What travellers write here
Most of what is useful on this map was put there by somebody who drove it. Road reports, ratings on a camp, places and photos travellers add, and messages when somebody needs a hand. These are the rules for that, and they are short. Adding anything to the map means you agree to them.
Say what you saw
A report is worth something because somebody was actually there. Write what the road was like when you drove it, not what you heard, not what it was like last winter. If you are not sure, say so in the report rather than leaving it out.
What does not belong
- Abuse, threats, or having a go at a person or a business.
- Somebody else's name, address, phone number or number plate.
- Advertising, or the same thing posted over and over.
- Anything that would put a traveller in danger, including telling people a road is fine when it is not.
- Ratings for a place you have not been to.
Reporting something
A place travellers added, the ratings on a camp, each traveller's photo and each call for help has a Report line. Tap it, pick what is wrong, and send it. It works with no signal in the sense that it will tell you plainly if it could not send, rather than pretending it did.
A person reads them. Something abusive or somebody's personal details comes down. Something that is just wrong about a road usually gets corrected by the next traveller through, which is how the map is supposed to work, so that one may be left alone rather than removed.
What happens to what does not belong
- Every photo is looked at by an automatic check before anybody else sees it. Anything it is unsure about waits for a person.
- Place names, notes and messages go through a word filter before they are saved. A call for help is never refused over its wording; a note the filter stops is left off.
- Content that breaks these rules is taken down, and the handle or connection that posted it can be blocked from adding anything again.
- Under any traveller's photo you can tap Hide this contributor, and nothing their photos do not show on your phone again.
- Anything urgent, or an appeal against a block: admin@thelapmap.com.au.
What we will not pretend
There is no moderation team here. Reports go into a queue that a person reads. That is worth saying plainly, because an app that promises instant removal and then takes four days has told you something untrue at the moment you most needed it to be true.
Road reports are travellers talking
Nothing on this map is advice, and none of it is checked by an authority. It is what other people driving the same roads have said. Conditions change with the weather and with the week. Drive to what is in front of you.