Content, sources and corrections

HikingTrailDirectory helps people compare mapped routes and understand the information behind them. We publish open-data route records, calculated comparisons and planning explainers. These have different limits, and we identify those limits where they matter.

What is generated and what is authored

Route descriptions and destination shortlists are generated from database records and reusable templates. Difficulty, moving time, season fields and directory rankings include automated calculations. Passing our data checks is not the same as a person reviewing or walking a route.

The knowledge centre contains individually authored explainers, including worked examples of our calculations and links to supporting sources. These articles are general guidance, not evidence that we have visited the routes. We do not invent personal walking experiences, local expertise, named authors or inspection dates.

What supports a claim

A route line supports analysis of its stored geometry. A terrain model supports sampled elevation estimates. Neither establishes whether a gate is open, a bus runs today or a path is currently passable. Route-specific access statements need an appropriate current source, such as the responsible land manager or transport operator.

Unknown fields remain unknown. Calculations state their assumptions. Examples are labelled as examples. Photos show their attribution and licence; contextual photography does not establish what every section of a route looks like.

Dates and changing conditions

An article update date reflects an edit to that article. A route record’s update date can reflect an import, recalculation or correction and is not a field-inspection date. Current restrictions, weather and transport must be checked with their responsible providers before travel.

Report an error or contribute local knowledge

Email support@hikingtraildirectory.com with the page URL, the specific statement or section, your proposed correction and a dated source or first-hand observation. For photographs, include who owns the image and what permission you grant. Please do not send somebody else’s work as your own.

Separate what you observed from what you inferred, and include the date of an observation. A report is evidence to assess, not an automatic public update. Where an error originates in open data, the underlying source may also need a correction. Immediate access or hazard reports should go to the responsible local authority.

Routes and advertising

Expanding the knowledge centre does not replace existing route pages. Routes remain available for their maps, downloads and recorded details. Advertisements, when enabled, are not evidence of editorial review and do not determine a route’s measurements.

See data sources and licensing for the underlying datasets and About for more on the directory.