Extract text from Global Mapper workspaces (GMW)
To convert GMW workspaces to another format, you need Global Mapper or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "Map Workspace File" file type, you need software like Global Mapper or a similar tool.
A .GMW file is a workspace or script file created by Global Mapper, a widely used Geographic Information System (GIS) application developed by Blue Marble Geographics. It functions as a project file that saves the current working state of a map session. This includes layer display parameters, custom map projections, zoom levels, and the styling of vectors and rasters.
The main disadvantage of the .GMW format is that it does not contain the actual geographic data. Instead, it acts as a structured script holding plain text pointers that reference the file paths of external spatial datasets stored on your local drive (such as .GeoTIFF satellite imagery, SHP vector data, or LAS point clouds). Consequently, sharing a standalone .GMW file with a colleague is useless unless you also send the underlying data files and maintain the exact directory structure. Furthermore, opening the file in its intended graphical state requires a paid commercial license for Global Mapper.
Because .GMW is a project and settings file rather than a container for spatial coordinates, standard online converters completely fail to process it into map formats like KML or SHP. To convert the map into usable target formats like a PDF document or DXF CAD file, you must open the workspace within the original software alongside its linked data and use the native export functions.
This file format is difficult to open or convert directly without the original GIS environment. However, just drag and drop your file into convert.guru to identify the format, view its internal text structure, and extract the missing local file paths. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your GMW file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted DT2, GMP, GIC and DWG files.
If you want to convert GMW file to DWG, INI, CFG, CONF, CONFIG, JSON, XML, YAML, YML, TOML, ENV or PROPERTIES, you can use Global Mapper or similar software from the "GIS Project Workspace Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert ZSHRC, CONF, RCFILE, GITCONFIG, RC, PLIST, BASHRC, CONFIG, PROFILE, INI, PREFS or CFG files to GMW, try Global Mapper or another comparable tool in the "GIS Project Workspace Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our GMW converter.