About Trackspotting!

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The philosophy of Trackspotting is to collect the contribution of each one and share it with others. We were inspired by the "wiki" philosophy though we are not sharing the same technical platform nor the encyclopedic purposes.

In Trackspotting the subject is limited and the primary search is done through direct consultation of the entire world map or by searching for specific keywords.

However, the total freedom made ​​available to users to add, create, edit, and delete contents remains unaltered.

There are three general principles that must be taken into account regarding:

  • Neutrality - The contents should be free of personal references and specific situations
  • Impartiality - The contents should contain objective not-personal observations
  • Completeness - The contents should be as detailed and specific as possible.

But completeness does not mean redundancy. We want to discourage the sharing of the tracks that are already present in Trackspotting. That is why during the upload process there is a step for checking duplicates.

Copyright
Every public part of Trackspotting (descriptions, images, GPS trackdata, etc.) is released under CC BY-SA license. By registering with Trackspotting and by publishing/sharing any content, you implicitly agree to the terms and conditions of CC BY-SA license and in particular that the materials used are free from any third party copyrights. If the material includes rights held by others, make sure to get permission to sublicense those rights under the CC license. If you created the material in the scope of your employment or as a work-for-hire, you may not be the holder of the rights and may need to get permission before applying a CC license. Trackspotting reserves the right to add or edit the track descriptions or translate these into foreign language. We also reserve the right to delete the track if the contents do not conform to the principles of trackspotting or are somehow inappropriate.

Privacy
All the personal data entered during registration are used exclusively for administering user accounts. All the personal data that has not been explicitly shared are private and will not be published.

Publication and Liability
When publishing or editing a track on Trackspotting the author must ensure that all of the information are entered to the best of their knowledge. Trackspotting is an online community and only provides the technical platform. Trackspotting and the authors of the individual tracks are exempt from any liability for damages incurred during the use of their offering. Remember that the evaluations of the tracks are based on the subjective estimate of outdoor sporting enthusiasts and may differ from real conditions.

Trackspotting is meant to be a guide and is not about competition.
We want to share detailed descriptions, photos, maps, and comments to keep you on the trail. We want you to explore new tracks and to help other riders to discover your preferred ones. While we keep trace of your private rides to register your performances, we discourage sharing tracks that we already know!
You have at your disposal two different tools:
  • The Map page - Just scroll the map and zoom in to find your track! Click on the markers to view the track on the map and on the popup to see the details!
  • The traditional Search page - Search for a name and filter the results in the way you like.
Once you have found your route you can download the GPS file in gpx or kml. You can then load it on your smartphone and on your preferred app!
The Map page is the main feature of Trackspotting. You can see togheter thousands of tracks all togheter!
With the list button you can see listed all the tracks that you are currently seeing on the map.
With the filter button you can also filter the result that you seeing to make it more easy to find your track!
Because nobody in your area has shared them yet! All the tracks and descriptions in Trackspotting are created by contributors. If you cannot find a track, how about creating it?! Sharing your rides, photos and comments is a bit of work, but it's fun and rewarding and your contribution will be useful for other sport entusiasthics like you!
  1. Go for a ride and record the GPS track of the whole thing (it's easy to edit later). Start from the most common trailhead and take the most common route.
  2. Back at home, get your GPS track to your computer or save it directly in your smartphone.
  3. Look for the Upload button inside your personal area (yes, you have to register!)
  4. Done! Your track is now stored in your personal area and you can view the main characteristic of your ride! Remember, the track is still private. Nobody can see it until you decide to share it!
Click on Share button on one of your uploaded tracks in your personal area and you will enter a 5-step-procedure!
  1. To avoid double tracks it will be presented a map with every track near your ride! Please be sure that you are not creating a duplicate!
  2. Edit the starting end the ending point of your track. Please use common and visible points as a turn or a building. Avoid using points such as parkings, your home or connecting roads.
  3. Create the title. (min 5 - max 100 characters) Please use characteristic names such as the name of the starting and arriving location or the name of the path or of the hill, etc. Avoid being too generic ("nice track!") or using numbers for elevations, dates or distances. Remember that the title will not be translated! So avoid also to use too many native common nouns ("big hill climb from my house") and use as much as possible proper nouns ("Kathmandu - Mount Everest")!.
  4. Create the description. (min 300 - max 5000 characters). Please use your experience to explain the main features of the track, the points of interest and the characteristics. Avoid being too generic ("really a nice track!") or inserting personal details (names of your friends, dates, wheather of the day etc).
  5. Insert the main characteristics of the track and it is done! Your track is now public and everybody can benefit of your work! Thank you!
Remember that the shared tracks can be edited by you but also by every registered user so that every one can give his contribution to improve the contents.
The characteristics just summarize the track in a short and visual way. Here is a detailed description of the meaning of each icon!
Road surface:
  • 100% Asphalt - The tracks runs entirely on asphalt
  • Mostly asphalt - The tracks runs on asphalt
  • Mostly offroad - The tracks runs mainly off road
  • 100% Offroad - The tracks runs entirely off road
Bike Equipment (downhills):
  • None - No particular bike equipment is requested nor suggested (smooth and compact surfaces)
  • Hardtail suggested - A front suspension is suggested to absorb the bumps of the track
  • Full Suspension suggested - A front and back suspension are suggested to absorb the bumps of the track
  • Full Suspension required - A front and back suspension are required to face the high steps of the track in safety
Skill requirement (climbs):
  • None - Smooth and compact surfaces
  • Novice - Some bumpy dirt road parts with little natural obstacles (small rocks or roots)
  • Intermediate - Some very bumpy dirt road parts with significant presence of natural obstacles (rock steps)
  • Advanced - Lots of very bumpy and irregular road parts with presence of natural obstacles in continuous succession that require trial techniques
Effort level:
  • Light - Short track with minimum elevation differences
  • Moderate - Medium track with small elevation differences
  • Vigorous - Long track with big elevation differences
  • Extreme - Very long track with extreme elevation differences
Yes but only for shared tracks! Go on the Photo tab of a public track and upload your pictures!
We encourage the use of your native language! We think that the people who know better a track are those who live there and we do not want to impose a language!
In any case we auto-translate the description of the tracks to English so that everybody can understand and benefit from the efforts of the other contributors.
Every track can be edited by registered users, take a look at Our Philosophy section and at this FAQ.
If you find anything to improve you can edit title, description and characteristics.
If you want to add your personal opinion, just leave a comment at the bottom of the page!
Yes, everything is completely free and released under CC BY-SA license. We have no plans to charge for access to detailed data, maps, or GPX downloads.
If you find a description, a photo or a comment that are somehow inappropriate for violating copyrights, being offensive or that do not conform to the principles of Trackspotting, report it with the Report button using the right motivations. Our staff will evaluate the issue and delete/correct the track.