A GPX file isn't a trail guide

Someone once asked me why don't we just import every GPX track we can find.

Honestly? It'd be easy. And I quite like getting into the nitty gritty of automations.

There are millions of GPX files floating around the internet, and with a few clever tricks, we could probably quadruple the number of trails in our directory within a few days.

But we don't. 

Because a GPX file isn't a trail guide. It's just a record of where someone went.

A line on a map tells you surprisingly little

Imagine you've found a trail you've never done before.

You've got the GPX. It's 17km. The elevation looks reasonable. Sweet.

Now where do I park?

Is the start actually where the GPX begins, or did someone forget to start their watch until ten minutes into the run?

How much water do I need to carry? Can I top up whilst out there? Is there a toilet?

Can I take the dog?*

Will my phone have signal if something goes wrong?

Has the track changed since this GPX was recorded five years ago?

Or has the bridge that's clearly shown on the route been washed away?

The GPX can't answer any of those questions.

Outdoor adventures deserve better than guesswork

One of the comments I see fairly regularly elsewhere is:

Or:

Or my favourite...

That's not because people are stupid.

It's because a surprising amount of outdoor information online is just... thin.

A route. A distance. An elevation profile. Maybe a couple of photos. Then you're on your own.

That's not how we wanted Wild Things to work

When someone opens a trail on Wild Things, I want them to feel like they're getting advice from someone who's actually been there.

Not because every guide is perfect. They aren't. Trails change. Storms happen. DOC reroutes things. Carparks move. Bridges disappear.

But at least there's a whole community of people keeping the information useful, and constantly keeping them updated.

And that's why our trail guides include things like:

• where to park
• trailhead photos
• water and toilet information
• dog access
• cellphone coverage
• local tips
• technical difficulty
• recent updates

None of those things live inside a GPX file.

We could have far more trails

People sometimes assume the only thing stopping us from having many more trails is size, time, or technology. That's not really true.

The limiting factor is standards. Every trail takes time. Someone has to review it, check it, improve it, and sometimes go back to the contributor with questions. Sometimes we reject it altogether.

That's slow, but it's also intentional.

Getting it right matters more than getting it live

If someone searches for a trail and we don't have it yet, that's disappointing. I get that.

But it's still better than someone driving two hours to a trailhead only to discover the information wasn't trustworthy. That's a much bigger disappointment.

I'd rather spend another day getting a trail right than publish it today because "more content is better."

The route is only the beginning

The GPX absolutely matters. Without a route, there isn't much of a trail guide. But the route is the starting point, not the finished product.

For us, the useful bit is everything wrapped around it: where to start, what to expect, what to watch out for, whether the information still seems current, and whether someone has actually thought about the person standing at the trailhead trying to use it.

That's the difference we're trying to build with Wild Things. Not the biggest collection of GPX files, but a directory of trail guides people can actually trust.

*I don't have a dog... yet...🐕‍🦺