ggz-tools is a set of tools to handle Garmin's GGZ files.

GGZ files store the information of a huge number of Geocaches in a format which allows some Garmin handheld GPS receivers to quickly display them.

Note that this work is not related to or endorsed by Garmin.

How to install

Prerequisites

ggz-tools is written in Python, so you will need to install Python 3. If you need this tool then most likely you are running on GNU/Linux and Python will already be installed.

Otherwise you can follow these instructions.

Steps

1. Download all files as zip
2. Unzip to a directory
3. Make both tools executable: chmod +x ggz_verify.py gpx2ggz.py
4. Optional: Add the directory to your path or add links to a directory in your path

Usage

gpx2ggz

This tool converts gpx files into a single GGZ file.

Simply pass the input gpx files as positional arguments and the output ggz file as last positional argument: gpx2ggz.py [input.gpx]... output.ggz

How to store Pocket Queries on your Garmin GPSr

1. run your Pocket Queries on geocaching.com
2. download the resulting zip files
3. unzip them to a directory
4. create the GGZ by running e.g. gpx2ggz *.gpx output.ggz
5. store the GGZ file in the /Garmin/GGZ directory of your Garmin device

This workflow worked as of 2025-03-10.

ggz-verify

I have not used this tool so far and cannot provide information for now.

License

This tool is available to anybody free of charge, under the terms of BSD 3-clause license (see LICENSE.md).

This work is based on ggz-tools by Richard Allen which was published without an explicit license.