Startup launches travel app that logs your route automatically
Travel app Polarsteps keeps track of your routes and displays them real time on an interactive world map
31 MAY 2015
It features prominently on the walls of many passionate travelers: a large map of the world showing off all their traveled routes. No need to bother with pushpins or paper maps any longer though: today the Dutch startup Polarsteps is launching an app and website that allows travelers to easily and automatically track their adventures. Polarsteps is the first travel blog that doesn’t require you removing your phone from your pocket.
Polarsteps was created by 4 enthusiastic adventurers with a passion for travel, design and coding. One of the founders, Niek Bokkers, gave birth to the first prototype of Polarsteps because of his need for a beautiful travel log that would help keep friends and family at home up to date. "Many travelers go on these awesome trips, but forget exactly where they’ve been when they get back home. Polarsteps fixes that.", says Bokkers.
Making creative use of the latest technologies, the app allows travelers to capture their route, pictures and places visited on the go. "Whenever an internet connection is available the information is automatically updated on an interactive world map, together with cool statistics about the journey. This map can be shared in real time with friends and family at home", Koen Droste, CEO of Polarsteps, explains.
The first prototype of Polarsteps caused a stir a few years ago, when Niek wrote a small app on a sailing trip that shared trip updates with his family via a satellite phone. Several prototypes were tested on trips to Mongolia in a Jeep Cherokee and to South Africa on motorcycle. Based on those experiences, an iPhone app was developed for a greater audience, available for download in the app store as of today. Android users will have to wait a little longer for the app, but can already keep track of their trips via the beta version of the desktop website at www.polarsteps.com.
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About Polarsteps
About Polarsteps
Polarsteps is helping over 5 million travelers across the world to plan, track, and relive their trips. The Amsterdam scale-up was founded in 2015 by a team of avid travelers with a passion for smart technology and cool design. The all-in-one travel app makes every part of the journey easier and more enjoyable: from the very first spark of travel inspiration to reliving it when it’s all over and done. The goal? To inspire and connect people across the globe through travel — so that everyone can express their wanderlust in a beautiful (and responsible) way.
Polarsteps is available for free in the App Store and Google Play store, or visit polarsteps.com.
Polarsteps – Make your way in the world
About the app
Easily use your travel bucket list to plan a trip and build your own editable itinerary. Once you're there, let us take over and plot your path on a digital world map that you can fill with your own photos, videos, and thoughts. Want to share your journey? Simply invite your loved ones along for the virtual ride. Finally, at the end of it all, you can create a beautifully designed Travel Book with the push of a button – turning your travel moments (the good, the bad, and everything in between) into lifetime memories.