routes

---

In Trailmap you can share your routes with others in two different ways, and it's worth understanding the difference. A share link is the targeted approach: you share a web address for the route with the people you choose, or on social media, and the link works for both routes and tracks. Publishing, on the other hand, adds the route to the public route library of the Reittikone service, where anyone can find and browse it. Note that only routes can be published. The two aren't mutually exclusive: the same route can be both shared as a link and published to Reittikone.

Below we go through both approaches in more detail.

Sharing with a share link

Trailmap's "Share" function lets you share a route or track with others so that they see an overview of the route in the share link's preview image (this works in Facebook and WhatsApp, among others), and when they click the share link, the route opens either in the Trailmap web version or, on a phone, straight in the Trailmap mobile app (if it's installed).

A shared route can be navigated straight away, saved as a GPX file, or — in the web version — edited. The recipient doesn't need to install anything, sign in or buy a paid plan to use the route this way. This is part of what makes Trailmap's share function pleasant to use, and much easier than the screenshots of routes people often share on social media, where it's frequently hard to make out where the route actually goes and you can't navigate them directly.

Preview image in WhatsApp

There are a few details and tricks worth understanding about sharing a route or track. Some of these apply to other route-planning apps too, but there are app-specific differences as well.

What can you share?

Trailmap lets you share both routes and tracks. From the end user's point of view (the person you send the share link to), the difference is that a route can be edited directly, whereas a track first has to be converted into a route before it can be edited. There's also a difference in how updates to the original source (the route or track) show up for the end user.

First, the concepts in brief:

1. Route = a drawn route that can be edited freely in Trailmap. A route consists of waypoints and the sections Trailmap routes between them.
2. Track = a GPX file, a KML file or a Strava activity, in which the "trace" typically has hundreds or even thousands of coordinates that make up the track. It can't be edited as it is, but Trailmap can convert it into an editable route.

How are routes and tracks shared?

Here's how routes and tracks are shared with a share link, and the differences between them:

1. Sharing a route: draw a new one, or choose the "share route" function from the "..." menu of a previously drawn route, either on the route library page or the route details page. The "Share route" button gives you a share link — a web address you can pass on to others. The share link is the same web address as the one in your browser when you're on the route details page, but it's still worth using the "share route" button, so that a preview image is created for the share link.

When you share a route, clicking the share link always shows people the newest version of it. So if you edit the route after sharing, people will see the new version. If you permanently delete your route from Trailmap's database, people will no longer see anything via the share link. The share link is, in other words, a "live" link. The same doesn't apply to the preview image, though, because Facebook and WhatsApp, among others, don't update the preview image automatically. But when you press the "share route" button in Trailmap, you get a form of the share link that also triggers an update of the preview image when needed (which is why the share link may have a "?key=xxxx" ending).

2. Sharing a track: open a track on the Trailmap map, either from a GPX or KML file, a Strava activity, or your "My tracks" list. Then click the track on screen and choose "Share track" from the menu. If you opened the track from a file, or it's a Strava activity, it will be saved to your "My tracks" list before sharing.

A track that's been shared (and therefore saved) can't be edited after creation, but it can be deleted from Trailmap's database. When you delete it, Trailmap offers the options "delete track and share" or "delete track". The first means the share link no longer works after the track is deleted, while "delete track" removes the track from your own list but leaves the share link working normally — although the route owner's details will no longer show on the track details page that opens from the share link.

In summary: when deciding whether to share a route or a track, think about the following:

• Do you already have a route or a track? Either can be converted into the other, though: a route can be shown on the map as a track, which can be shared, and a track can in turn be converted into a route.
• Are you going to edit the route you've shared, and do you want others to always see the updated version? In that case, share a route.
• Remember that you have to keep the route or track in your own library for the share link to work. The exception is a shared track, which you can delete from your own library as described above while the share link keeps working (though you can no longer manage such a track or its share link in any way!)

Publishing to Reittikone

Publishing adds a route to the public route library of the Reittikone service, where anyone can find and browse it among other routes. Unlike a targeted share link, a published route is visible and discoverable to everyone.

A route's visibility is chosen in the route's save dialog, where the options are private, public or published. "Published" means publishing to Reittikone specifically. You can also change the visibility of a previously saved route to published after the fact.

What's worth thinking about before publishing?

Publishing is a slightly different thing from sharing a route with a friend. When you publish a route, you're effectively saying to other people: "hey, this is a good route, or at least a decent one, and I recommend riding, running or walking it". So there are a few things worth making sure of beforehand:

1. The route makes sense for other people and is legal to travel. Publish routes you believe others will enjoy — so not unfinished drafts or experiments. Also make sure the route is legal to ride or run: that it doesn't go through restricted areas of nature reserves, for example, or across private yards without permission.

2. The route has both a sensible name and at least a short description. A name alone isn't enough for other people to judge whether the route suits them. Write a description that says what the route is like: its technicality and difficulty, for example, who it suits and what kind of riding or travel, and the sights or scenery along the way. A good name and description are the most important way to help others find the routes that are right for them.

3. Reittikone always shows the newest version of your route. A published route is "live": if you edit the route, the changes automatically show up in Reittikone too. Equally, the route has to be kept — if you delete it from Trailmap, it disappears from Reittikone as well. So it's worth keeping published routes saved rather than deleting them.

If published routes start to clutter up the route library you use day to day, you still don't have to delete them. Trailmap's new route library organising function lets you move routes to the Archive and back. The Archive means "keep, but don't show in the normal view": the route stays saved and published in Reittikone, but isn't in the way in the everyday use of your route library. This is a handy way to keep published routes live without your own view getting congested.