Helping people discover the history of a place by walking through it.
PinVia turns a visit to a town, a village or a neighbourhood into an experience to live and to play: a route of stops on a real map, telling the story of each place right where it stands.
History is in the streets
Every place has something to tell: a battle, a legend, a trade that has disappeared, a house where someone once lived, a detail nobody notices any more. These stories often stay in books, on a plaque read in passing or in the archives of those who patiently collected them.
We believe history is best understood in front of the stones that witnessed it. That is why PinVia brings stories to the exact spot where they happened: you are there, looking at the façade, the arch, the square, and your phone tells you what you are looking at.
Learning through play
Curiosity is the best teacher, and play is the simplest way to spark it. A PinVia route is not just something to read: you walk it, one stop after another.
- Puzzles that open the way. Some stops ask a question: to move on you have to observe, think things through and find a detail on the spot.
- Hidden stops. The next stop can stay secret, with only a clue and an area on the map where to look for it.
- Text, images and video. Each stop tells its story with words, historical photographs, galleries and films.
- To listen to. Stops can also be read aloud, so you can keep your eyes on what is in front of you.
The result is knowledge that lasts: you look up, notice the details and connect events to places. And you do it together, with your family, your class or your friends.
For those who look after a place
Town councils, local heritage groups, tourist offices, museums, cultural associations, schools and guides know stories that deserve to be told. PinVia gives them a simple tool to do it, without writing a line of code and without building an app.
You put the stops on the map, write the texts and add images and videos. Then you publish with a link and a QR code to print on a sign, a leaflet or at the entrance of a museum. A place's heritage becomes accessible to anyone passing by, at any time of day.
Not just history: urban games and treasure hunts
The same stops and puzzles that tell the history of a town work just as well for playing. PinVia is a ready-made tool for:
- urban games and treasure hunts for village fêtes, food festivals and events;
- school trips, where the class explores the neighbourhood by solving riddles;
- group activities, team building and private parties;
- themed routes: art, architecture, nature, literature, local traditions.
A route can be visible to everyone in the app, or reachable only by those who have the link or the QR code, for an event open to participants only.
Culture open to everyone
Getting to know the place you are in shouldn't cost anything or ask for anything in return. For those who follow its routes PinVia is free, with no sign-up, no ads and no tracking. All you need is a phone and a browser: there is nothing to install.
The maps come from open data, built by a community of volunteers, not from big commercial platforms.
Sustainable, not commercial
PinVia was not created to make a profit, but to last. The aim is to cover the costs of the service, not to grow at all costs. Those who host their images elsewhere use PinVia for free; those who choose to upload them here contribute to the expenses.
Organisers join by invitation: it is the simplest way to keep the quality of the routes high and to respect the places and the people they tell about.
Start here
Open the app to find a route near you or, if you have received an invitation, go to the organiser area and tell the story of your place.