Community Guidelines

Last updated: 6 July 2026

In simple terms: anything you make public — routes, route names and descriptions, your username and avatar — should be something you'd be happy for any cyclist to see. Keep it lawful, honest and considerate.

These guidelines apply to all content other users or visitors can see, and they form part of our Terms & Conditions.

Public routes

• Only publish routes you have the right to share. Don't republish someone else's commercial or copyrighted route as your own.
• Don't publish routes that deliberately cross private land without permission, or that encourage riding where cycling is prohibited.
• Route names and descriptions must not contain abusive, hateful, obscene or defamatory content, spam, or advertising.
• Be thoughtful about what a route reveals. A public route that starts and ends at your front door tells people where you live — consider starting public routes somewhere neutral.
• Don't publish routes that would direct riders somewhere plainly dangerous.

Usernames and avatars

• Usernames must not be offensive, impersonate someone else, or infringe trademarks.
• Avatar images must be yours to use — no copyrighted images or logos you don't have rights to, no offensive imagery, no images of other people without their permission.

Respect the mapping commons

RouteGems is built on OpenStreetMap and other community data. If you spot a mapping error — a closed café, a gated track — the best fix is to correct it in OpenStreetMap itself, which improves the data for every cyclist, not just RouteGems users.

Reporting and moderation

• To report content that breaks these guidelines, email support@routegems.cc with a link.
• We may remove content, make it private, or (for serious or repeated breaches) suspend accounts, as described in the Terms.
• We aim to be proportionate: honest mistakes get a heads-up; deliberate abuse gets removed.

These guidelines will grow if we add more social features (comments, following, collections). The principles won't change: lawful, honest, considerate.