MTL Explorer

Self-hosted GPS track and trail log for your own PC, home lab, or server.

Start here

🏠 Home page	🧭 Live demo	▶️ Intro video
Visit the home page	Try the live demo	Watch on YouTube
Overview, screenshots, and feature tour.	No account needed; loaded with demo tracks.	Three-minute walkthrough.

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What it is

MTL Explorer imports Garmin, GPX, and FIT tracks, shows them on a map, analyzes track statistics, replays activities with a cinematic 3D camera, and can plan routes with BRouter. It is designed for self-hosting with Docker Compose. Location search runs in a separate GeoNames SQLite sidecar.

See the feature overview for the current capability list.

Why I built MTL Explorer: the project started from the need to see thousands of Garmin tracks on one map, then grew into a personal exploration, planning, and statistics tool.

Repository layout:

• mtl-server/ - Spring Boot backend.
• mtl-client/ - Vue 3 and TypeScript PWA.
• mtl-api/ - OpenAPI schema and generated TypeScript clients.
• docker-brouter/ - BRouter sidecar.
• docker-maps/ - optional local vector map sidecar.
• docker-location-search/ - GeoNames SQLite location-search sidecar.
• docker/ - import and demo-data helpers.

Quick start

Prerequisite: Docker Engine and the Docker Compose plugin must be installed and support docker compose.

1. Start the stack:

   • macOS, Linux, WSL, or Git Bash:

     mkdir mtl-explorer && cd mtl-explorer
     curl -fsSL -o docker-compose.yml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mindalyze-com/mtl-explorer/main/docker-compose.yml
     docker compose up -d

   • Windows PowerShell:

     mkdir mtl-explorer; cd mtl-explorer
     Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mindalyze-com/mtl-explorer/main/docker-compose.yml" -OutFile "docker-compose.yml"
     docker compose up -d

   (Note: The server takes about 10-15 seconds to boot up and initialize the database on first run.)

2. Open http://localhost:18080/mtl/ and log in:

   • User: mtl
   • Password: change-me

To import your tracks, copy GPX/FIT files into the ./data/gpx/ folder.

Change the default login before exposing MTL Explorer outside your home network. For custom logins, directories, offline maps, and reverse proxy setup, see the home install guide.

Documentation

• Home install - data folders, maps, updates, and logs.
• Container build - build local Docker images from a source checkout.
• Legal documents
• Contributing
• Security policy

License

License summary

MTL Explorer is dual-licensed: AGPL for free personal/home use, with a commercial license available for proprietary or hosted use.

• AGPL license
• Commercial license
• Trademark
• Third-party licenses

Disclaimer

Disclaimer summary

MTL Explorer is not a safety-critical navigation system. See the full disclaimer.

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Copyright (C) 2020-2026 Patrick Heusser and MTL Explorer contributors.