TrailRunner Mini uses eight words precisely. Learn them once, and every menu, label and export option in the app reads the same way.
| Term | What it is |
|---|---|
| Route | The plan: an ordered set of waypoints and the segments between them. This is what you create in the editor and what you follow outdoors. |
| Waypoint | A pin you place in the route editor to steer the route. The path is routed through every waypoint, in order. A waypoint is part of a route — it is not a saved place. |
| Segment | The connection between two adjacent waypoints. A segment either follows the trail network or runs straight. See below. |
| Straight | A segment that connects two waypoints with a direct line, bypassing the trail network. Armed with the Straight toggle in the editor toolbar. Use it where no mapped trail exists. |
| Landmark | A saved place. A bookmark you drop on the map and keep. Landmarks live independently of any route, and you can start or end a new route at one. |
| Collection | A folder for routes, so a trip, an area or a season stays together. |
| Trail network | The community-mapped OpenStreetMap graph of trails and paths that routing follows. |
| Track | Recorded or imported geometry — the line that came out of a GPS device or a GPX file. A track is a recording, not a plan. |
Two words are used more precisely here than you may be used to.
Track and route are kept apart. Elsewhere "track" often just means "the thing I follow". In TrailRunner Mini a Route is a plan you can still open and change, waypoint by waypoint. A Track is finished geometry that was recorded or handed to you. Both get you down the trail. Only a route stays editable.
A saved place is a Landmark. Waypoint is reserved for the steering pins inside a route, so the two never blur together. Drop a landmark on a trailhead, a hut or a parking spot. It stays on your map independently of any route, ready to start or end your next one.
The distinction is also what gets written when you export. TrailRunner Mini exports all three, so nothing is lost when a route travels to another app or device.
| In the app | In the GPX file |
|---|---|
| The course of your route | Track Points — <trk> |
| The waypoints you placed while planning | Route Points — <rte> |
| Landmarks along the route | Way Points — <wpt> |
Most devices read the track points and ignore the rest. That is why an exported route follows the right line on a watch, even when the watch has no concept of waypoints or landmarks.