TOPO! Explorer Community Guidelines

The following Community Guidelines are here to help you understand what it means to be a member of TOPO! Explorer. Like all communities, TOPO! Explorer includes people from a wide variety of experiences, backgrounds, and mindsets. We are proud that the TOPO! Explorer site can provide outdoor enthusiasts and map lovers an interesting place to interact, share, learn, and grow. Every community feature on TOPO! Explorer involves a certain amount of trust. We trust you to be responsible, and millions of users respect that trust, so please be one of them. In keeping with this spirit of positive collaboration, we have developed a core set of guidelines that must be followed by all members.

Don’t Cross the Line

Conduct by any user that, at the discretion of National Geographic, restricts or inhibits any other user from using or enjoying the Site will not be permitted. National Geographic reserves the right to refuse access to the Site to any user for any reason, including, without limitation, a belief that the user in question has violated these Community Guidelines or any copyright or trademark laws of the United States. Here are some basic rules that will help all users steer clear of trouble.

  1. TOPO! Explorer is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your content, then do not post it on TOPO! Explorer. Be advised that any breach of this guideline may result in a referral to law enforcement agencies.
  2. Do not post content related to bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, or vandalism.
  3. Do not post content related to violence. If your photo/video shows someone getting hurt, attacked, or humiliated, do not post it.
  4. No "shock" content will be tolerated. If your photo/video shows accidents, dead bodies or similar things, do not post it.
  5. Respect copyright. Only upload content that you made or that you have obtained the rights to use. This means do not upload photos or videos that you did not make, or use content that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or photos/videos made by other users, without their permission.
  6. We encourage free speech and defend everyone’s right to express unpopular points of view. We do not permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on, including, but not limited to, race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity).
  7. There is zero tolerance for predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment, invading privacy, or the revealing of other members’ personal information. Anyone caught doing these things may be permanently banned from TOPO! Explorer.
  8. Everyone hates spam. Do not create misleading descriptions, tags, or titles in order to increase views. Promoting your trip is one thing, but it is not OK to post large amounts of untargeted, unwanted, repetitive content, including comments.

We ask that you take these rules seriously and exercise good judgment at all times. A violation of the Terms of Service may result in a warning notification or termination of your account and deletion of your content. We decide in our sole discretion whether we believe your violation of our Terms of Service should result in termination of your account. If you have an account terminated, you are prohibited from ever signing up for another account.

We Review Content Flagged as Inappropriate

When a trip/photo/video gets flagged as inappropriate, we review the content to determine whether it violates our Terms of Service. In some cases, content that has been flagged multiple times will be automatically taken down. After review, if the content remains removed, you can assume that we removed it purposefully and you should take this removal as a warning notification. We depend on users to help us flag inappropriate content, so if you find content that you reasonably believe violates these Terms of Service, please flag the content so that we have an opportunity to review it.

TOPO! Explorer is All About Building Community

This is your community. Each and every user of TOPO! Explorer helps make the Site unique, informative, and interesting. There is a lot to see on the Site. Our users are creating amazing trips using all kinds of different mapping and media technologies. Jump in and participate! There is no better way to get involved than to post content, share content, and comment on other people’s content. Feedback is part of the experience, and when done with respect, can be a great way to make friends, share stories, and make your time on TOPO! Explorer even more valuable.

Thanks for reading!
The TOPO! Explorer Team

National Geographic
© 2010 National Geographic Maps