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Scout
Travel planner that combines Google Maps and Sheets/Docs
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Chris Messina

Scout - Travel planner that combines Google Maps and Sheets/Docs

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Scout makes trip planning faster by combining Google Maps and Sheets/Docs into one web app
.
📍Collect places in a list
📝Add notes ("why did I add this place again?")
🗺See it all on a map
🚀Build an itinerary

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Eric Mao
Maker
Thanks for hunting us @chrismessina! 🙏 Hi Product Hunt 👋 I'm Eric. We built Scout because planning a trip is painful and time consuming. Sometimes it felt like a chore. We found ourselves constantly switching between Google Sheets/Docs and Google Maps to see where places were. We tried other apps out there but nothing was simple, flexible, yet provided the right amount of structure. So we decided to build our own that satisfied what we wanted. Features: 📍Lists - Dump all your places you collect from friends, travel blogs, and websites 🗺Map - See where places are clustered to plan an efficient route 📝Notes - Add tips like how to get there or what to eat 🗓Itinerary - Drag and drop places to track what and when you're doing things 👫Collaborate - Share a link and anyone can add places (even without an account) 🧭Route overlay - See the path you're taking 🗣Yelp and TripAdvisor - Links to your favorite review sites are 1-click away 💬Simple sharing - Easily share beautiful trip recommendations with friends (like this) What's different about Scout? Scout gives you the flexibility of both a list of potential places and a structured itinerary. For example, you can add a bunch of restaurants you may want to go to and decide at lunch time based on how you're feeling. But you can also create an itinerary with specific attractions you know you'll visit. Second, we love maps and find it very useful for planning so we made it huge. We take a map first approach. Try out Scout today! We'd love to hear what you think.
Philipp Meder
@chrismessina @ericmao Amazing! This would have saved me a lot of time a few months ago. I'll definitely use Scout for my next trip, though.
Yang You
For trip planning, I used to place a bunch of pins onto Google Maps and leave it at that. With Scout, I've taken the next step by dragging together a quick day-to-day itinerary with little additional effort :) Useful to plan both solo trips and especially trips with friends/fam!
Eric Mao
Maker
Thanks @yang_you1 cheers to more trips with friends and fam using Scout! :)
Paul K Saunders
I love the concept but I would love to see it add in the ability to route plan locations within a trip meaning town to town - I work with a lot of solo touring musicians that need to enter addresses of show locations and create a interary for a tour - especially taking in driving time and such factors - also for me it would be great to have one account and be able to create sdub accounts for my clients
Louis-Frédéric Dessureault
@pksaunders Hey Paul! I'm curious to know what you and/or your artists are using to book their accommodation when on tour. I'd love to discuss an opportunity. You can email me at louis-frederic@stay22.com
Phill R Smith
1st glance and bash attempt (desktop) it's WONDERFUL, simple, seamless. mobile app (ios) can not drag into the Itinerary ? EXCELLENT sync and share feature ... I'll be promoting this in many social channels ..
Eric Mao
Maker
@phill_r_smith Glad you liked it and thanks for sharing it with others Phill. For now, you'll need to be on desktop to add things to your itinerary. Let us know what you think!
Alexandre Giess
‪What I want is trusted brands/ travelers to have their own Scouts much like curated playlists‬
Eric Mao
Maker
@alexgiess That's in the future plans. Spotify but for travel -- moods, recommended trips, recommended places.
Alexandre Giess
@ericmao Great to hear. Having already built 50+ Collections for 4K places in  maps I am looking for something better. Happy to be a more focused sounding board for the team in the future. In the meantime I’ll use scout for upcoming trip to Mendocino!
Thadd
Love the route planning functionality scout gives you when you create your itinerary
Eric Mao
Maker
@mingcn Thanks Thadd!
Arjun Patel
I used this for my Hawaii trip! It saved me a good 3 hours on planning logistics. Also, it was super simple to share my itinerary with friends who asked about my trip. Great job Eric and the rest of the team!
Eric Mao
Maker
Thanks @arjun_patel1! Less time planning, more time relaxing on the beaches 🏖
Aaron Lee
Scout has been great for not only planning day trips, but also sharing! Gone are the days of responding to friends asking "what should I do for a day in city X" with a cluttered spreadsheet/text!
Eric Mao
Maker
@aaron_lee9 Thanks for sharing Scout with your friends Aaron :)
Patrick Lung
I often have too many places I want to visit and the route overlay helps me figure out the best way to go about them. Wish I had this when I was backpacking Europe...
Eric Mao
Maker
@plungg Glad you liked the route overlay Patrick :)
Kunal Bhatia
This is super cool, @ericmao. I'll use it for my upcoming trip to India!
Eric Mao
Maker
@kunalslab 🙌 let us know how it goes
Enablement Data
Wow. Just 💯 wow.
Philip
I've been using this app since its inception to plan my trips. I love the easy to use interface, and the intuitive organization of key information. This is a must have app for any modern traveler. Great job Eric and Henry!
wong2
I love it! will there be a mobile app? you know when you're on the trip, a mobile app is more convenient
Henry Wu
Maker
@wonderfuly Great to hear that :). I agree with you that a mobile app is more convenient on the trip itself. We're working hard to get the mobile app(s) out as we speak, so stay tuned! For now, you can access the mobile web version of the webapp while you're on a trip to get access to your itinerary and plans.
Marc Devens
@wonderfuly @henry_m_wu - not sure if the Google Maps API allows for this, but until there's a Scout mobile app, saving points added to Scout to a list in Google Maps would be super helpful.
Eric Mao
Maker
@wonderfuly @henry_m_wu @mdevens We have a very early beta iOS app if you'd like to give it a try. Shoot me an email eric@scoutexplore.com
Caroline Bury
I just tried it and everything about Scout seems truly awesome ! I have a question though, if I may : I'm currently doing some research on how to start a business and become an entrepreneur, and I would like to know how do you generate income with this kind of app ? I didn't see any kind of subscription plan or ads. Do you sell data from your users ?
Eric Mao
Maker
@carowowo thanks for trying out Scout, Caroline! We don't sell user data. First we're focusing on building a great travel planner. Later on, we'll monetize through ads and affiliate marketing (you find a hotel through Scout and we'll get a commission) but we'll be fully transparent about that.
Nate Ritter
@ericmao I'd specifically like to discuss this with you. Please connect with me https://nateritter.com
Richard Mulholland
Blown away about how great this service is. Exactly what I was looking for. Well done.
Eric Mao
Maker
@richard_mulholland We're glad you love it Richard :) Let us know any feedback that you have we're just getting started
Richard Mulholland
@ericmao Thanks Eric, the ability to add tours as opposed to just places would be great. I do get that that would mess with the map feature though, but it's certainly something that would help me.
Kristen Lee
I used this product to plan several trips (both domestic and abroad) during its beta phase, and I'm glad I did. Super simple to use and it made organizing my trips enjoyable! I like that you can add personal notes and assign times to each item on your itinerary. I have used the mobile app too, and while I wish it had all the capabilities of the desktop version (which I'm sure Eric and Henry are working very hard on!), it does its job of keeping you on track of your itinerary on-the-go. I highly recommend you try this product! I've even been using it to create trip diaries to keep a record of all the places I discovered unexpectedly on my travels. Looking forward to seeing the future of Scout!
Eric Mao
Maker
@kleeqq Thanks so much Kristen for being with us since the very beginning!
Nqobile Vundla
I just tried it. This is very very cool and super simple and easy to use as well..
Eric Mao
Maker
@nqobile_vundla Glad you like it!
Ryan Higgins
Good product. I used Scout on a recent road trip, and it was effective when I had specific destinations to visit. @henry_m_wu Do you have plans to allow writing notes into the itinerary, outside of the headline, not attached to a destination?
Henry Wu
Maker
@ryanhigs Hey Ryan, thanks for trying it out and for the feedback! Your suggestion is a good one, it's a pain point I've encountered myself! We'll look in to the best way to bring that functionality into the app.
Fred Wang
Great work @ericmao and @henry_m_wu!
Eric Mao
Maker
@fred_wang Thanks Fred 🎉
David Randall
Could not be more excited about this.
Eric Mao
Maker
@david_randall2 Thanks David, we hope you like it and please give us feedback!