MereTrax Home
MereTrax
Tracking Individual Adventures
surfer Sunset Hawaii Flower Ocean Rocks Egypt Seattle Waterfront

New to MereTrax? Start your journey — it's free. Get Started →

🌎  Welcome to MereTrax — Track Your Adventures

MereTrax is your personal travel journal on a map. Every journey you take — a road trip, a sailing voyage, a backpacking trek, a business tour — can be recorded here as a Voyage made up of individual Locations. Your travels are displayed as a beautiful, color-coded map you can explore, print, and share with the world.

This guide walks you through everything from creating your first voyage to writing a full journey log. Use the jump links below to go straight to what you need.

✅  Your First 5 Minutes — Quick Start

  1. Create a Voyage — click Voyages then Create Voyage. (details ↓)
  2. Add 2 or more Locations — click Locations and use Address, Map, Photo, Talk Your Map In, Track Me Now, or the Bulk Photo Import. (details ↓)
  3. View your Map — click Show Map and see your route appear. (details ↓)
  4. Optional: Share a link, write a Journey Log, and tune preferences in More → Settings. (details ↓)

📚  Contents

  1. What is MereTrax? (Voyages & Locations)
  2. Creating Your First Voyage
  3. Adding Locations (5 Methods)
  4. Bulk Photo Import New!
  5. Viewing Your Map & Globe View New Globe!
  6. Sharing & Journey Logs
  7. Ghost Writer — AI Travel Narratives New!
  8. Import from LifeArchive New!
  9. Sample Adventure Map ← see MereTrax in action!
  10. Quick Tips & Navigation Reference New Appearance Settings!

1. What is MereTrax?

MereTrax organizes your travel in two layers: Voyages and Locations. Think of a Voyage as a chapter and each Location as a page within that chapter.

⛵  Voyages — A Trip or Journey

A Voyage is a single trip. It has a title, date range, a line color, and a line style (road, flight, walk, bike, or straight line). All the locations in a voyage are connected in order by date, drawing your route.

Examples:

  • "European Summer 2024" — orange, great circle
  • "Pacific Sailing Log" — blue, geodesic
  • "US Road Trip — May" — green, road routing
  • "Business Travel 2025" — gray, straight line

📍  Locations — Your Stops

A Location is one stop within a Voyage. It has a name, description, date, and GPS coordinates. Locations become numbered pins on your map. You can attach a photo to any location — it appears in the popup when you click the pin.

Examples:

  • Paris, France — June 4 — "Eiffel Tower at golden hour"
  • Anchor Bay, Catalina Island — July 12
  • That little café in Lisbon you discovered by accident
  • The exact summit of a mountain trail
Free Account Limits: Up to 3 Voyages and 30 Locations total. Upgrade Here for unlimited voyages and locations.

2. Creating Your First Voyage

Click Add Voyage in the navigation. The form below appears. Fill in the title, dates, pick a bright line color, and choose how you traveled.

MereTrax — Create a Voyage
Voyage Title:
Start Date: Month:   Day:   Year: 
End Date: Month:   Day:   Year: 
Line Color:  ← Click to open the color picker
Line Style:

Create Voyage

▲ The Create Voyage form — this is exactly what you will see when you click "Add Voyage"

Choosing a Line Style

Style Best For How It Draws on the Map
Great Circle (default) Flights, ocean crossings Curved arc following the shortest path on the globe — looks natural for air and sea travel
Road (Driving) Car trips, road trips Follows actual roads using Google Directions — your route looks exactly like it was on the ground
Trail (Walking) Hiking, city walking tours Follows footpaths and walking routes
Bike Path Cycling adventures Follows bike-friendly routes
Straight Line Simple overview maps Direct line between each stop — no routing
Color tip: Each voyage gets its own color on your map. Use vivid, saturated colors (deep blue, bright orange, forest green) so routes are easy to tell apart. Avoid pale yellows or light grays — they blend into the map tiles.

3. Adding Locations

Once you have a voyage, add your stops. There are five ways to add a location. Use whichever is fastest for each stop — you can mix and match freely.

📒  Method 1: By Address — Easiest for named places

Click Add Location by Address. Type any address, city name, landmark, or point of interest. MereTrax sends it to Google's geocoder and finds the exact coordinates — no map clicking required.

MereTrax — Add Location by Address
Address:
Example: 123 Main Street, Seattle, WA 98104 USA
Description:
Your note about this stop
Date: Month:   Day:   Year: 
Select Voyage:

Save this Location

▲ Type any place name — coordinates are found automatically

What to type: Be as specific or vague as you like. "Tokyo" works. So does "Tokyo Disneyland" or "3-Chome Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0022, Japan". More specific = more accurate pin on the map.

📍  Method 2: By Map Click — Best for exact spots and remote locations

Click Add Location by Map. A world map appears — click anywhere to drop a pin at that precise location. Perfect for a remote anchorage, a mountain summit, a campsite in the wilderness, or anywhere without a street address.

MereTrax — Add Location by Map Click
🌎
Click anywhere on the map to drop a pin
Pan and zoom to find your exact spot
📍
✓ Pin dropped!  Latitude: 48.8584  Longitude: 2.2945
Location Name:
Description:
Date: Month:   Day:   Year: 
Select Voyage:

Save this Location

▲ Click the map to drop a pin, fill in the details, then save

📷  Method 3: By Photo — Magical — works if your phone saves GPS data

Click Add Location by Photo and upload a JPEG from your smartphone or camera. If the photo has GPS data in its EXIF metadata (most modern phones save this automatically), MereTrax reads the exact coordinates and the date it was taken — no typing required. The photo is also stored and displayed inside the map popup for that location.

MereTrax — Add Location by Photo
Photo File:  Browse…
JPEG with GPS data. Max 8 MB.
Select Voyage:

Upload & Add Location


✓ Location added from photo!
Latitude: 48.8584° N  •  Longitude: 2.2945° E  •  Date: June 4, 2024
Photo saved → will appear in your map popup and journey log.

▲ Upload a GPS-tagged photo — location and date fill in automatically

Does my phone save GPS in photos? Most smartphones do by default. iPhone: Settings → Privacy → Location Services → Camera → "While Using the App". Android: Camera app → Settings → Location Tags (or Geotagging). If a photo has no GPS data, MereTrax will tell you — switch to Method 1 or 2 for that stop.

🎤  Method 4: Talk Your Map In — Best for hands-free recall

Click Locations, then choose Talk Your Map In. MereTrax asks one focused question at a time and proposes location cards as you speak. Review each card, edit if needed, and click Add to Map.

  • Switch between Text and Voice input at any time.
  • Switch between Read and Speak output at any time.
  • Pick a browser voice once; MereTrax remembers it as your preferred voice.
Customize the interviewer: Go to More → Settings and fill in Talk Your Map In Constraints to control pace, question style, and topics to avoid. Example: "Ask one location at a time and keep replies under two sentences."

📱  Method 5: Track Me Now — Fastest for live travel — your current position in one tap

Click Locations → Track Me Now. Your browser requests your device's GPS signal, locks your exact coordinates automatically, and pre-fills latitude and longitude into the form. Add a name and description, then save — the whole process takes about 30 seconds. Ideal for logging a stop while you're actually standing there.

  • When prompted by the browser, click Allow to grant location access.
  • Wait a moment while the page acquires your GPS position — accuracy is typically within 5–10 metres outdoors.
  • Coordinates fill in automatically — just add a name and description and save.
Best accuracy outdoors. GPS works best with a clear view of the sky. Indoors or in dense city blocks the fix may take longer or be less precise. On desktop computers without GPS hardware, the browser falls back to Wi-Fi or IP location — usually accurate to within a few city blocks.
Note on location order: Locations within a voyage are connected in date order, not the order you entered them. Make sure each location has the correct date so your route draws correctly on the map.

4. Bulk Photo Import New!

Have a folder of vacation photos? Bulk Photo Import lets you select dozens of JPEGs at once and turn them into map locations automatically. Photos with GPS and date data in their EXIF metadata are saved instantly — photos missing that data go into a Review Queue where you fill in the gaps before saving.

Find it under Locations → Bulk Photo Import.

📷  How It Works

  1. Select a Voyage to import into.
  2. Click Select Folder to pick a whole folder of images, or Select Photos to choose individual files.
  3. Click Start Import. Each photo is processed one by one — you see a live progress bar.
  4. Photos with GPS + date are saved as locations automatically (green checkmarks appear as they're added).
  5. Photos without GPS or date appear in the Review Queue below the results. Fill in the location name, coordinates, and date, then click Save — or Dismiss to skip that photo.
  6. When all photos are processed (and all review cards resolved), click Done — View All Locations.
Best results: Use photos taken on a smartphone with GPS location tagging enabled. Most modern iPhones and Android phones embed GPS automatically — check Settings → Privacy → Location Services → Camera on iPhone, or Camera → Settings → Location Tags on Android.
Supported formats: JPEG and TIFF files carry GPS data. PNG and HEIC files are accepted but do not carry GPS, so they always appear in the Review Queue for manual coordinate entry. Maximum total upload size depends on your connection speed; there is no hard file-count limit.

5. Viewing Your Map

Click Show Map to see all your voyages on a live interactive Google Map. Each voyage appears as a colored line connecting your locations in date order, with a numbered pin at each stop. Click any pin to see its name, date, description, and photo.

MereTrax — Show Map — Your Adventures
Your Voyages
European Summer
Pacific Sailing
US Road Trip
📍
📍
📍
📍
Paris, France
June 4, 2024
"Climbed all 1,665 steps!"

▲ The map view — colored routes, numbered pins, and clickable popups showing your notes and photos

Map Tips

  • Click any pin to see the location name, date, description, and photo (if one was saved).
  • Scroll to zoom; click and drag to pan. All voyages appear at once.
  • Use Pure Map for a full-window, navigation-free view — great for screenshots.
  • The Print / Export button saves your map as a PNG image — ideal for framing or adding to a travel blog post.

🌐  Globe View New!

Switch to Globe View (via the Maps menu or the link on Show Map) to see all your voyages on a spinning 3D globe. Your routes appear as colored arcs on the Earth's surface, just like the flat map — but with a whole-planet perspective.

  • Hover over a pin to see the location name.
  • Click a pin to open a card below the globe showing the location name, date, voyage, and photo.
  • Drag to rotate the globe; scroll to zoom in and out.
  • Use Active / Inactive Voyages toggle at the top to switch between voyage sets.
  • Use Take Picture to save a PNG of the globe, or Email Globe to share it via Gmail or Outlook.
MereTrax Globe View — colored voyage arcs on a spinning 3D Earth

▲ The actual Globe View — your voyages as colored arcs on a spinning 3D Earth.

6. Sharing & Journey Logs

🔗  Sharing a Voyage Map

Click Share & Journey Logs in the navigation. You can enable a public share link for any voyage. Anyone with the link can view your voyage map on a clean, branded page — no account or login required.

MereTrax — Share & Journey Logs
Voyage Voyage Map Link Journey Log Actions
European Summer 2024 🔗 Active 📕 Published Copy Link • Edit Log • Disable
Pacific Sailing Log Private Not started Enable Sharing • Start Log

▲ Toggle public sharing and journey logs per voyage — independently

📕  Journey Logs — Your Travel Story

A Journey Log is a richly formatted travel narrative for a single voyage. Click Edit Journey Log on the Share page to open the editor. You can write a story, add map snapshots, upload photos, and embed videos. Everything is displayed in a clean, public page anyone can read.

  • Write a narrative — a free-form travel story in your own words.
  • Insert map snapshots — save the current voyage map view as an image directly into the log with one click.
  • Upload photos (JPEG, PNG, WebP — up to 8 MB each).
  • Embed videos (MP4, MOV — up to 200 MB).
  • Drag and reorder all media elements into the sequence you want.
Two separate links: The voyage map link and the journey log link are different URLs. You can share the live interactive map without publishing a written log, or vice versa. Both can be disabled at any time — the link simply stops working.

7. Ghost Writer — AI Travel Narratives New!

Ghost Writer is an AI interviewer that reads your voyage data and turns it into a written travel narrative in your own voice. Click Stories → Write My Story to begin.

How It Works

  1. Ghost Writer reads your voyage locations — names, dates, descriptions, and photos.
  2. It asks you a series of focused questions: where you went, what you saw, who you met, what it meant to you.
  3. Answer naturally, as if telling the story to a friend. There are no right or wrong answers.
  4. When Ghost Writer has gathered enough material, it offers to generate a full draft narrative.
  5. Your draft appears on screen and can be saved and published as a Journey Log.
Your session is saved automatically. Close the page and come back any time — Ghost Writer picks up exactly where you left off. Use the Output toggle to have its questions read aloud to you rather than displayed as text.

Tips for a Better Draft

  • Write descriptions when adding locations — even one sentence per stop gives Ghost Writer far more to work with than a bare place name.
  • Answer in full sentences during the interview — short answers produce thin narratives.
  • Talk Your Map In and Ghost Writer work well together: Talk Your Map In captures locations hands-free while you narrate your travels; Ghost Writer shapes that raw material into a polished story afterward.

8. Import from LifeArchive New!

LifeArchive is MereTrax's companion photo archive — a separate tool for storing, captioning, and rating your full-resolution photos. If you use LifeArchive, you can bring those photos directly into MereTrax as map locations: each photo's caption, GPS coordinates, and date carry over automatically. Find it under Locations → Import from Archive.

🖼  How to Import

  1. Select the Journey you want to import into — or create a new voyage on the fly.
  2. Your LifeArchive photos appear as a gallery. Filter by minimum star rating to surface your best shots.
  3. Click photos to select them (a checkmark appears). Click again to deselect.
  4. Click Import Selected. Each photo becomes a map location with its caption, date, and GPS pin.
GPS must be assigned in LifeArchive first. Photos without GPS coordinates cannot be imported as map locations — MereTrax wouldn't know where to place the pin. Return to LifeArchive and assign GPS to any photo you want to map, then come back to import.
LifeArchive is optional. It is a separate section of the site — use it if you want a curated, rated photo archive alongside your travel map. If you just want to drop photos straight onto the map, Method 3: By Photo works without it.

9. Sample Adventure — See MereTrax in Action

Here is a fictional voyage called "The Grand Eastern Tour" built with MereTrax to show you exactly what your travel map can look like. Eleven stops across three continents, connected by a great-circle route in orange. Click any numbered pin to read the stop's story.

📍 Click any orange pin to see the location details. This is an interactive Google Map — just like your own map will look.

Stop Location Date Notes
1London, UKJune 1, 2024Arrived at Heathrow — the adventure begins!
2Paris, FranceJune 4, 2024Eiffel Tower at sunset — breathtaking.
3Rome, ItalyJune 8, 2024Walked the Colosseum, tossed a coin in Trevi.
4Athens, GreeceJune 13, 2024Climbed the Acropolis at dawn — had the place to ourselves.
5Istanbul, TurkeyJune 17, 2024Bosphorus cruise and a morning at the Grand Bazaar.
6Cairo, EgyptJune 21, 2024Sunrise camel ride to the Pyramids of Giza.
7Dubai, UAEJune 26, 2024Desert safari and the world's tallest building.
8Mumbai, IndiaJune 30, 2024Gateway of India and incredible street food.
9Bangkok, ThailandJuly 6, 2024Temple hopping by tuk-tuk all day.
10SingaporeJuly 11, 2024Gardens by the Bay and a hawker centre feast.
11Bali, IndonesiaJuly 16, 2024Journey's end — rice terraces and paradise beaches.

This 45-day, 11-stop journey covers over 11,000 miles across Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia — and in MereTrax it's just one Voyage with 11 Locations. Add a second voyage in blue for a different trip and both routes appear on the same map, each in its own color.

10. Quick Tips & Navigation Reference

Tips for Getting the Most from MereTrax

  • Personalize your page appearance. New! Go to More → Settings → Appearance to pick an accent color for your page frame and card borders, change the inner border style (dashed, solid, dotted, double), and toggle alternating row stripes on data tables. Your choices are saved and apply across every page instantly.
  • Use More → Settings. Set your default input/output mode, voyage line type, map scope, and Talk Your Map In constraints so every new session starts your way.
  • Log stops as you travel. The description field is your on-the-road travel diary. A sentence or two written in the moment will bring the memory back years later far better than a photo alone.
  • Use one voyage per trip. Keep them separate so the routes stay clean. Give each one a distinct color.
  • Photo locations are the fastest method for smartphone travelers. Just enable GPS in your camera app and upload photos as you go — no typing required.
  • Dates matter. Locations connect in date order. If two stops have the same date, they connect in the order entered — so pick a meaningful date for each.
  • Archive, don't delete. The "Archive" option on any location hides it from your map without losing it forever. Use this instead of deleting if you're not sure.
  • Export a map snapshot for your blog, travel journal, or to frame on a wall — use the Print / Export button on the Show Map page.

Navigation Button Reference

Button What It Does
HomeDashboard and recent activity
MapsMap tools hub (Show Map, Globe View, Pure Map, Print/Export, Share/Journey Logs)
VoyagesCreate, edit, archive, and organize voyages
LocationsLocation tools hub (Address, Map Click, Photo, Voice, Track Me Now, Bulk Photo Import)
StoriesStory tools hub (Ghost Writer, Share & Journey Logs, Example Story)
Stories → Write My StoryGhost Writer — AI interview that generates a travel narrative from your voyage data (details ↓)
MoreAccount, Settings, Help, and utility pages
More → AccountUpdate username/email/display name and change password
More → SettingsSet preferences, defaults, notification options, Talk Your Map In constraints, and Appearance (accent color, border style, table stripes) New!
More → Export DataDownload all your voyages and locations as a JSON file — a full backup you can keep or import elsewhere

Account Limits

Free Account Paid Account
Voyages 3 Unlimited
Locations 30 Unlimited
Sharing & Journey Logs ✓ Included ✓ Included

→  Upgrade your account for unlimited travel tracking

11. Reporting a Bug

If something doesn't work as expected, you can send a bug report directly from any page.

🐞  How to Report a Bug

At the bottom of every page (when you're logged in) you'll see a Report a Bug link. Click it to open a small form where you can describe what went wrong. Your report is sent automatically along with the page you were on, so we can investigate quickly.

Good reports include:

  • What you were trying to do
  • What happened instead (what did you see?)
  • Whether it happens every time or just occasionally
  • The steps to reproduce it — e.g. "I clicked Add Location, filled in the name, then hit Save and got a blank page"
  • What device and browser you're using (e.g. iPhone / Safari, Windows / Chrome)
  • Any error messages you saw on screen

Suggestions and ideas for improvements are also very welcome — not just bugs!

You don't need to include your name or email — your account is already attached to the report.


Copyright 2013 - 2026 Seaton Gras, all rights reserved.  ·  Terms of Use