Usually I’d just Tweet a question like this, but I feel like I need more than 140 characters to ask this question.
While I could probably rattle off most of the countries I’ve been to, I’ve never formally tracked those countries. I suppose I could keep an alphabetical spreadsheet, or something, but the last time I had fun with a spreadsheet was… never.
I’m wondering if anyone has a favorite site they use for tracking the countries they’ve visited. Ideally it would be a website with a map that lets you easily see which countries you’ve been to and which you haven’t. For example, countries that you’ve visited would be one color, and countries you haven’t visited would be another color (I recognize countries like San Marino and Monaco wouldn’t have much significance on the map, but…).
I’ve found several websites like that, though here’s the added wrinkle: I’m hoping for a site that lets you easily update the countries you’ve been to without having to start all over. In other words, a site where you can log-in and save your profile, or perhaps one where you can save the HTML code, and then can easily go back in and update it.
I’ve looked into probably a dozen mapping sites, and some are quite decent. The issue is that I couldn’t find an easy way to “save” the places I’ve been to, so I don’t have to start it all over.
Given how well traveled you guys are, I suspect someone will have the perfect solution. I’ll be sure to go through all the comments and test out any sites mentioned, and then can write a follow-up post with what I found, since I suspect I’m not the only one who would like a pretty, color-coded, easily updatable map of the places I’ve been.
Thanks!
Almost every website recommended in the comments has attempted to match the old Trip Advisor travel map. But RoadGoat has surpassed it.
There's a lot of unique features unseen in other travel maps. Besides being able to seamlessly sync your travel data from Facebook, Instagram, Fitbit, FourSquare, Garmin, TripIt, Google location history, and more with a click of a button (you never have to input again as it keep pulling the data unless you...
Almost every website recommended in the comments has attempted to match the old Trip Advisor travel map. But RoadGoat has surpassed it.
There's a lot of unique features unseen in other travel maps. Besides being able to seamlessly sync your travel data from Facebook, Instagram, Fitbit, FourSquare, Garmin, TripIt, Google location history, and more with a click of a button (you never have to input again as it keep pulling the data unless you decide to opt out) RoadGoat also encourages users to rate the cities and countries they've been to Yelp style. There's also a fun leadership feature!
Google Sheets has a chart type called "Geochart" where it will color in countries on map based on values in a spreadsheet. I have a list of countries (and US States) in a Google Spreadsheet and then I put a 1 if I've been there or a 0 if I haven't. It makes the place's I've been Green and the ones I haven't Red. I actually also use 0.5 for places where I have trips...
Google Sheets has a chart type called "Geochart" where it will color in countries on map based on values in a spreadsheet. I have a list of countries (and US States) in a Google Spreadsheet and then I put a 1 if I've been there or a 0 if I haven't. It makes the place's I've been Green and the ones I haven't Red. I actually also use 0.5 for places where I have trips planned. Then you can simply use formulas in Sheets to add them up.
https://developers.google.com/chart/interactive/docs/gallery/geochart
https://blogs.library.duke.edu/data/2014/06/05/mapping-in-google-spreadsheets/
Better than "Been" is "Visited World Map" which can be downloaded to an android tablet and is possibly available in IOS too. Different continents are in different colours, there's a count of the number of countries and a percentage of the world visited. Another good one is "Countries Been" which has different colours for visited, lived in and want to visit.
I just found travel.tip.org and was able to check off counties and revisit it since you create a user name and password.
Majir problem I found was that I remembered 3 countries not listed that I visited: Aruba, Martinique, and Turks & Caicos.
I use the map at traveltip.org . The interface is simple and it keeps track of your visited countries so you only need to update it when you visit a new one.
Hi Lucky,
I plotted my travel history and animated it using R, which is a statistics program language. It's pretty fun to watch. I think animation is much better than the just plot.
Thanks for all the information that you posted. If you think you want your own animation of travel history, I can definitely make you one. Here is the link. Hope you enjoy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lNhBuLubtE
I just downloaded the Been app and it is missing some territories and miscategorizes some others. For instance, the US and British Virgin Islands are not listed at all. Not categorizing the BVI as a separate entity from the UK seems wrong. You have not visited the UK if you've only visited the BVI, and going to London isn't the same thing as visiting the BVI. Same with the USVI. Also, Puerto Rico is listed...
I just downloaded the Been app and it is missing some territories and miscategorizes some others. For instance, the US and British Virgin Islands are not listed at all. Not categorizing the BVI as a separate entity from the UK seems wrong. You have not visited the UK if you've only visited the BVI, and going to London isn't the same thing as visiting the BVI. Same with the USVI. Also, Puerto Rico is listed as a separate country from the US, which is obviously not the case.
IMO all US states and territories should be included in the listing as "states" for the "United States" view. For other countries, that country's territories could be listed as separate countries in the "World" view.
Mosttraveledpeople.com for sure, since a big reason I created it was for this use case ;)
My favorite was virtualtourist.com, unfortunately they closed down feb 28th. Tripadvisor bought them. They also have a nice app if you link with your Facebook account.
What great responses from your readership. A very well travelled aggregation. I would like to go off topic and throw out this challenge. I have travelled well but my international travel has been almost exclusively Western Europe...I still visit Paris every year. I now feel that I should see more of Asia. I have been to Korea (military service), Japan, and Shanghai. I talked to a plane seat mate who was an American who lives...
What great responses from your readership. A very well travelled aggregation. I would like to go off topic and throw out this challenge. I have travelled well but my international travel has been almost exclusively Western Europe...I still visit Paris every year. I now feel that I should see more of Asia. I have been to Korea (military service), Japan, and Shanghai. I talked to a plane seat mate who was an American who lives in Singapore. She called it Asia Light. Everyone speaks English. What do you well traveled readers recommend for me? Here are the caveats: I'm old and can no longer strenuously hike. I like to stay in luxury properties with my hotel points: Hyatt or Marriott/Starwood. Love to visit interesting sites but I am not an adventurer. Good food is an important priority to me. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
I use Match.com
Clickbait.com/slow_news_day
it's the best!
Travbuddy doesn't have South Sudan as a separate country.
I use the BEEN app and an app called visited countries.
Traveltip.org. Set up login. Tick boxes on list. Map created with countries in colour. Lots of nice stats (percent of Europe / Asia etc) and can log in and edit and save. Does the job.
I use Tripadvisor.com it has neat pins and also gives you percentages etc.
I find it best.
check out this word press plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/visualizer/screenshots/
look at the Geo map option - I think this may be what you are looking for.
let me know if you need help setting it up.
I've used TravBuddy - it's easy to use and comprehensive by giving you a choice to track states or provinces for some countries.
I've also used TripAdvisor's places map for the detailed view of all the cities I've visited.
For my blog, I like amcharts.com - it has very similar functionality to TravBuddy and it's easier to customize the map for your blog!
travel tip.com
Er... Does it have to be an app? My friend gave me this Scratch a Map gift, which I love. You get an A2 size world map which you can scratch the countries you've been to. Granted San Marino, Monaco and Andorra isn't really relevant but it's pretty neat. No need to save it, just hang it on the wall and scratch away...
http://www.luckies.co.uk/product/scratch-map-personalised-world-map-poster/
I have been able to track my travel history since 2009, when I first got my iPhone and it’s available to everyone who has turned on Location History on Google Maps, try it here:
https://www.google.com/maps/timeline
This is what I do. I make heavy use of Google services. Yes yes people are scared of big brother blah blah. Once people stops freaking out needlessly they'll be happier. Part of Google location benefits with Google maps is that they can tell you everything and I mean everything. For example on my trip to Berlin a few months ago I can go back to Google maps timeline feature, pick a day that I...
This is what I do. I make heavy use of Google services. Yes yes people are scared of big brother blah blah. Once people stops freaking out needlessly they'll be happier. Part of Google location benefits with Google maps is that they can tell you everything and I mean everything. For example on my trip to Berlin a few months ago I can go back to Google maps timeline feature, pick a day that I sin berlin and it will show me every place that I had been. It will show how I got there and how I left. Additionally, when I was planning my trip, every place that I wanted to see I would tag on the map as want to see. Places that I visited that I want to remember most I tag with a star. This won't work if you don't have a data connection while you are walking around. So you'll need a sim card or use an international plan or have tmo or google fi. Let me know if you want the full scoop on how it works.
TripAdvisor's travel map is pretty great: http://take.ms/OCJJn (screenshot)
Just sign in or register, click on your Profile Photo / Name in the top right, and select "Travel Map" from the drop down list.
The nice thing is if you add reviews of restaurants, hotels, etc., to TripAdvisor it will automatically add those cities to your 'been' list.
MostTraveledPeople is the most comprehensive one I've seen.
It really depends on the goal but I like how they split the countries into multiple regions. After all, if we use the US example that most readers are quite familiar with, if the only place one visited in the US is NYC, have they really been to the US?
MostTraveledPeople gives you the ability to count it as a "yes" in their UN map but still...
MostTraveledPeople is the most comprehensive one I've seen.
It really depends on the goal but I like how they split the countries into multiple regions. After all, if we use the US example that most readers are quite familiar with, if the only place one visited in the US is NYC, have they really been to the US?
MostTraveledPeople gives you the ability to count it as a "yes" in their UN map but still track each state separately which is fair in the long run. Countries are diverse and if you claim you've been to one, you really should hit multiple areas to get the taste of that diversity.
I like Matador. Here's my map https://matadornetwork.com/travel-map/5c3bf0b36527a75cc38c8bb66511a4db-1417372329
I use Swarm (the check-in portion of the app formerly known as Foursquare) to keep track of where I've been. You can see a map of your check-ins in your profile on foursquare.com.
The isn't exactly what you are looking for, but I like using App In The Air. You either hook up your mailbox to it or forward each itinerary individually, and it keeps track of your flights, and then it pops all your data into a map and gives you other info like the airlines you have flown, the aircraft type, etc. It's fun, and a handy way to not only keep track of current and future flights, but also historic ones too.
Yes TripAdvisor!!!
Before anything else, you need to choose what's your "reference list". Like, how you define a place you've visited. I think the three most popular lists are "UN members" (193 countries), "Travelers' Century Club" (325 territories) or "Most Traveled People" (875 areas). I've chosen the "Travelers' Century Club" as it makes most sense to me. Visiting e.g. St. Maarten in Caribbean actually counts and it wouldn't be Netherlands like with "UN members" list, but still...
Before anything else, you need to choose what's your "reference list". Like, how you define a place you've visited. I think the three most popular lists are "UN members" (193 countries), "Travelers' Century Club" (325 territories) or "Most Traveled People" (875 areas). I've chosen the "Travelers' Century Club" as it makes most sense to me. Visiting e.g. St. Maarten in Caribbean actually counts and it wouldn't be Netherlands like with "UN members" list, but still you don't have to mark every single of 95 different areas (oblasts) of Russia like with "Most Traveled People".
Second JoshR, flightdiary.net is easy to use. But I'll take a look at travbuddy.
I use Been as well, but I *hate* that its not possible to zoom in/out via 'pinching' as you can with other map applications...
I'm sad enough to keep every flight I've ever been on in a spreadsheet... Date, Origin, Destination, Airline, Flight #, Class, Aircraft Reg, Aircraft Type, Mileage.
Pivot tables help calculate totals, frequent aircraft types, miles flown by class etc
You should use eSpatial, it's specifically mapping software vs a travel logging service/app, and they have a free account that includes freely embeddable and automatically updated maps.
You can add their 'World Countries' dataset to a map, use a 'Visited' field to the country and have it be true/false, and have it automatically colour the countries based on this value when you update it.
I created a Google map.
I have been using the app BEEN
I love using http://www.thebesttravelled.com because it doesn't just check off countries, but it does actual regions which is much more descriptive and useful, especially when you get into enormous countries like Russia or the USA or extremely diverse countries. Plus it also gives a country count/list if that's all you want. I settled on TBT after advice from some VERY seasoned travelers including Stefan.
Hello from Jakarta, btw. Time to update my map!
The "Mark O'Travel" App is pretty good. Easy to track where you've been, where you're going, and where you want to go. Check it out!
Does "flightdairy.com" have a counterpart for the lactose intolerant?
I use http://mosttraveledpeople.com/
The interface is a bit old-fashioned, but it does the job for me. I like that it does not just list countries, but "places", including separate states and the like.
The new Google Maps Lists feature!!
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2017/02/14/google-maps-now-lets-create-travel-bucket-list/
I've been using the been app too. Very easy to use.
What are the best options for counting countries visited but also pinning cities? Once big issue with Travbuddy is that just because you've been to one city in one country, it counts the whole country - doesn't make sense.
TripAdvisor's map used to be good however it's very bloated.
The "Been" app is pretty good for checking off where you've been. It double counts a few countries (e.g. Dubai and the UAE), but otherwise does the trick.
Nomad List is one that i've thought is pretty neat.
sample profile https://nomadlist.com/@levelsio
TripAdvior does this. If you have an account, under your name there's a "travel map" link that shows the places you've been and you can add places you want to visit. It's more city based than country based though.
Thebestravelled.com
Most travelled people
Travelers century club
The first site tracks all the countries, regions, etc. You can also track World Heritage Sites, cities, airports, etc. It is the grand daddy of travel lists.
This isn't a by country one per say but for mapping your flights would be super interesting for you. You simply put in date and flight number and your seat/class and it fills in route details and what aircraft flew it , then totals per year/ lifetime etc and that's in hours, weeks, miles, km etc most frequent aircraft, route and more. Www.flightdiary.net - check it out!! If you want to see one done mine is www.flightdiary.net/markbob
Flightdairy.net is great for tracking flights and countries, but the map shows flights, not color coded countries. Still an awesome site though.
Matador Network has a great map that use and regularly update
Travbuddy for sure!
trip.com. Incorporates reviews with a nice mapping feature.
Not actually a website, but I have been using the app 'Been' since the very start of this hobby and it suits all of your wishes! Very easy process of adding countries and a nice overview on a map; countries coloured orange have been ticked of the list, grey countries have yet to be visited.
I use travbuddy to create a map which also shows the the percentage of the world visited and most traveled people for countries & UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Give the TripAdvisor app on Facebook a try. You can enter cities directly by name, locate them on the map and it's keeping track of the numbers and shows little pins on the world map. You can also mark places as "want to go there"
travbuddy.com I see a few bloggers on boardingarea use it
I love it