Best Self-hosted Alternatives to Polarsteps

Scratch Map is an open-source web application that provides an interactive, scratch-off style map for tracking travels. Users can reveal visited regions on SVG maps, record travel dates, and link photo album URLs to scratched locations.

Key Features

• Interactive SVG "scratch-off" maps with pan and zoom controls
• Multiple map sets included (world, many countries, US states, provinces/regions)
• Record a date for each visited location and attach a photo album URL
• Lightweight Node.js + Express backend with Pug templates and client-side SVG interaction
• JSON file storage via lowdb for simple, zero-configuration persistence
• Official Docker image and Dockerfile for containerized deployment
• Minimal, focused UI designed for personal travel tracking and visualization

Use Cases

• Maintain a personal travel log and visual map of countries or states you've visited
• Showcase travel highlights with dates and linked photo albums on a personal site or portfolio
• Lightweight shared display for events or group travel planning (single-server use)

Limitations and Considerations

• Uses lowdb (single JSON file) which is not suited for high write concurrency or very large datasets
• No built-in multi-user accounts or access control; primarily designed for single-user or trusted deployments
• Map editing/customization beyond included map sets requires additional SVG tooling or manual changes

Scratch Map is a simple, focused solution for visually tracking travels and associating photos and dates with visited places. It is best suited for personal use or small, low-concurrency deployments where ease of setup and a lightweight stack are priorities.