Suunto stores your routes and workouts on its servers and lets you share them through a public link. At TrackLAB we have built a direct bridge to those links: instead of downloading the GPX, digging it out of a folder and uploading it by hand, you paste the URL and get the analysis. This guide explains how to do it, what happens behind the scenes and how to fix the most common problems.
When the URL method is the better option
Importing straight from a URL is ideal when:
- You are analysing routes created by someone else (a training partner sends you the link to an outing you want to replicate, for instance).
- You would rather not fill up your phone with downloaded GPX files.
- You are working from a computer and prefer copy and paste to hopping between the app and your browser.
- You want to analyse several routes back to back and need a quick workflow.
If you plan to save the route to your personal TrackLAB library for later, either method works. The result is exactly the same.
Step by step
1. Find the public link in Suunto
Open the activity or route in the Suunto app (or on suunto.com). Tap the share button and select Copy link. The link will look something like this:
https://www.suunto.com/move/...https://api.sports-tracker.com/apiserver/v2/routes/export/...https://sports-tracker.com/workout/...
TrackLAB recognises all three formats. If the route is not public (if it is marked as private, for example), you will need to change its visibility first — Suunto will not serve private content without a login.
2. Open the TrackLAB Analyser
Go to TrackLAB > Analyser. In the upload area you will see three tabs: GPX, FIT and URL.
3. Paste the URL
Select the URL tab and paste the link. You can use the clipboard icon button to paste whatever you copied last automatically.
4. Press "Download and analyse"
You will see a short progress bar (between three and ten seconds). Here is what is happening behind the scenes:
- TrackLAB sends a request to Suunto's server asking for the GPX behind the link.
- It receives the GPX XML and processes it: counting points, calculating distance, elevation gain (D+) and maximum and minimum altitude.
- It automatically detects the key climbs and builds the elevation profile.
- It works out the TrackLAB difficulty (a score from 0 to 100) based on elevation gain (D+) and average gradient.
When it finishes, you get the map, the profile, the metrics and the climbs panel. Without touching a single file.
Common errors and how to fix them
"The file could not be downloaded"
This is nearly always down to one of three things:
- The route is private. Switch it to public in Suunto, or copy the link while signed in.
- The link has expired. Some temporary export URLs expire after a few minutes. Copy it again.
- Suunto is down. It happens. Wait a few minutes and try again.
The GPX downloads but "has no valid points"
Suunto sometimes generates empty GPX files for indoor activities (treadmill, indoor cycling) where there is no GPS. In those cases there is simply nothing to analyse — use another route with real GPS data.
The elevation gain does not match what I see in Suunto
Suunto and TrackLAB use different elevation smoothing algorithms. The differences are usually small (5–10%) and come down to Suunto filtering micro-variations aggressively while TrackLAB counts them. If you want to know why that matters, we cover it in our guide to positive and negative elevation gain.
After the analysis
Once TrackLAB has processed the route you can:
- Save it to your library to come back to later.
- Compare it with another route by overlaying the elevation profiles.
- Export a professional PDF with all the metrics (ideal for coaches).
- Work out your estimated time based on your fitness level.
In summary
Importing from a Suunto URL turns a three-step process (download, find, upload) into a single one. It is especially handy for analysing a training partner's routes, or for quick workflows where you want to move straight from one analysis to the next. If you work through a lot of Suunto routes each week, this method will save you hours over the course of a year.