Your photos already record when and where you were. Travel Books reads that and lays out a first draft of the whole book: the days, the places and the routes between them. Everything on this page is taken straight from a real book.
What happens
Each photo has a time and a place. That’s all it takes.
Every photo you take already has a time and a location in it. Drop a trip in and each photo is placed where you took it. The route is drawn between them, the trip is split into chapters, and the whole journey becomes the opening spread of your book.
1Your photos come in
292 photos, straight off the phone. Each one already has a time and a location.
2Photos are grouped into moments
A gap in time or a jump on the map starts a new moment. No albums, no sorting, no tagging.
Tanjung Puting · 3–4 Aug
Yogyakarta · 5–7 Aug
Rantepao · 10–13 Aug
3Pages are laid out
Each moment gets its own pages: a chapter opener, your photos, and a map of the day.
Yogyakarta → its chapter openerYour photos → page spreadsOne day → its own map page
4The whole trip opens the book
A real page: Indonesia, 14 days, 292 photos, the route drawn from the photos’ GPS. No templates, no sorting, no design skills needed.
No. 1No forms, no pins to place
Every photo already has a time and a place.
That’s all a Travel Book needs. The whole trip is put back together and becomes your opening spread before you’ve typed a word.
A real page · 14 days · 292 photos · 6 journeys, drawn from the GPS in the photos
Your photos never leave your device while you build.
Your photos are read here in your browser. No upload, no account, and nothing looks at your pictures. They only leave your device when you choose to save a book link, invite someone to add their photos, or order the print. To draw the maps and look up each day’s weather we send a few coordinates and dates. That’s a dot on a map, never a photo.
A long drive gets a wide map. A day on foot gets a street map. Travel Books works out how you moved: a drive becomes a getting-there page, a hike gets its trail drawn, and a morning at a market gets a street map with every photo pinned on it.
The drive from Salzburg to Linz — 67 mi, drawn across the foldOne day in Yogyakarta — 40 photographs, 11 pins, one street map
The printed book: a lay-flat, open on a chapter map, readable right across the middle
What makes it different
The maps are what make it different.
Real cartography
Every chapter opens with a map made from real geographic data, printed at 300 DPI, in styles based on our wall maps.
Your actual route
The route you took is drawn across the page, point by point.
Laid out for you, then editable
Chapters, captions and layouts are done for you. Then you can rewrite any caption, move any photo, and change any page.
No. 3It’s a photo book first
Mostly, it is your photographs.
Page after page of your photos, in the order you took them. A map appears when a day needs one, then the photos carry on. Here are twelve spreads in a row from one chapter, nothing skipped.
Chapter openerPhotographsPhotographsPhotographsThe day mapPhotographsPhotographsPhotographsPhotographsPhotographsPhotographsGetting there
33 of this book’s 52 spreads are photos. The rest are maps, there to show where you were.
No. 4Chapters, found for you
Your trip already has chapters.
A few days in one place, then a move somewhere new. That’s a chapter. Each chapter opens with a map of the whole trip, with that chapter’s part highlighted and the rest faded back.
Ch. 1Teluknaga2 Aug · 5 photographsCh. 2Pangkalanbuun → Tanjung Puting3–4 Aug · 39 photographsCh. 3Yogyakarta5–7 Aug · 101 photographsCh. 4Sengkang8–9 Aug · 23 photographsCh. 5Rantepao10–13 Aug · 43 photographsCh. 6Tuban14–16 Aug · 81 photographs
No. 5Nothing to configure
The pages follow what you actually did.
A week with several stops, a real climb, the weather one afternoon. The book reads all of it from your photos and lays out each spread to match. You don’t have to set any of it up.
The moments it finds
It can tell what kind of moment each one was.
Your camera stores a time and a location in every photo. From those, Travel Books can tell whether you stayed put, crossed water or climbed. Looking the location up on the map says what was there: a market, a beach, a summit.
Fourteen examples, all from one 14-day trip through Indonesia.
From the mapa named place under the photos, looked up on the map
The landmark·Borobudur
Two hours at Borobudur
Day 05 · 6 Aug · 05:10–07:14
A named landmark under every photo, and two hours in one spot.
2h 04mHeld still
31Photos
07°36′S 110°12′ECoordinates
Clear · 79°Weather
The market·Pasar Bolu
The market at Pasar Bolu
Day 10 · 11 Aug · 06:40–09:15
A market on the map, and a whole morning spent there.
2h 35mIn place
52Photos
340 ftAcross
Overcast · 84°Weather
A meal·Yogyakarta
Sate, twice
Day 06 · 7 Aug · 19:40–21:28
A restaurant on the map, and nearly two hours at the table.
1h 48mAt the table
9Photos
30 ftAcross
19:40From
The show·Prambanan
The Ramayana, outdoors
Day 04 · 5 Aug · 19:30–20:40
A theater on the map, right where the photos were taken.
1h 10mWatching
16Photos
19:30From
Clear · 76°Weather
Wildlife·Tanjung Puting
Orangutans at Tanjung Puting
Day 03 · 4 Aug · 07:05–09:45
A nature reserve around the photos, with wildlife named inside it.
2h 40mThere
38Photos
Tanjung PutingThe reserve
Overcast · 88°Weather
Along the shore·Tuban
An hour on the sand
Day 14 · 15 Aug · 15:20–16:07
A named beach under the photos, and not much else to go on.
47 minThere
12Photos
6 ftElevation
Clear · 86°Weather
On the water·Sekonyer River
Up the Sekonyer
Day 02 · 3 Aug · 14:05–16:20
A harbor at one end, then a route no road could follow.
2h 15mAboard
≈ 6.2 miOn course
21Photos
Rain · 79°Weather
The meal, printed: “Sate, twice”, from the Indonesia demo book. The photo fills the page and the details are printed like a receipt
From how you movedspeed, distance and height between one photo and the next
On foot·Kete Kesu
Kete Kesu, on foot
Day 09 · 10 Aug · 09:20–10:55
Walking pace, inside a named part of town.
1h 35mOn foot
≈ 1.2 miDistance
27Photos
280 ftAcross
A hike·Batutumonga
The walk up to Batutumonga
Day 12 · 13 Aug · 07:40–10:30
A steady line over open ground, climbing most of the way.
2h 50mWalking
≈ 3.4 miDistance
620 ftGain
34Photos
The summit·Mount Sesean
The top of Mount Sesean
Day 11 · 12 Aug · 04:20–09:05
The highest point in the book, and a peak with a name.
1,960 ftGain
6,890 ftUp top
4h 45mMoving
44Photos
A ride·Yogyakarta → Solo
The train east
Day 06 · 7 Aug · 08:40–09:45
A station at one end, then a straight line at train speed.
1h 05mAboard
38 miOn rails
11Photos
08:40From
A shore day, printed: “The coves in January”, from the Costa Brava demo book. A mile and a half along the Lloret coast, every photo numbered on its own map
From the time of daysunrise and sunset at your location
Golden hour·Lake Tempe
The lake, all gold
Day 07 · 8 Aug · 17:34–18:09
Every photo taken in the last hour of daylight. No map needed for this one.
18:12Sunset
17:34–18:09In the light
19Photos
Clear · 82°Weather
After dark·Tuban
After dark in Tuban
Day 13 · 14 Aug · 20:05–22:47
Every photo taken after dark.
20:05From
22:47Last photo
23Photos
Drizzle · 76°Weather
An evening, printed: Plaza Malioboro at 19:32, from the Indonesia demo book. One photo carried across the whole spread
When nothing else fitsenough photos in one place to deserve a page anyway
An experience·Sengkang
An afternoon at Sengkang
Day 08 · 9 Aug · 13:15–14:35
Nothing on the map to name it. It still gets a page, and you write the words.
1h 20mThere
17Photos
SengkangPlace
Clear · 90°Weather
Nothing on these cards was typed in. The times, distances and heights are worked out from the timestamps and coordinates in your photos. The names come from looking those coordinates up on the map. You can change any of it, and the line about what actually happened is yours to write.
Organized for you
More than one place? Back a second time?
A trip with several stops, or one that comes back to the same place twice, is sorted for you. The photos are grouped into moments automatically.
The hike & the summit
Scale a mountain?
A climb is recognized as a hike from the photos alone. Distance, elevation gain, high point and time on the move are worked out from the timestamps, coordinates and altitudes your camera records, and printed next to an elevation profile of the day. Take photos as you walk and they become the trail on the map.
Reach the top and the summit gets its own spread: a 3D view of the mountain with your route drawn up it. You can turn it and adjust it however you like.
The hike spread: the trail drawn from the photos taken along it, with distance, elevation gain, high point and moving time
Drag to turn
The summit spread from the same walk: the terrain in 3D, the height reached, and the photo from the top pinned where it was taken. Press the button to turn it. That loads about 25 MB of terrain, and only when you ask.
2 Aug · 31°3 Aug · 27°4 Aug · 24°
Day by day
The weather from each day of the trip.
Clear, overcast or rain. Each day’s weather is looked up and printed with that day’s pages.
No. 6Yours to change
You can change all of it.
The book comes already laid out, so you never start from a blank page. But you can change every part of it. Rewrite the words on a chapter opener. Pick a different layout, and drag a photo into another spot. Change the map style. The three films below show the real studio, panel for panel.
Write your own words
Every chapter and every day opens with a short note, and the studio writes a first draft for you. Tap it, type over it, and the page updates as you go, in the same handwriting it prints in. You can change the lettering for the whole book too, and the shape of the page.
Change the layout
Each page has a few layouts to choose from: photos at the size they were taken, one big photo with the others beside it, or a simple grid. Pick a photo and you choose which part of it prints. Drag one onto another and they swap places, each keeping its own crop.
Change the map style
The journey map opens the book, so it’s a good one to try styles on. Turn the terrain on, then try a few. Each one changes the map colors and the paper tint, and one tap applies it to every map in the book.
The editing panel opens next to the page you’re working on, so there’s no separate settings screen. If you change your mind, Start this page over resets just that page.
Everyone’s photos. Still your book.
Four phones go on a trip, so the book shouldn’t come from just one. Send a private upload-only link from the studio, or show a QR code to the person across the table. Whoever opens it can add their photos and nothing else. They never see your book. Their photos land in your pile, go into the right days, and the pages re-flow around them. You decide what stays. Anything they send is deleted from our servers after 30 days.
Pick a map style and every map in the book uses it. These are the same palettes we’ve printed on our wall maps for years, and they work the same for a weekend walk or a trip round the world.
A city, on foot
Subtle Pastel ParisHeirloom RomeLagoon VeniceDusk Rose KyotoColorpop Tokyo
Street maps show the palette best: every park, canal, railway and block takes its color from the one you pick.
The open road
Soft Lavender ProvenceLemon The Amalfi driveTerra Canyon countryMuted Tones The HighlandsBlue Light Iceland
Outside town it’s the landscape that shows: hills, forest, coastline and the roads between them, all in the same style.
Across the world
Seafoam defaultAcross the PacificSolterra London to SingaporeWarm Neutral The length of AfricaExecutive Four cities in one week
Real pages: fourteen of the styles in the studio, each on a different trip.
The maps
Styled after our wall maps.
Coastlines, terrain and place names come from real geographic data. Many of the map styles are based on the wall maps we’ve made for the last ten years. Your route is drawn on top, exactly where you went.
No. 8The book itself
What you get.
Three bindings: hardcover, lay-flat and softcover. Three shapes: A4 landscape, A4 portrait and A5. Printed at 300 DPI on gloss paper. The details below are the exact specification we send to the printer.
Hardcover
From $46.95
A hard printed cover with a square spine. The classic photo book. It stands on a shelf and keeps its shape.
Paper
200 gsm
Pages
24 – 252
Spine
From 9.5 mm
Lay-flat — best for maps
From $89.95
Opens almost completely flat, so a map printed across both pages is readable right through the middle.
Paper
190 gsm
Pages
18 – 122
Opens
Near flat
There’s also a softcover: 150 gsm gloss paper with a flexible matte cover, 20 to 104 pages, from $26.95. The lightest and cheapest option.
297 × 210mm A4 trim · also portrait & A5
300DPI, every page
3507 × 2480pixels per page
252pages at the largest size
We lay out the trip. You tell the story.
The route, the dates, the places and the weather are all worked out for you. What each moment meant is up to you to say.
