Help

Video Tutorials

We have put together a library of video tutorials. If you would like us to address a specific issue, click here to contact us.


If you cannot find the answer to your question below, please search our Help! Forums as most answers to critical problems such as GPS Import, Printing Problems, and Map Issues can be found there.

  1. What Is This Site?
  2. I Cannot See the Map
  3. I Cannot Login
  4. I Cannot Get Past Step 1 in Registration
  5. How Do I Plot A Route?
  6. How Do I Save A New Route?
  7. I cannot Save a New Route!
  8. How Do I Update A Route?
  9. What is the Workout Calculator?
  10. What is GPX?
  11. What is Garmin CRS?
  12. What is the Out & Back button?
  13. What is the Loop button?
  14. How do you find my Starting Location?
  15. What does Elevation Refer To?
  16. How do I share my Training Log?
  17. How do I make my Route Private?
  18. Elevation Ascent / Descent seem to be wrong!

Looking for a list of support Browsers?
Visit our Download Center

What Is This Site?

MapMyWalk.com is a site where you can easily plot maps of your walks without a GPS, search for walks or routes globally, keep track of your routes including distances, and even calculate how many calories you've burned on one route versus another!

I Cannot See the Map

If you clear your Internet cache can you still view the map? For instructions to clear your cache, please visit the following site: http://support.lexis-nexis.com/lexiscom/record.asp?ArticleID=wg_cache

Other users have discovered that it was their Internet settings or firewall / proxy settings (ie, Norton Firewall) blocking the mapping application. This is because the maps, etc. live on our mapping domain (ws.mapmyfitness.com) while the websites are at www.mapmyrun.com, etc.

If you have IE6, you may have to add "ws.mapmyfitness.com" and "www.mapmywalk.com" to your trusted site list. You should also use the default 'Medium' security setting in IE6. How-To Change IE6 Security Settings

If you are still unable to view the map, please visit our Download Center for a list of our Supported Browsers.

I Cannot Login

You must have cookies enabled to login. If you still cannot login, or keep getting redirected back to the login form even after you have logged in, please close all your browser windows and try again. We apologize for this inconvenience.

If this still does not work, try forcing a log out by following this link to log you out and clear your MapMyWalk.com cookies: Log Me Out

I Cannot Get Past Step 1 in Registration

Most likely you have an internet setting that is blocking the form from checking for duplicate email addresses and/or usernames. Please add this site to the Trusted Site list or lower your Internet Security settings.

How Do I Plot A Route?

Look up your starting location by entering it into the QUICK START box in the left-hand column and press or click Enter.

Once your address is found, take your mouse and start clicking on the map following your route. You'll see that the ROUTE INFO box will automatically update the total distance of your route as you go.

If you make a mistake, click the Undo button in the DRAW IT toolbar on the upper right-hand side of your map to undo the last point.

To start again and clear the whole map, click the Clear All button.

How Do I Save A New Route?

Once you are happy plotting your route you can save it if you think you'll use it again or would like to share it with others. Click the Save button in the upper left-hand corner of the map and aswer the question son the SAVE YOUR ROUTE screen to save this map to your profile so you can easily access it again and again.

I cannot Save a New Route

If you cannot save a new route and see a little yellow error triangle at the bottom left of your browser, you may need to add MapMyWalk.com to your 'Trusted Sites'.

You will also need to add ws.mapmyfitness.com to your 'Trusted Site' list. This is our mapping server and is how we render our maps and mapping tools.

Here is a tutorial for IE6.0
http://windows.about.com/od/networking/ss/trusted_sites.htm

Also look at your IE setting 'Access Data Sources Across Domains' to make sure it's allowed

How Do I Update A Route?

To update an existing route, you must first login. After you login, click on My Walk in the menu at the very top of your screen (look above the MapMyWalk.com logo and to the right.

Find the route you would like to edit in ths list of your routes / walks on the MY WALKS and click edit. All your routes will show up under your profile unless you saved the route anonymously.

What is the Workout Calculator?

The WORKOUT CALCULATOR is a tool that is used to calculate your pace, mileage per hour, and total calories burned for a particular route.

It takes your biometric statistics (such as height, weight, sex, and age) and then uses your pace and the type of route (ie, running vs. cycling) to calculate your total burned calories using METs (or metabolic equivalents). Click here to read a good article about how this is done.

What is GPX?

GPX (the GPS Exchange Format) is a light-weight XML data format for the interchange of GPS data (way points, routes, and tracks) between applications and Web services on the Internet.

Click here to learn more about this data format and about sites / programs that can convert your GPS unit's output.

What is Garmin CRS?

A CRS file is a "course" file, for use with very specific Garmin fitness GPS Units. Loaded onto a compatible device, the CRS file can show you a map of your route while you're on it and help you follow your goal pace.

Supported devices include the Forerunner 205, Forerunner 305, and Garmin Edge Series.

What is the Out & Back button?

An out & back is when you start in one place, route to a turn-around point, and then return to your starting position. MapMyWalk.com makes this easy to plot as all you need to do is plot a course to your turn-around point and then click the 'Out & Back' button. We'll re-plot the return points for you and you'll see your distance doubled!

What is the Loop button?

When you click the Loop button, the system will automatially return you to your starting location. Subsequent clicks on the loop button will draw more loops around the course you've previously plotted.

How do you find my Starting Location?

We use a 3rd party source to lookup your starting location given the address you provide. What our system does is map the address to a starting latitude and longitude point. If your address cannot be found, several things could have occurred: 1) the address does not exist, or 2) the address does not exist in our partner's database.

1) Usually occurs due to a common misspelling or typo. Make sure to review your address carefully. 1) also can happen if your street is a compound name. ie, 'East Main Street' can also be 'Main St E' or 'E Main St'. Try combinations like this if you think this could be the problem. Also, 'Drive' could be 'Dr', etc.

2) Usually occurs if your address is part of a new development. Our partner uses Census Data and depending on the year your street was built, it may not be up to date. Try an established address or intersection near you.

International lookups only have the capability to start at City, Country level. We are working on getting better lookup data for our International friends!

What does Elevation Refer To?

We now offer a tool that plots elevation profiles dynamically as well as total ascent and descent measurements.

How do I share my Training Log

First you must make your profile and your training log Public. This is done in your 'My Profile' page. The link to your profile is found on this page as well. The link to your public training log is then found on your Public Profile page.

How do I make my Route Private

To make your route private, first login and then click on My Walks. Then click the 'Edit' link next to the route name that you wish to change. Skip modifying the map by clicking right on the 'Save' link in the map toolbar. You can then unselect the 'Make this Route Public?' checkbox.

Elevation Ascent / Descent seem to be wrong!

We report ascent and descent stats for routes when they become 'significant'. This is currently set at about 60 meters of total climb. We can't guarantee a great deal of accuracy for routes with ascents < 60m, so we don't want to confuse our users by displaying inaccurate data. For long ascents, you should see your stats appear the the right of the elevation profile.

Our ascent and descent calculation algorithms don't count every small elevation change at every point because we need to filter out 'noise' in the underlying data. Prior to our latest algorithm change, we were reporting ascents that were in many cases too high. Our new algorithm gives more reasonable results for a wider variety of routes. However, since we know that this isn't 'perfect' quite yet, we've provided the raw data in CSV format so that users such as yourself can interpret the data as you choose.

Another reason we've released the raw data is so that we can collaborate to improve this feature. We'll soon be adding forums to the site, and we'll have a community collaboration on improving the elevation calculation functions.