Google Takeout works best in a desktop browser, and the resulting ZIP is simpler to unzip and inspect there. The quick “share a list” method (below) is the one that's handiest on your phone.
Method 1 — Google Takeout (all your saved places)
This is the complete method — it exports every saved place in one go, with no 200-item limit.
- Go to takeout.google.com and sign in with the Google account that holds your places.
- Click “Deselect all” — skip this and Google prepares an archive of your entire account, which can take days.
- Scroll down and tick “Saved” (your saved lists) and “Maps (your places)” (starred and labelled places).
- Click Next step, choose a one-off export as a .zip, and create the export.
- Google emails you a download link, usually within a few minutes — allow a few hours if your account is large.
Inside the archive, your saved lists arrive as CSV files (one per list) and your starred places as GeoJSON — both open formats that other maps can read.
Exporting more than 200 saved places
A common frustration: the Google Maps web interface struggles to display hundreds of saved places, and older export tricks stopped at around 200. Takeout has no such cap — it exports your entire history at once, whether you have 50 places or 5,000. If you're a heavy saver, Takeout is the only reliable route.
Fixing a CSV with no coordinates
Here's the catch most guides skip: the “Saved” CSV files often contain only the place name and a Google Maps link — not latitude/longitude. Open them in a spreadsheet and you'll see a URL column rather than coordinates. That's normal.
To turn those links back into real map pins you need a tool that resolves each URL to its location. MyFavsMap does this automatically on import, so you don't have to geocode anything by hand.
Method 2 — Share a list (quick)
For a single list, open it in the Google Maps app, tap “Share” and copy the link. It's instant and handy when you only need one specific list (e.g. “Lisbon restaurants”).
That link can then be pasted into a tool that reads it and recreates the list elsewhere — no file, no unzipping.
Method 3 — Skip the export altogether
Worth saying plainly, because most guides will not: if you are starting a fresh map rather than rescuing years of saved places, exporting is the wrong tool. Takeout hands you an archive of the past; it does nothing for the places you collect from tomorrow onwards.
Add new places straight into MyFavsMap instead: search for a restaurant or café by name, or paste a whole list of names at once (from a friend, an article or your notes). Each place is pinned on the map and sorted by category, on desktop and on your phone.
In practice most people do both: one Takeout export to bring across what they already had, then direct adding for everything after that.
Import your favourites onto a custom map
With MyFavsMap, import the Takeout file or paste the list link: all your places land on one interactive map, sorted automatically by category and area, ready for day-by-day itineraries — for free, on your phone, with nothing to install.
Your favourites finally become usable again: filters, search, offline access and one-tap sharing.
Takeout into Google My Maps vs a dedicated map
You can import your Takeout file into Google My Maps, but you'll rebuild everything by hand on a desktop — placing and colouring layers one by one, capped at 10 layers. A dedicated tool categorises your places for you. See our full MyFavsMap vs Google Maps comparison and our guide to importing a list of places onto a custom map.
Export a single Google Maps list (without exporting everything)
Takeout hands you every saved place you own. If you only want one Google Maps list — your Lisbon restaurants, your Japan trip — there is a shorter route, and it does not involve a ZIP file at all.
Inside the Takeout archive, each of your lists is already a separate CSV file, named after the list. Open Takeout/Saved/ and take only the one you need. Every row is a place name plus its Google Maps URL.
Faster still: open the list in the Google Maps app, tap Share, and copy the link. That single link carries the whole list. Paste it into a tool that reads it and the list is rebuilt, in seconds, with no download and no unzipping. It is the method to use when you want one list, not an archive.
Export Google My Maps (KML or KMZ)
Google My Maps is not Google Maps, and the export works differently — this is where most people get stuck. My Maps holds the custom maps you drew yourself; Google Maps holds the places you starred and saved. Takeout does not export My Maps.
To export a My Maps map: open Google My Maps on a computer, open the map, click the three-dot menu next to the map title, then Export to KML/KMZ. Tick Keep data up to date only if you want a live network link; otherwise leave it off to get a plain, portable file.
KML keeps your layers, colours and descriptions, and just about every mapping tool reads it — including Google Earth, Organic Maps and MyFavsMap. If you export a KMZ, it is simply a zipped KML: rename it to .zip, open it, and the KML is inside.
Which format should you choose?
Three formats come out of Google, and they do not contain the same thing:
CSV — your saved lists. One file per list, one row per place: the name and a Google Maps link. Readable in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets. Note that it usually holds no latitude or longitude, which is why a raw CSV often lands nowhere on a map until something resolves those links.
GeoJSON — your starred and labelled places, with real coordinates. This is the one that maps straight away, without any lookup.
KML / KMZ — your My Maps custom maps, with layers, colours and descriptions preserved. The right choice when the styling matters as much as the places.
GPX — the format hikers, cyclists and GPS devices speak. Google does not produce it: there is no .gpx file anywhere in your Takeout archive. You reach GPX by converting a GeoJSON or a KML, or a CSV once it has real coordinates. Worth knowing if your destination is a Garmin or an offline navigation app.
| Format | What it holds | Comes from Google? | Has coordinates? |
|---|---|---|---|
| CSV | Your saved lists, one file per list | Yes, via Takeout | Usually not — links only |
| GeoJSON | Your starred and labelled places | Yes, via Takeout | Yes |
| KML / KMZ | My Maps custom maps, with layers and colours | Yes, but from My Maps — not Takeout | Yes |
| GPX | Waypoints for GPS devices and outdoor apps | No — conversion required | Yes, once converted |
If you only want your places on a map rather than in a spreadsheet, you do not have to pick: import whichever file you have and let the tool sort it out.
Where to import your export, app by app
Once you have the file, the real question is what will read it. Here is what each destination expects — and the trap that catches almost everyone, which is the same one every time: a “Saved” CSV carries links, not coordinates, so every tool below will place your points nowhere until those links have been resolved.
Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets — open the CSV directly, nothing to convert. The right choice when you want a list to sort and annotate rather than a map.
Google Earth — reads KML and KMZ natively, so a My Maps export drops straight in with its layers and colours intact. Google Earth Pro on desktop can also import a CSV, but only one that already carries latitude and longitude columns.
Organic Maps and OsmAnd (offline navigation) — both accept KML, KMZ and GPX. Useful when you want your places reachable abroad with no data connection.
Garmin devices and Gaia GPS — GPX is the language they speak. Since Google never hands you GPX, this route always involves a conversion, and therefore always needs real coordinates first.
QGIS and other GIS software — opens GeoJSON and KML directly. A CSV has to be added as a delimited-text layer, and QGIS will ask which columns hold latitude and longitude — which a raw Google CSV does not have.
MyFavsMap — takes the Takeout archive, a single CSV, a GeoJSON, a KML, or simply a pasted list link, resolves the missing coordinates for you, then sorts everything by category and area. That resolution step is the one thing none of the formats above will do on your behalf.
Is exporting your own data allowed?
Yes. Downloading your own Google data is a right rather than a workaround: Takeout exists precisely because data-portability rules such as the GDPR require it. You are copying places you saved yourself, to a destination you choose.
Two sensible cautions all the same. Your export is a plain, unencrypted file listing addresses you care about — your home, your friends’ places — so treat the ZIP as you would a private document, and delete the download once it has been imported. And be wary of any online converter that wants the whole archive uploaded: prefer a tool that states what it keeps and for how long.
