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What if a trail is on my private property?

  • Updated

If you are a landowner and see a trail on AllTrails that is trespassing on your private property, our support team would be happy to assist you. Please read the following before contacting customer support:

  • If the trail is marked by a thick green line and has an individual trail page like the one here, the trail is considered a verified route in the AllTrails database. If the trail route is not open to the general public, please email us via our contact form with the following information:
      1. Name of Trail
      2. Web URL
      3. Detailed description of the access issue
  • If the trail is marked by a black-dashed line segment only, you are referring to the trail segment data on the AllTrails map type. For reference, the trail segment data comes directly through OpenStreetMap (OSM), a collaborative mapping project that offers a free editable map of the world. In certain areas of the globe, these trail segments should not be accessed by the public or have inaccuracies. It is recommended that you use OSM's online platform to edit the attributes of trail segments so that the changes will then be reflected in the AllTrails database. Please follow the instructions below to make edits on OSM:
      1. Visit https://www.openstreetmap.org/ 
      2. Use the search bar to enter a nearby city or other geographical feature to narrow your view
      3. Click on the arrow next to ‘Edit’ and select ‘Edit with iD’ from the drop-down
      4. Zoom into the segment that needs to be edited, then click on the segment to highlight it
      5. In the left column, edit the segment's attributes as follows:
        • highway=path
        • access=private
      6. When finished editing, click ‘Save’ at the upper right corner of the map

NOTE: When making edits on OSM, please do not delete the trail segments — doing so runs the risk of another OSM member adding back the segments with misleading attributes. Instead, please follow the above steps to mark the segment as private — learn more about setting attributes on OpenStreetMap. Once updated on AllTrails, these segments will be clearly marked as private to warn members not to follow the paths.

Edits made to OSM are not directly applied to the AllTrails map type. These edits are applied to the AllTrails map type periodically throughout the year — we appreciate your patience in the meantime.

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