Why Your Google Maps Import Shows 'Waypoint 001' (and How to Fix It)

You exported your Google Maps saved places, imported the file into OsmAnd or Organic Maps, and now every single one shows as "Waypoint 001", "Waypoint 002", "Waypoint 003". The locations are right but the names are completely gone.

This is one of the most common failures when moving Google Maps data to offline apps, and it comes up constantly in OsmAnd subreddits and Organic Maps GitHub issues. The good news: the fix is straightforward once you know which of the three causes you're dealing with. Check each cause below — most people hit one of the first two.

The Three Root Causes

The "Waypoint 001" problem always traces back to the same thing: your import file has coordinates but no <name> tags, or the names exist in the source data but weren't carried through the conversion. Three different paths lead to this outcome.

Cause 1: Your Converter Stripped the Name Fields from Saved Places.json

When you request a Google Takeout export and select Maps (your places), Google includes a file called Saved Places.json. This is a GeoJSON file where each place's name lives in properties.name.

The problem is that many conversion tools — including the popular tokml command-line tool and various basic online converters — don't map properties.name to the <name> element in GPX or KML output. They copy the geometry (coordinates) but skip or mishandle the name field. The result is a technically valid GPX or KML file where every waypoint has coordinates but no name, so your app fills in "Waypoint 001", "Waypoint 002", and so on.

How to confirm this is your issue: Open your GPX file in a text editor and look at a <wpt> block. If you see this, you're missing names:

<wpt lat="48.8584" lon="2.2945">
</wpt>

A correctly converted file looks like this:

<wpt lat="48.8584" lon="2.2945">
  <name>Eiffel Tower</name>
</wpt>

Fix:

1. Go back to your original Saved Places.json from the Google Takeout zip
2. Use Takeout Tools — upload the .json file directly, select GPX or KML as output
3. Takeout Tools explicitly maps properties.name to the <name> element, so every waypoint gets the correct name
4. Download the output and re-import into your app

If you want to use a command-line approach instead, you need a tool that explicitly maps GeoJSON properties.name → GPX <name>. The ogr2ogr tool from GDAL does this correctly with the right flags, but Takeout Tools is faster if you don't have GDAL installed.

Cause 2: You Converted the CSV Directly Without Geocoding First

Google Takeout's "Saved" folder (the one with your lists like "Want to Go", "Favorites", and any custom lists you created) contains CSV files, not GeoJSON. These CSVs have the place name, address, and URL — but no latitude or longitude coordinates.

Some people find a CSV-to-GPX converter online and feed the file straight in. The converter creates waypoint entries but has no coordinates to put in them, so it either strips the names entirely or creates broken waypoints. Either way, the import into OsmAnd or Organic Maps fails silently or shows unnamed markers.

How to confirm this is your issue: Open your CSV file. If you see columns like Title, Note, URL, Comment but no Latitude or Longitude columns, you have the raw Takeout CSV and it needs geocoding before conversion.

Fix:

1. Upload your CSV files to Takeout Tools
2. Takeout Tools geocodes each place by name and address (adds real latitude/longitude coordinates)
3. Select GPX as the output format
4. Download — the resulting GPX has both correct coordinates and the original place names in <name> tags
5. Import the GPX into OsmAnd or Organic Maps

The geocoding step is what most basic converters skip. Without it, you can't get a valid GPX with names from the Takeout CSV.

Cause 3: The Organic Maps .json Import Issue

If you're specifically using Organic Maps, there's a third path to unnamed imports. Organic Maps can import Saved Places.json directly from Google Takeout, but if you import the file without renaming it or if your places come from a custom list (not the default "Saved" list), the names may not appear correctly.

The root issue is that Organic Maps' import picker does not recognise the .json file extension — it only looks for .geojson, .gpx, .kml, .kmz, and .kmb. The file simply doesn't appear as an import option. An Organic Maps maintainer confirmed this in a November 2025 GitHub thread: "It looks like we didn't catch the .json extension yet." Renaming to .geojson fixes the extension-detection problem. A separate issue may affect custom-list places: entries from lists like "Tokyo Trip" may still appear without names after renaming, because those entries can have a different GeoJSON property structure than the default Saved Places list.

Fix:

Option A — Rename and re-import:

1. Rename Saved Places.json to Saved Places.geojson
2. Import the renamed file into Organic Maps (Menu → Bookmarks → Import)
3. Check that names appear correctly in the imported bookmark list

Option B — Use the GPX path instead (more reliable):

1. Upload your Saved Places.json or your Takeout CSVs to Takeout Tools
2. Export as GPX
3. Import the GPX into Organic Maps — GPX <name> tags are parsed reliably across all versions

Option B is the safer choice if you have custom lists or if renaming to .geojson doesn't fix the names.

How to Verify Before Importing Everything

Don't import 500 places only to find they're all unnamed. Test with a small batch first.

Steps:

1. Take your converted GPX or KML file and open it in a text editor
2. Copy just the first 5 <wpt>...</wpt> blocks (including the surrounding <gpx> wrapper) into a new file — call it test-5.gpx
3. Import test-5.gpx into your app
4. In OsmAnd: go to My Places → Tracks → find the imported track → check that each waypoint shows its real name, not "001"
5. In Organic Maps: go to Bookmarks, open the imported list, verify each entry shows the place name
6. If all 5 show correct names, proceed with the full import
7. If any show "Waypoint 001" or similar, check the raw file again — use GPX Validator to confirm <name> tags are present

The text-editor check is the fastest way to catch the problem before it wastes your time: if <name> tags are present in the file, your app will show them.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does OsmAnd show names in the list but not on the map?

My places have names in OsmAnd but they all show as generic flag icons. How do I get the category icons back?

I renamed to `.geojson` in Organic Maps but names still don't show for some places. Why?

Does this affect KML imports too?

What's the difference between `Saved Places.json` and the CSV files in Takeout?

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Free Tools

• GPX Validator - Check your GPX file for errors including missing name fields
• KML to GPX Converter - Convert KML to GPX preserving place names
• GeoJSON to GPX Converter - Convert GeoJSON to GPX preserving names

See Other Export Guides

• How to Transfer Google Maps Saved Places to OsmAnd
• How to Transfer Google Maps Saved Places to Organic Maps
• How to Export Google Maps Saved Places as GPX
• Google Maps Takeout: Saved Places.json vs CSV
• Google Maps Takeout Export: What Fields Are Included