ViaMichelin (.xvm)
A .xvm file is a single-route itinerary exported from ViaMichelin, the route-planning and mapping service run by tyre maker Michelin.
At a glance
| Extension | .xvm |
| Encoding | xml |
| Invented | 2001 |
| By | Michelin Group |
History
ViaMichelin was founded in 2001 as a subsidiary of the Michelin Group, building on a century of Michelin's paper maps and travel guides. As of 2024 it describes itself as Europe's last independent map and route-planning player, still active with a website and apps in seven languages across eleven European countries.
Where it is used
A .xvm file carries one route with a name and an ordered list of named stops, exported for use outside the ViaMichelin website or app — ViaMichelin's current route planner itself supports routes of up to six stops with several calculation modes (quickest, shortest, Michelin recommended, scenic, economical).
Structure
A .xvm file is XML, rooted at a PoiList element (versioned "2.0") holding either an Itinerary — a named sequence of Step elements, each with a name and a longitude/latitude — or one or more standalone Poi entries, each carrying its own coordinates plus city, address, name and description fields RouteConverter combines into a single description on read.
How widespread
ViaMichelin remains a live, actively used route-planning service — Michelin reports 300 million visits and 15 million unique users choosing it in 2023 — though the standalone .xvm export itself is an older interchange path rather than the current site's primary output.
RouteConverter support
| Reads | ViaMichelin |
| Writes | ViaMichelin |
RouteConverter reads a .xvm file's route or point entries and writes a single route back as an Itinerary; it does not write the multi-route or standalone-Poi shapes the format also allows on read.