Step-by-step guide
How to make
an animated travel map.
An animated travel map turns the places on your trip into a short video, with a 3D vehicle tracing your route across the map. Here is how to make one, free, in the Tixplore app.
Free to download. You create and export your video in the Tixplore app.
Amsterdam → Brussels → Paris
6 steps
From an empty map to a finished clip
A short route usually takes a few minutes end to end, and the export lands as a video file on your phone.
- 1
Add your route
Open Tixplore: Travel Animator in the Tixplore app and add the places you are travelling between — or start from a trip you already planned in Tixplore. The app links your stops into a route.
- 2
Choose a map style
Pick from 10 basemaps to set the mood — Standard, Classic Journey, Outdoors, Dark, or satellite imagery by day or night, with or without borders. The map style changes the look without changing the animation.
- 3
Choose a model per leg
Set which of the 19 3D models drives each leg — a plane for the flight out, a camper for the road section — from the on-map menu at any stop.
- 4
Add your photos
Attach up to 20 photos to any stop. They pop up as the route reaches it, inside a decorative frame that adapts to each photo’s shape.
- 5
Preview and export
Play the animation to check the timing, then export — 9:16, 4:5, 1:1, 16:9, up to 2160p · 30fps.
- 6
Share it
Post the clip straight to Instagram Reels or Stories, TikTok, or YouTube Shorts.
Step 2, in detail
Choose from 10 map styles
The basemap changes the look without changing the animation, so you can try a few before you export.
Standard (No Borders)
Standard (3D, terrain)
Classic Journey
Outdoors (terrain focus)
Dark
Satellite (No Borders) - Day
Satellite (No Borders) - Night
Standard Satellite
Satellite (Borders) - Day
Satellite (Borders) - Night
The camera
Nothing to set up
The one place you do not make a decision — the app flies the camera for you.
Low Flyover
A low, close 3D chase camera with a steeper pitch and stronger look-ahead — the most cinematic angle, and the default.
There is no camera to set up. Every video uses the same cinematic chase camera, which eases out of a world-zoom intro, follows the route with a look-ahead so the road ahead stays in frame, and lifts over terrain so the model never disappears behind a mountain.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Do I need any design or video-editing skills?
No. You add your stops and pick a style; the app handles the camera, the route line and the timing, then exports a finished video.
How long does it take to make one?
A short route usually takes a few minutes from adding stops to exporting the clip.
Is it free?
Yes. The Tixplore app is free on iOS and Android with no in-app purchases to make or export your map video.
What format is the finished video?
Your pick of 9:16, 4:5, 1:1, 16:9, from 720p up to 4K (2160p) at 30fps, or 1440p at 60fps, saved as MP4 — all free.
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See where everyone else is going
Real route videos made with Travel Animator, posted daily. Scan the code for your next idea, and to see what yours could look like.
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Ready to make yours?
Add your stops, pick a style, export the clip. Free, in the Tixplore app.
Free to download. You create and export your video in the Tixplore app.