Make a route map poster from the race you ran.

A marathon on an A3 page

A city marathon is a good test for a route poster because the course runs through dense streets and the line has to stay readable over all of them. This is how one A3 portrait poster of a 42.3 km run along the Thames in London comes together.

• Page

  A3 portrait, 297 × 420 mm. At 300 DPI the PNG comes out at 3508 × 4961 pixels, which is plenty for a print shop.

• Base map

  A dark style with small labels, so the streets sit back and a bright course reads first.

• Route line

  A thick orange line that stands out against the dark streets and can be followed from across a room. The width table below gives printed sizes.

• Start and finish

  Two white circle markers, one at each end of the course, each with a short label.

• Text

  The city and distance as the title, a personal line and the finish time as the subtitle, and the coordinates underneath in a monospaced font.

• Export

  PDF for the print shop, because it keeps the route as a vector line at the exact page size.

  

From your watch to a print file

Most apps hand you a GPX file in a couple of clicks. Once you have one, the rest happens in the editor.

1. 1

   Export the GPX from your app

   On Strava, open your activity on the website and choose Export GPX from the "..." menu. On Garmin Connect, open the activity, click the gear icon and choose Export to GPX. On Komoot, open the tour and use the GPX download in its menu.

2. 2

   Import it into a new map

   Open the editor, choose Import map data and pick the file. The track arrives as a route layer you can style. The GPX map maker page covers file sizes and how waypoints come in.

3. 3

   Set the page and frame the route

   Pick the page size first, then fit the map to the route. Leave a band of empty space above or below the course if you want the title to sit off the map.

4. 4

   Choose a base map that stays quiet

   Light styles with fewer labels work best under a bright route. Turn down detail and text scale until the streets give context without competing with the line. For a hike, contour lines show the climb on the map itself.

5. 5

   Style the line and mark the ends

   Set the route colour and width, then add a place at the start and another at the finish. For a loop, one place labelled "Start / Finish" keeps the corner tidy.

6. 6

   Add the words

   Use the title for the event or trail name, the subtitle for the date, and the caption for distance and time. Coordinates can go in too, in decimal or degrees-minutes-seconds.

7. 7

   Export

   PDF for professional printing, PNG for a home printer or online print service, layered SVG or PSD if you want to finish the layout in another program.

Pick a line weight that prints well

Route width is set in pixels in the editor. In the PDF, SVG and PSD exports every pixel of width prints as 0.3 mm, so the default 4 px line comes out at 1.2 mm on paper. Use the table as a starting point and check the preview at full page view.

• Dashed lines read as planned or unfinished. Keep a solid line for the route you completed and use dashes for an alternative or a future attempt.