How to Add GPS Data Overlay to Your Cycling or Running Video

Action cameras capture what a ride looks like. Your GPS device captures what it felt like — the power output on that climb, the heart rate spike in the final sprint, the speed you held through the descent. Combining both turns a regular ride video into something that tells the full story.

Stamptivity's Overlay tool syncs your GPS data to your video and renders live gauges — speed, heart rate, elevation, cadence, a moving map — that update frame by frame as the video plays. When you export, those gauges are burned into the video.

What You'll Need

• A video file from your action camera or phone (MP4, MOV, WebM)
• A GPX or FIT file from the same activity
• A desktop browser (the Overlay tool requires a larger screen — it doesn't run on mobile)

How GPS Sync Works

The tool uses the start timestamp in your GPX/FIT file and the video's start time to align them. If the times don't match exactly — for example, your camera clock is a few minutes off from your GPS — you can adjust the offset manually using the sync slider. Scrub the video to a moment you recognise (the start of a climb, a junction) and check whether the map position matches.

Step-by-Step

1. Open the Overlay Tool

Go to Stamptivity Overlay. The tool runs entirely in your browser — your video and GPS data never leave your device.

2. Load Your Video

Click the video pane and select your video file. The video loads locally — no upload, no waiting.

3. Load Your GPS File

Drop your .gpx or .fit file into the GPS zone. The tool parses your telemetry and draws your route on the map.

4. Add Gauges

From the gauge panel, add the metrics you want to display:

• Speed — current speed in km/h or mph, updates every frame
• Heart Rate — live BPM from your HR monitor
• Elevation — current altitude in metres or feet
• Cadence — pedalling cadence (cycling) or step cadence (running)
• Map — a moving map with a dot tracking your current position
• Elevation Chart — your elevation profile with a moving cursor

Click any gauge to select it, then drag it to position it anywhere on the canvas.

5. Adjust the Time Offset

Play the video and watch the map dot. If the position doesn't match where you are on screen, drag the sync slider to shift the GPS data forward or backward in time until it lines up.

6. Export

Click Export to render the video with all gauges burned in. Export takes longer than playback — a 5-minute video at 1080p typically takes 2–5 minutes to render, depending on your machine.

The output is a standard MP4 file you can upload directly to YouTube, Instagram Reels, or TikTok.

Tips for the Best Result

• Camera clock accuracy matters — sync your camera clock to your phone (GPS time) before a ride to minimise the offset adjustment.
• Darkening the gauge background slightly improves readability against bright or complex video backgrounds.
• For action camera footage, place the map in a corner and speed/HR as compact gauges — avoid covering the main subject of the shot.
• If you recorded with a chest strap, the heart rate gauge will be much smoother than optical HR from a watch.
• Shorter clips export faster — if you only want to overlay a highlight section, trim the video first before loading it.

Supported Activity Types

The Overlay tool works with any activity that produces GPS + telemetry data — cycling, running, hiking, skiing, paddling. The available gauges adapt to what your GPS file contains (e.g., cadence only shows if your file has cadence data).