Overlanders ,what's your system for documenting the territories you've covered over years of travel?

Posted by Neat_Assumption_4908@reddit | overlanding | View on Reddit | 6 comments

5 years into overlanding across India and Southeast Asia. I have hard drives full of photos, GPX files scattered across three different apps, and a fading memory of exactly which routes I've driven.

I was trying to put together a rough map of everywhere I've overlanded and realised I genuinely couldn't reconstruct it accurately. There are entire regions I drove through that I can only vaguely place on a map now.

How do serious overlanders handle this? Do you maintain a master record of your routes and territories? And more philosophically — do you think of overlanding as territory you're claiming and accumulating over time, or is it more about the individual expedition and the journey itself?

I feel like overlanders have a unique relationship with maps and geography compared to other travellers and I'm curious how the community thinks about this.

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Valorantify@reddit

For your existing 5 years of data from India and Southeast Asia, first consolidate all scattered GPX files into one common format. Use a desktop mapping program to import everything. This helps visualize and approximate past routes, linking photos by timestamp to fill in gaps. Moving forward, pick one primary app for all track recording and stick to it. Regularly export tracks and waypoints, backing them up to a dedicated external drive. Also, keep a simple digital log after each trip, noting key dates and route summaries.

PsychologicalAge9331@reddit

I burn them into my mind. Then I promptly erase them with whiskey. It's a terrible system.

momize@reddit

I ran into Belgian couple traveling the US who used an app called PolarSteps. I started using it and generally like it. Allows you to document with both pictures and text and will track your location (if you allow it to), so you don’t have to remember all the routes and locations.