Skip to content
Cartahaven

Moving from Avenza Maps to Cartahaven

Last checked

In 2026 the free version of Avenza Maps stopped opening your own maps, and the Avenza Map Store stopped taking new maps and publishers. If you are looking for somewhere else to keep your GeoPDFs, tracks and placemarks, this is how to move them to Cartahaven, as a map user or as a map publisher.

What changed at Avenza

  • Avenza’s changes FAQ says: “The free version of Avenza Maps no longer supports custom map imports”, and that previously imported custom maps “have been marked inactive”. Maps bought in the Avenza Map Store are not affected (Avenza changes FAQ).
  • The Map Store is “not accepting new publishers” and new map uploads “are not being accepted”; Avenza says the publisher portal will end “when the Map Store closes” (publisher FAQ). No closing date has been announced.

For a side-by-side of plans and features, see Cartahaven vs Avenza Maps.

If you use Avenza Maps

Your own maps (GeoPDFs and GeoTIFFs)

If you still have the original files, you are most of the way there: in the Cartahaven map app, tap “Import” and pick the PDF or GeoTIFF. Importing your own maps is free, with no limit on how many beyond your phone’s storage. A GeoPDF shows your position straight away.

If the files only live inside Avenza Maps, Avenza’s help says custom maps can be exported “in the same format as the map was imported” (Avenza: sharing maps). Export them to your phone’s files or a cloud drive, then import them here.

Avenza says maps downloaded from its Map Store cannot be exported. Those stay in Avenza. Look for the same map in the Cartahaven store: Forest Service MVUMs and USGS topo quads are here free, and some publishers sell here too.

Tracks and placemarks

Avenza exports map features as KML, GPX and CSV on every plan (Avenza: exporting features). The best route: in Avenza, export a layer as KMZ with photos included, then in Cartahaven tap “Import”, “Moving from Avenza” and “Choose Avenza export”. Placemarks, tracks and areas come in with their layer names, icons and photos, and Avenza attribute schemas become Cartahaven forms with the answers filled in (picklist fields come in as text). Plain KML, GPX and CSV exports work too, through “Import”, and Cartahaven also reads GeoJSON and shapefiles.

Sign in to the map app with a free account and turn on backup: tracks, placemarks, forms and area alerts are then saved to your account and sync to your other devices. See the help page for the formats in and out.

If you publish maps on the Avenza Map Store

Avenza advises publishers to “retain your own copies of all map files and associated assets”. Those same GeoPDFs are what you upload here; they are delivered as you made them, never re-encoded.

  1. Upload your GeoPDFs with the bulk uploader in your dashboard. Coverage areas are read from the files.
  2. Copy your listing details. The Avenza importer in your dashboard reads your public listings on store.avenza.com (or a CSV you paste), matches them to your uploads by title, and fills in titles, descriptions, prices and activities for the matches you pick. It copies listing details only; it doesn’t download maps from Avenza.
  3. Check and publish, then connect Stripe to sell paid maps.

Your Avenza buyers don’t move over automatically. To give them a map here, you can hand out access codes from your dashboard. Publishing here is non-exclusive. Fees, payouts and the details are on selling your maps on Cartahaven.