OziExplorer (.plt, .rte, .wpt)
OziExplorer is long-running Australian GPS mapping software that works with scanned, calibrated paper maps. Its data files are plain text, one file type per kind of object: .plt for tracks, .rte for routes and .wpt for waypoints.
At a glance
| Extension | .plt, .rte, .wpt |
| Encoding | text |
| By | Des Newman, Brisbane, Australia |
History
OziExplorer is written by Des Newman and comes out of Brisbane, Australia. It is shareware maintained by its author rather than a commercial concern, and it has been updated continuously for well over two decades — the published program history runs from 2003 through to 2025. Its distinguishing feature has always been calibrated raster maps: scan a paper map, calibrate it against known points, and navigate on it.
Where it is used
OziExplorer is a fixture of four-wheel-driving, prospecting, bushwalking and expedition navigation, especially in Australia, where official raster topographic maps are widely available. There are Windows, Windows CE and Android editions, and many budget GPS loggers ship an "OziExplorer compatible" export precisely because so many people use it.
Structure
All three are plain text with a small fixed header followed by one record per line and comma-separated fields. In a .plt track file each point line holds latitude and longitude in decimal degrees, a code that is 0 for a normal point and 1 for a break in the track line, altitude in feet with −777 meaning "no value", and the timestamp both as a numeric date serial and as human-readable date and time strings. Routes and waypoints follow the same shape with their own field lists. Because the files are text, they survive a text editor and diff cleanly.
How widespread
Niche but persistent. OziExplorer files are rarely produced by mainstream consumer apps, but they are the everyday working format of a dedicated community, and the −777 altitude sentinel and the feet-not-metres units regularly surprise people converting them for the first time.
RouteConverter support
| Reads | OziExplorer Route, OziExplorer Track, OziExplorer Waypoint |
| Writes | OziExplorer Route, OziExplorer Track, OziExplorer Waypoint |
RouteConverter handles all three OziExplorer file types through the bundled GPSBabel rather than with its own parser, so gpsbabel must be present — the installer ships it.