TRAILGUIDE
DIGITALIZING TOURISM

Trailguide content quality guidelines


1. Select the right type of activity


Trail biking
Typically a narrow path or trail less than 1.5m wide. It can be a purpose built mountain bike track. Can be uphill, downhill or both.

If the track contains short parts of gravel road - for example to connect two singletracks - it is up to you if you split the track into two or not.

The ride, should be as continuous as possible without connecting too many individual trails.

Try to limit loops to a natural ride in the particular area. A good example is this trail where there are not too many other trails in the area and it creates a natural ride on the mountain.

If the area is very crowded with trails and loops will overlap, try to split them up in natural trails instead. A good example of this can be found here where the trails are split up and you can mix and match to create a natural loop to ride based on your skill level.

If the name or description is something like "loop of all the best trails in ..." then you are most likely doing it wrong.

Cross-country
Cross-country biking or now adays called gravel biking.

If the tour you want to add is mostly gravel road mixed in with some tarmac and the occasional singletrack, then this is the right type of activity category.

Try to avoid loops that cover other gravel rides in the area, but loops are very welcome as they are natural training rides.

For longer tours and rides meant for tour biking, use that category instead.

Road biking
Cycling on tarmac roads. The focus is more sportive than Tour Cycling, to overcome a certain distance or climb.

Loops and climbs are very welcome in this category. Especially great climbs. A nice example can be found here.

For longer tours and rides meant for tour biking, use that category instead.

Tour biking
Focus is on being outdoors, enjoying nature, sightseeing, and easy pleasure. It's not about sportive performance, and accomplishing technical difficult routes. The bicycles are made for sealed roads. There can be parts on compact gravel roads or narrow tracks that have no technical challenges.

Large loops are welcome in this category. An example can be found here.


2. Good quality GPX file and redundancy


Quality
Make sure you have good .gpx data. Enough data points to show a round and smooth line (not angled straights). No parts with signal drift or skipping. No parts where you took the wrong way recording it. Elevation data must be included to automatically generate the height profile.

Redundancy
Before you upload a trail, check if it’s already on the map. If it overlaps an existing trail for a short section (10%) it’s ok. Cut the trail if it overlaps more.


3. Description and details


Character
Describe the character or the experience of the trail or route in one comprehensive sentence. "Intense descend in rocky and technical terrain." or "Easy natural trail with a stunning view into the XY valley."

Details
Roots, rock, stones, gravel, sand, gras, dirt, needles, leafs, loose, compact, berms, drops, flow, speed, smooth, rough, climbs, push biking, steep, flat, up and down, view, scenery, points of interest, forest, meadow, rock, alpine, river, valley, ridge, traverse, exposition, water sources, shelters, huts, restaurants, season, suitable weather conditions.

Avoid
Avoid describing the route, length and elevation. That's where the gps track and the location function is for. If needed, mention tips when it easy to make mistakes e.g. when the trail is close and parallel to a fireroad, and it's hard to distinguish it on the map.

4. Difficulty


For trail biking, the difficulty can be key to the joy of riding it. Our scale is based on the technical difficulty of the trail and the imagination of having a trailer with a sleeping kid behind your bike.


Easy - the kid wakes up, but is not crying.
Intermediate - the kid wakes up and starts to cry.
Difficult - the kid is gone.
Expert - the trailer is gone.

5. Pictures and videos


Cover photo
Pictures and videos are a very strong medium and have a high influence on decisions. The first picture you upload will be the cover picture for the trail.

Picture quality
As far as you can, please upload only images of good quality that shows the character of the trail, riding, or surroundings. Using pictures of people riding their bike is preferrable.

Landscape mode
Please try to upload only landscape mode images. Vertical pictures do not work well in the user interface. If you do not know what landscape mode is, you should ask an adult.


Thank you for helping us keep the quality of our content high. This will help a long way for our users to find great experiences.



With kind regards,
The Trailguide Team