OpenStreetMap is not only for streets, it also contains an impressive amount of hiking trails. I’m currently planning a a week’s hike in June, crossing the Alps from Oberstdorf to Vernago. How can I extract the route from OpenStreetMap and use it on my GPS? The route visualised in CartoDB. Interactive version. The BBBike extract service allows you to download OSM data for your region of choice. You can select your area of interest by using the map interface, or by specifying the map bounds coordinates. I selected an area covering the entire route, and ordered the data in a Shapefile format. Within a minute I received an email with a download link. The extract contains 8 shapefiles, and we only need the roads shapefile, which also contains hiking trails. If I open the shapefile in QGIS it looks like this: Roads and hiking trails in the Alps. You'll have great difficulties finding your trail on this map, so let's add a basemap from OpenStreet...