Collaboration with FindPenguins

[ivar]

Dear all,

I know some of you are already users of this forum (duh!) and also the "FindPenguins" App.

"FindPenguins" is a travel app, where you can create a "trip", take some photos while you travel and then it shows up on a map so that family and friends back home can follow you along. At then end, they offer to make a Photo book of your trip. Everything is free, except for the optional Photo Book at the end.

Either way... I have been in touch with Tobias (the guy that runs FindPenguins) and we are starting a small collaboration. He has created a "Camino Forum" group on FindPenguins where those of us on the forum that wants, can add their trip to the "Camino Forum" group. Those that do this, can bee seen on the "Camino Forum Group" map that you can see here:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/live/

If you are already a FindPenguins user and would like to add your "Camino Trip" to this user map, you can do so here:

Camino de Santiago: Join group tracking

findpenguins.com

(or by clicking the "I info" link over the "Live Kilometers" indicator on the map above).

If you are not a FindPenguins user, you can create a free account here:

Plan, track, and share your trip

Automatically and effortlessly track your travels, simply with your phone in the pocket. Create a beautiful travel journal and enjoy the benefits of our leading travel app.

findpenguins.com

As you can se on the map, I am already part of the group and visited Padrón this past weekend

Buen Camino!
Ivar

 

[mette]

I can’t find any groups in the Find Penguin app?
I can find people and places but no groups

 

[mspath]

Can we plot a past camino with this or must it be one from 2022?

 

[ivar]

I can’t find any groups in the Find Penguin app?
I can find people and places but no groups

On your phone, you need to click this link to join the group:

Camino de Santiago: Join group tracking

findpenguins.com

 

[ivar]

Can we plot a past camino with this or must it be one from 2022?

In the app you can set the date (in the past if you want) for each "stop" (they call it "Footprint") of your trip.
See photo below to see what it looks like in their app.

I am not sure (I need to ask Tobias) if older trips will show up in the group or not...

 

[ivar]

Over on the right (when you look at the map),

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/live/

...if you click/tap on "Travellers" over on the right side you can see that we have gotten a few members of the group now... traveling "soon"

 

[ivar]

ok, so just a short update after consulting with Tobias.

The map will show only "Active Trips", pilgrims on a current trip. Future and past traveler will be visible in the "Travellers" tab on the right hand side.

An "Active Trip" becomes a "Completed Trip" (no longer shows up on the map) when: The start date of the trip is in the past, the user posted at least one footprint and there is no new tracking waypoint within 24 hours.

 

[kje]

We used Find Penguins on our recent Camino Frances (ended May 17). It is an awesome app and leaving the tracker running uses minimal phone battery. We posted almost daily, friends and family could follow, including the kids who could watch the footprints move across the country. Then it can easily transform into a book or video at the end. Love it! And will use it for other adventures too.

 

[raincitygal]

This is great! I've been thinking about using this app for my trip this fall, should I join the group now or wait till I start mid September?

 

[ivar]

This is great! I've been thinking about using this app for my trip this fall, should I join the group now or wait till I start mid September?

Yes can set it up now. I see we have one that is traveling in 700 days!

 

[skotzko]

This is perfect and the timing couldn't be better as family was just asking about it. Signed up!

 

[lt56ny]

I can assure you if you combine the quality of my photographic abilities and the number of times I have walked after I show my wife and kids a couple of photos of some great friends I met they always seem to have something really important to do and say they will look at them later. I think later is the year 2050!

 

[trecile]

I've been using FindPenguins since my first Camino in 2016. It really is an easy way to blog and share your Camino with friends and family.

 

[peregrina2000]

He has created a "Camino Forum" group on FindPenguins where those of us on the forum that wants, can add their trip to the "Camino Forum" group. Those that do this, can bee seen on the "Camino Forum Group" map that you can see here:

This is a great idea. Ivar, am I right that the link to the group itself will not show up on my “notifications” or profile? That ought to be possible, otherwise I thnk I will will have to keep coming back to this thread to get to the site that lists all the current, future, and completed travelers.

 

[ivar]

This is a great idea. Ivar, am I right that the link to the group itself will not show up on my “notifications” or profile? That ought to be possible, otherwise I thnk I will will have to keep coming back to this thread to get to the site that lists all the current, future, and completed travelers.

No, it does not look like it shows up in the app...

I will most likely add a more permanent link to this on the forum home page somewhere...

 

[peregrina2000]

Another detail question — it looks like each traveler can only have one entry into the group. So what happens when one of the those who have done a “completed trip” are lucky enough to walk another camino? Both my and Terri’s Find Penguins pages already have many completed caminos on them, and I’m sure we are both hoping to add more someday.

And a heads up to those who post their trips — if you put your setting on private, no one can see them. For those who are walking now, that’s not a problem, because we can request to follow you and you can then give permission. But the two completed trips that are private are inaccessible. I understand why some people want to keep them private, but I don’t see any reason to put them on this site if they are not open to others!

Of course, I may be misunderstanding things, but maybe my questions will help.

 

[Lhollo]

This seems a great idea, and one that’s new to me! I’m unsure how to set the tracker, though. I want to share my location with this group, obviously, but not necessarily with the whole world. I’m not sure which is the best setting for this. Could you clarify it please?

 

[ivar]

Another detail question — it looks like each traveler can only have one entry into the group. So what happens when one of the those who have done a “completed trip” are lucky enough to walk another camino? Both my and Terri’s Find Penguins pages already have many completed caminos on them, and I’m sure we are both hoping to add more someday.

And a heads up to those who post their trips — if you put your setting on private, no one can see them. For those who are walking now, that’s not a problem, because we can request to follow you and you can then give permission. But the two completed trips that are private are inaccessible. I understand why some people want to keep them private, but I don’t see any reason to put them on this site if they are not open to others!

Of course, I may be misunderstanding things, but maybe my questions will help.

I am learning this as we go as well, but it might be true that it is only possible to add one trip per user to the group. Also, only trips with updates over the last 24h will show up on the map.

I am pretty sure that your trip needs to be set to "Public" in the app, for it to show up on the map as well... that makes sense, if you have it as "Private" (maybe you just want to share with close family/friends)... it makes sense that it also does not show up here on this map (this map is not private in that sense).

I think the idea this map is more to capture movements across Spain "as it happens" (on the map)... and not so much for saving whole "Catalogs" of past Camino. This is how FundPenguins is set up and I can't really change that... but I think it works for us this way as well.

 

[ivar]

This seems a great idea, and one that’s new to me! I’m unsure how to set the tracker, though. I want to share my location with this group, obviously, but not necessarily with the whole world. I’m not sure which is the best setting for this. Could you clarify it please?

I think the trip needs to be set to "Public" for it to show up here... the map can bee seen by anyone (it is not really "private" in that sense).

 

[peregrina2000]

I think the trip needs to be set to "Public" for it to show up here... the map can bee seen by anyone (it is not really "private" in that sense).

Well, I think there’s a happy medium for those who are actually walking now. @skotzko has posted a private trip, but I sent a “request to follow” message and he accepted it.

 

[ivar]

Well, I think there’s a happy medium for those who are actually walking now. @skotzko has posted a private trip, but I sent a “request to follow” message and he accepted it.

Ahh… you are right. It seems that a private trip does show up on the map. You just need to “follow” them to see the content of the trip.

 

[skotzko]

Yeah I just set it private and shared the private link to friends and family + posting here. Main reason was that the private link didn't require e.g. my mom to make an account to follow along.

I can look at make trip public if that actually makes any difference

 

[ivar]

Yeah I just set it private and shared the private link to friends and family + posting here. Main reason was that the private link didn't require e.g. my mom to make an account to follow along.

I can look at make trip public if that actually makes any difference

I would do what is best for you.. (my opinion)

 

[Lhollo]

Mine is set to public. I presume you can see me? I can’t see myself so don’t know for sure that it’s working.

 

[peregrina2000]

I would do what is best for you.. (my opinion)

No, that’s the wrong advice — I would do what’s best for @skotzko’s mom.

But really it is fine as a private trip, because all anyone has to do is send you a message like I did. It’s not hard if I can do it.

 

[peregrina2000]

Mine is set to public. I presume you can see me? I can’t see myself so don’t know for sure that it’s working.

I can see you, but I can’t see that you have posted any footprints.

 

[peregrina2000]

I think the idea this map is more to capture movements across Spain "as it happens" (on the map).

So this is really a multi-media way to present “live from the camino” threads. Love it.

One more question from the tech-challenged group — When repeat offenders go back to do another camino, how do we delete our “completed trip” entry so that we can post a new Find Penguins trip?

 

[ivar]

So this is really a multi-media way to present “live from the camino” threads. Love it.

One more question from the tech-challenged group — When repeat offenders go back to do another camino, how do we delete our “completed trip” entry so that we can post a new Find Penguins trip?

Hmm.. not sure. I know there is a way to leave the group (using the same link that you joined with... there is a "Manage participation " option where you can leave the group). So worst case, you just leave the group and then add yourself again with the new trip... there may be other ways of doing this, but not sure..

 

[Kanga]

Another detail question — it looks like each traveler can only have one entry into the group. So what happens when one of the those who have done a “completed trip” are lucky enough to walk another camino? Both my and Terri’s Find Penguins pages already have many completed caminos on them, and I’m sure we are both hoping to add more someday.

And a heads up to those who post their trips — if you put your setting on private, no one can see them. For those who are walking now, that’s not a problem, because we can request to follow you and you can then give permission. But the two completed trips that are private are inaccessible. I understand why some people want to keep them private, but I don’t see any reason to put them on this site if they are not open to others!

Of course, I may be misunderstanding things, but maybe my questions will help.

I've just seen that you can add a 7 day notification delay to your posts, which helps with the privacy aspect. I'm fine with people reading about my past exploits, but I do like to keep my current whereabouts restricted.

 

[MichaelC]

This looks very cool. I just learned about FindPenguins today, and I've already uploaded two past trips (not caminos). I might be hooked. And I have a couple questions!

It looks like we can only join the group when we're on Camino, though I can see who is walking. I'll bookmark this page for when I start next May. Do we have a page or thread where people can post their public links so we can follow past walks?

And, my next pilgrimage is in Italy. Would you like to keep the group focused on walks to Santiago? Or is it ok to expand it to the Via Francigena?

 

[peregrina2000]

I love FindPenguins too. Here’s a slight glitch I found with the forum collaboration. My 2021 camino is listed as “already completed”, which it is, but having that trip posted on the forum collaboration page means that my 2022 camino didn’t/couldn’t post in “currently traveling.”

Does anyone know how to remove a completed trip so you can add a new trip?

 

[NerdGjerd]

Hi, is it OK to revive this old thread? I have been testing FindPenguins for a while now, and think I may use it for my April Camino. However:
1. Do I wait until the day I start my walk to join the Forum/FP group? @MichaelC or others, did you ever figure that part out? (related question: does anyone still actively use the FindPenguin-Forum collaboration group thing?)
2. @peregrina2000 did you get around the above glitch, or find any new ones in the last 2 years?