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FAQ


How does Journey work?

Journey uses a very smart little algorithm we named ‘Montu’, which is Egyptian for nomad. It took quite some time to develop. It analyses all of your travel data from the networks you chose to share and runs post by post calculations to give you experience for each post. Montu takes many things into account, including but not limited to: the distance traveled, where you went, the amount of trips you’ve taken, how often you return to the same places, how far from your normal travel routes you go (this part of Montu we like to call ‘pioneer’), how well received your travels are by your friends etc. The purpose is to build up an accurate picture of how experienced of a traveler you are and how many cool and unique things you get up to.

Can I lose experience?

No, Journey will never take experience away from you unless Montu finds out you have been cheating. The idea here is that you cannot lose the experiences you have had while traveling in the real world. Journey is not a ranking. It’s here to give you an as accurate as possible picture of who you are as a traveler.

Cheating?

Sure, people cheat all the time, but your friends are going to know you’ve been cheating… and why bother when real experience is so much more rewarding? Also, Montu is on the lookout for cheaters and he takes no prisoners. Cheaters will be punished and tainted harshly.

What data does Journey keep about me?

Journey takes geolocation data from your posts and other post data like the description and comments, runs it through Montu and then puts it away. But it does not take or store your images.

How does the Journey Trophy System work?

Trophies are pretty simple. If you have visited an iconic place that has a trophy you will get it. It’s how you can show off at a glance some of the unique places you have visited on your profile. Of course, since we do not exist on your phone (yet), we have to rely on your social geolocation data. So make sure you post a photo or check in to the trophy location. Note that not all check-ins are created equally so make sure you do not check into the Great Wall of China check-in that’s actually in the City of Beijing and no where near the Great Wall. We have done our best to capture all the correct check-ins, but if you see an inconsistency, let us know! We love your feedback.

How does the Journey Friend Map work?

Journey checks for public posts only to establish where you and your friends are traveling. It then shows your friends on the map and how long it's been since they last posted there. Journey also identifies which of your friends are locals, so you know who is living there and who is just traveling through. It does not display any location data that was not made public via your social media posts. All we want to do is make sure you don't miss small world opportunities on the other side of the planet :)

How does Journey pick what is a trophy and what isn't?

We have been carefully curating trophies based on a few specific criteria. But we have just started so we have a long way to go, the world is a big place! If you have an idea for a trophy we do take recommendations into account! Email us at go@playjourney.com. We would need name of the place, country, nearest city, a witty title for the trophy. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that your idea will be added as a trophy.

Why do I have a low score?

Well, we can only take the data that is available to us. So if you have a low score and you think you deserve a higher one maybe have a look back through your Facebook photo albums and Instagram feed and properly tag the locations on some of the posts! We can only go back so far obviously as we don’t have accurate data from before the era of social networks, but we are doing our best to solve this in the future. Hopefully sooner than later you will be able to give us the data of your travels without having to post about it.

What's the point?

Well, there is more than one. First of all, the world is an amazing place and we all know that travel is one of the only things you spend on that makes you richer. At Journey, we realized that many of us had traveled the world extensively and had done really cool things, but there was no way to represent this side of our history in an easy way within our digital profiles. We know so much about people we just meet from their online profiles but rarely do we know where they have been and what they have seen. While it's a pretty important part of a person! It builds who they are. Everyone wants to be recognised for the things that they are proud of and travel is no different. Secondly, we believe that who you meet along the way is just as important as where you go. So we want to build out features that help facilitate small world encounters and memorable travels. That is where it starts, but not where it ends. Journey is going to be working towards using this platform to inspire you to travel more, with more people, and reward you for it.