# ZikZak

> ZikZak (zikzk.com) is a free web app that turns your travel photos into a map of every trip. It reads where and when each photo was taken, works out where home is, sorts the rest into trips and draws them on a world map – all in your browser, with nothing to install and no ads.

ZikZak is for people who have years of travel photos on their phone or computer and want to see every trip on one map without typing in places by hand. It works in any modern web browser on phones, tablets and computers. You don't need an account to make your atlas; a free account only adds a cloud copy and sharing.

Key facts:

- Places come from the location data (GPS) and date saved in each photo. Photos from phones, computers, whole folders and Google Photos (via a Google Takeout export) are supported, including HEIC.
- Privacy: photos are read in the browser and stay on the device unless the user saves their atlas to the cloud or shares it. Cloud copies have GPS and other camera data removed. A shared link is a separate, view-only copy that rounds locations to about 1 km and hides the home location.
- Photos without location data are counted after the import and can be placed on the map by hand.
- What you get: trips drawn from home, visited countries lit up, travel stats (countries, places, continents, distance travelled), a timeline by year, and a memory for each place with its photos and notes.
- Play my atlas: a highlight reel that flies from place to place. "Make a video" saves a vertical video (MP4 where the browser supports it, otherwise WebM) for Reels, TikTok and Stories, made in the browser.
- My year in travel: cards with a year's highlights, to save or share.
- Someday: places and countries you'd love to visit. Plan it shows a country with photos from Wikimedia Commons, places to see, the best months to go, and links to find flights and stays. "Plan with a friend" shares the plan with someone else, and each country has a "Questions & tips" section.
- Discover: see places, trips and photos that other travellers chose to show. Nothing is shown in Discover unless the user switches it on.
- A sample atlas (drawn sample images, not real photos) lets you try ZikZak without your own photos.
- ZikZak doesn't track your location while you travel and doesn't make printed books.
- Free, non-commercial project run from Denmark. Contact: hello@zikzk.com.

## Guides

- [How ZikZak works – questions and answers](https://zikzk.com/about): what ZikZak does, what happens to your photos, data credits and an FAQ.
- [Travel map from photos](https://zikzk.com/travel-map-from-photos): how ZikZak builds a travel map from your photos' location data.
- [Google Photos travel map](https://zikzk.com/google-photos-travel-map): turning a Google Photos library into a travel map with Google Takeout, read in the browser.
- [Map of everywhere I've been](https://zikzk.com/map-of-everywhere-ive-been): every place and country you've visited, from your photos, plus Someday places.
- [Online scratch map alternative](https://zikzk.com/online-scratch-map): countries light up from your travel photos instead of scratching a poster.
- [Travel video from photos](https://zikzk.com/travel-video-from-photos): playing your trips as a highlight reel and saving a vertical video.
- [ZikZak vs Polarsteps vs Been](https://zikzk.com/zikzak-vs-polarsteps-vs-been): a fair comparison of three ways to put your travels on a map.
- [Countries](https://zikzk.com/countries): 249 country pages with places to see (credited Wikimedia Commons photos), the best months to go, and ZikZak’s starter questions and tips; one per country, for example https://zikzk.com/country/japan.

## Legal

- [Privacy policy](https://zikzk.com/privacy): what is stored, where, legal bases (GDPR) and your rights.
- [Terms of use](https://zikzk.com/terms): the rules for using ZikZak, shared atlases and Discover.

## Optional

- [The app](https://zikzk.com/): open ZikZak and add your photos, or explore the sample atlas.
- [Full text for AI assistants](https://zikzk.com/llms-full.txt): this summary plus the guides' questions and answers in one file.