How we verify

Trust is the product. Every numeric fact on a trail page can carry a source and a last-checked date. When we cannot source a value, it stays unknown, Unverified, or unpublished. That is the bar we used for the Switzerland pilot and the one we apply everywhere else.

Distance

The DataPoint is the planar 2-D length of the stored route. For an OSM corridor that is osm:relation:<id> after the snaps the record discloses — not 3-D distance along the slope, not a GPS tracklog, and not an average of blogs. The official kilometre is the cross-check: the OSM line must sit within 3% of that figure, or we do not publish the route. When official pages disagree with each other, we leave the disagreement in view. More on why published lengths clash: How long is the trail, really?.

Verticals

Ascent, descent, and high/low points are sampled from Copernicus GLO-30 along the stored line. Those figures remain provisional until a field check. GLO-30 cumulative gain is noisy on undulating ground; we do not overwrite it with a rounder official ascent.

Permits and fees

A permit is quoted from an official page, or it is Unverified. We never invent a fee. Cost, booking, and issuer that we do hold may sit behind the login gate on the trail page; the public page still says whether a permit is listed, required, or unverified.

Safety stays public

Hazards, season, and difficulty (SAC and YDS plus a plain label) are not gated. Conditions change; a provisional mark means the figure still needs a field check, not that the public page is allowed to go silent.

Honest hard-stops

If OpenStreetMap cannot supply a connected hiking line within 3% of the official kilometre — branched superroutes, way-bags, incomplete stages, border-bisected stages with no in-country figure — we hard-stop. We do not stitch fragments, densify a transport chord into walking, or publish a stub. Switzerland’s ViaJacobi, Jura Crest Trail, and Alpine Passes Trail are the national examples: named here, not given invented kilometres. The verified Swiss set is grouped on Hiking in Switzerland.

Verified vs provisional

Verified on a DataPoint means the figure cleared its source bar and is not flagged provisional. A * or the word provisional means it still needs a field check. A schematic length can be stored and still be labelled not walking distance.

Trans Swiss Trail — verified walking km, labelled boat

The 510.1 km is walking. Official stage 7 starts with a scheduled boat across Lac de Neuchâtel because there are no suitable trails. That crossing is logistics, not walking distance, and is not in the DataPoint. ViaGottardo is the same pattern on Lake Lucerne: 322.1 km walking, official boat on stage 7 labelled and excluded.

Walker's Haute Route — schematic caveat

No single connected Walker’s Haute Route hiking relation resolved, so the stored line is pin-to-pin through named OSM nodes (122.6 km), not a walking path. Published walking figures on the record remain cross-checks. Everest Base Camp in this catalog is the same class of honesty — see How long is the trail, really?.

Via Alpina — provisional elevation

Length on Via Alpina is the verified OSM 2-D line (379.5 km). The GLO-30 ascent stays provisional. We do not round it to the official table and call the job done.

What this is not

This is not a route planner, and it is not a claim that every trail in the world has been verified. It is a sourced method: Switzerland’s published national and regional records in this catalog cleared the bar; other countries are a mix of verified OSM corridors, labelled schematics, and honest gaps. Use this page as the reference for how the data works.

Also in this desk: How long is the trail? · Hiking in Switzerland · Permit & season calendar · Switzerland country index.

Questions