USA Summits on the Air (SOTA) — 50,530 Summits | Point-Coded KMZ for ATAK, TAK Aware & Google Earth

50,530 current SOTA summits. Every reference, every point value, in one download.

A complete conversion of the official SOTA Summits List into KMZ: 51,035 U.S. records — 50,530 current summits and 505 retired references — across 49 states and territories, including Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.

It ships as 60 KMZ files, not one: 49 by state or territory, 7 by region, and 4 nationwide. Load the state you're driving to instead of the country you're not.

Every placemark is labeled with its official reference and summit name, colored by point value, and backed by a card carrying elevation, points, activation history and links to the official record.

Reference use only — please read

This is a planning aid built from a fixed snapshot. It is not a live feed, not a trail guide, and not permission to be anywhere.

• The coordinate is the summit. It is not a trailhead, a parking area, an access road, or a legal route in. Plan the approach separately.
• Color is the point value, nothing else. It says nothing about difficulty, scrambling, snow, road condition, or fitness. A 2-point summit can be a harder day than a 10-pointer.
• The Activation Zone is not drawn. These are point placemarks. Consult SOTA's rules for the qualifying area.
• No access authorization. A SOTA reference does not grant entry to private, tribal, military, protected or seasonally closed land.
• It's a snapshot. Summit validity, names and activation counts move. The source list was pulled 11 September 2026.
• No basemap included. The KMZ carries placemarks and icons. Load your own offline imagery or topo before you lose signal.

How the color coding works

Pin color is the summit's base SOTA point value.

GREEN — 1–2 points
Lowest point band.

BLUE — 3–4 points
Moderate.

YELLOW — 5–6 points
Mid-to-high.

ORANGE — 7–8 points
High.

RED — 9–10 points
The highest band SOTA awards.

GRAY WITH SLASH — retired
Expired or otherwise not current as of the snapshot date. Retired references live in their own folder in every file, so an expired reference is never mistaken for a qualifying summit.

Icons are embedded in the KMZ. No icon server, no broken pins, no fetch when you're off-grid.

Inside every summit card

• SOTA reference and summit name — e.g. W3/PW-039 — Sugarcamp Mtn
• Status: current or retired
• State, association, and SOTA region
• Elevation in feet and meters
• Points and seasonal bonus
• Coordinates and grid references
• Validity dates
• Activation count and latest activation with the activator's callsign
• Links to the official SOTA summit record and to the coordinate in Google Maps
• A field note repeating that the coordinate is the summit, not an access route

The same values are written to standard KML ExtendedData, so QGIS, ArcGIS and scripted workflows read them as fields rather than as one block of HTML.

File structure

Folder hierarchy is identical in every file, so switching from a state file to a regional or nationwide one requires no relearning:

Region → State → Current Summits or Retired & Historical → Point Band

• States/ · 49 files, one per state or territory with records
• Regions/ · 7 files — Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, Mountain West, Northwest & Pacific, U.S. Territories
• Nationwide/ · 4 files — current master, East and West current subsets, and a retired/historical master
• SOTA_USA_Counts.csv · auditable counts by region and state
• manifest.json · source date, totals and processing summary
• README.txt · quick start and color key

Counts by region: Northwest & Pacific 28,800 · Mountain West 12,578 · Southwest 4,492 · Southeast 2,325 · Northeast 2,157 · Midwest 551 · Territories 132.

Alaska alone holds 19,533 records, California 4,328, Washington 2,806. That is why it ships split — a nationwide file with 50,000 placemarks will crawl on a phone.

Compatibility

• ATAK / CivTAK / iTAK / WinTAK: import directly or drop into Data Packages
• TAK Aware (iPhone)
• Google Earth Pro (desktop) and Google Earth Web
• QGIS, ArcGIS and other KML/KMZ-capable GIS software
• Any application reading standard OGC KML 2.2

Google My Maps note: My Maps enforces file-size and feature limits that will reject the large western and nationwide files even though the KMZ is valid. Start with individual state files there.

Fully functional offline once loaded. The SOTA record and Google Maps links on each card need a connection only if you choose to open them.

Who it's for

• SOTA activators planning a route, a multi-summit day, or a trip to an unfamiliar association
• Chasers who want to see where a spot is coming from without a browser
• Amateur radio operators running portable HF, VHF or satellite work from high ground
• ARES/RACES and emergency comms planners looking for elevated sites with known access history
• Hikers and backcountry travelers who want labeled, sourced summit references offline

Sources & methodology

• SOTA Data (sotadata.org.uk): the official Summits List, downloaded 11 September 2026. Source of every reference, name, elevation, point value, validity date, grid reference and activation figure.
• U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files: state and territory polygons used to assign each summit to a state from its coordinate.

What was done to it. U.S. association records were selected and non-U.S. records filed under an erroneous association label were removed. Longitude, latitude, validity dates, elevations, point values, grids and activation fields were parsed and validated. Each coordinate was tested against Census boundaries to assign a state, with documented fallbacks for remote coastal and island summits that fall outside generalized coastline polygons. Records were classified current or historical as of the snapshot date. Every KMZ archive was integrity-tested and every doc.kml parsed as XML.

Audit result: 51,035 records exported, zero left unassigned to a state or territory.

Data attribution

Summit data originates with Summits on the Air and its associations, who remain the sole authority on summit validity, references and program rules. This product is a derivative work: on top of the source list it adds coordinate-based state assignment, current/historical separation, point-band color coding, the folder hierarchy, the formatted summit cards and ExtendedData fields, and the state, regional and nationwide KMZ builds.

District47 is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Summits on the Air. For program rules, current summit status and official association resources, go to sota.org.uk and sotadata.org.uk.

Terms

Single-user license for personal reference and planning. Redistribution, resale or repackaging of these files is not permitted. Sold as-is with no warranty of accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose. Not a substitute for official SOTA rules, current land-management guidance, or your own route planning.