For safe use
Terms of Use
These terms apply to the use of Hugos Bike-Touren App (HBTA), the associated website, share links and the community.
1. Private hobby project and voluntary support
HBTA is operated privately as a hobby project and is currently provided free of charge.
Support through the PayPal.Me page linked in the app is voluntary and is made without anything being provided in return. It does not unlock functions, badges, priority handling or any other benefits, and does not create any entitlement to support, a particular level of availability or the continued operation of the service. HBTA remains functionally the same for users who provide support and those who do not.
2. Minimum age and account
You must be at least 18 years old to create your own HBTA account. Minors may not create their own HBTA account. Provide accurate account details, keep your password confidential and contact the operator using the methods listed in the legal notice if you suspect misuse of your account.
The user relationship runs for an indefinite period. You may end it at any time, without notice and without charge, by deleting your account in the app or requesting deletion on the public account-deletion page.
3. Road safety
Your safety and the applicable traffic rules always take precedence over anything displayed or instructed by the app.
- Do not operate the app while riding. Stop in a safe place if input is required.
- Observe traffic signs, closures, access rights, weather, surface conditions and your personal capabilities.
- Check for yourself whether a route is suitable and legal for you, your bicycle or e-bike and your equipment.
4. Navigation and route data
Navigation, maps and route suggestions may be incomplete, outdated or incorrect. The route that is actually passable and safe may differ from what is shown. Never follow an instruction if it conflicts with traffic rules, signs or the apparent situation.
HBTA displays its own bicycle map using MapLibre and OpenStreetMap data. The points you select and the bicycle profile “Touring”, “Road”, “Gravel” or “MTB” are sent to the HBTA server for a calculation you initiate; BRouter calculates a bicycle route there. Profile, surface, cycleway and incline ratings are technical weightings and do not represent an assurance that a path is actually suitable, permitted, open or in a particular condition.
Before a ride, HBTA can store the route line, elevation profile and turn instructions in a local route package. Route matching, direction-of-travel display and voice output run on the device during the ride. If a deviation is detected, automatic recalculation requires an internet connection and resends the then-current location, the remaining points and the profile to the HBTA routing endpoint. A route package alone does not contain a complete offline map. From version 0.7.11, you can additionally download a bounded tour offline package within the supported German map coverage; only a confirmed complete download includes the corresponding map within the package area and saved zoom levels. Check the package status before riding. Even a complete package does not guarantee current closure or hazard information.
Google Maps remains an optional external alternative. Only when you expressly select it and confirm the handoff does HBTA add the destination coordinate and no more than three intermediate coordinates to a Google Maps HTTPS address. The selected app or browser receives this address. HBTA does not start navigation in doing so and does not transmit your device's current location for this purpose; Google Maps may determine it using its own location permission and calculates its own route outside HBTA. The Google Maps/Earth terms of service and the Google privacy policy additionally apply to this alternative. For previously installed versions up to and including 0.6.8, the transitional information in the privacy notice applies.
You decide whether to follow a route and are responsible for any costs arising from the selected route, such as tolls, ferry charges or other usage fees.
5. GPS recording and optional fitness analysis
GPS signals and device sensors may fail or be inaccurate. The recorded route, speed, elevation gain and duration may therefore differ from the actual ride.
Separate voluntary GPS/tour-data consent is required before the first GPS recording. The app then initially processes and stores GPS track points and measurement times, the start and end of the recording, and resulting tour values such as distance, duration, speed and elevation gain locally. An account-linked server copy is created only through your individual synchronisation action or through “Private tour synchronisation”, which you additionally enable and which is disabled by default on each device. The automatic function does not create a share link, a community publication or a photo upload.
You can withdraw the GPS/tour-data consent in the app at any time with effect for the future. New GPS recordings and synchronisation are then blocked. Recorded tours stored on the server are deleted together with their associated share links, community publications and tour photos. The app lets you decide separately whether local recordings should also be removed. The lawfulness of processing up to the withdrawal remains unaffected. A materially changed version of the consent must be expressly confirmed again before any further recording.
Fitness analysis is independent of this and voluntary. If you enable it, your age in full years and your weight are required for the local calorie estimate. Neither value, their local recording snapshots nor calorie values are transmitted to the HBTA server. When you disable the function, the app removes these fitness data and estimates; GPS recording may continue and existing routes remain available.
Calorie information is merely a non-binding approximation based on profile and tour values. It is not a measurement, may differ due to factors including e-bike assistance, wind, incline, surface, individual fitness and heart rate, and is not suitable for diagnosis, treatment or dietary decisions.
6. Sharing routes and the community
A new or replaced profile photo is voluntary and, in the current app version, is stored privately only. You may upload only images for which you hold the necessary rights and which do not infringe the rights, private information or safety of others. New community or chat visibility is not currently offered. Any existing community sharing remains in place until you manually switch it back to private; replacing or deleting the image remains possible at any time.
Sharing is deliberately public: anyone who has the link or receives it from someone else can see the shared route summary. The destination and intermediate points of a planned route are published only if you expressly include them. For recorded tours, it may additionally include a simplified GPS route line without timestamps, elevation profiles or sensor values.
Before a recorded line is shared, the app warns that private places may be revealed. You can hide the first and last metres along the route; this is not a complete privacy radius. The remaining line, revisited places and tour title may still reveal private places. Review the preview and share a link only if the shared points and visible line may be visible to everyone who has the link. Share links can be revoked and expire after no more than 30 days.
When you share a route link through a messenger or social service, it may automatically retrieve and cache a preview containing the route title, distance, duration and ascent. By default, HBTA uses a general image without a route line. From version 0.7.11, an additional voluntary map-image choice is available for new shares of recorded tours: only after this separate selection may the explicitly shared route, reduced according to your start/end trimming, also appear in the messenger image. Existing links do not receive this extension automatically. Previews already sent or cached by the third-party provider cannot reliably be retrieved by revoking the HBTA link.
From version 0.7.10, an optional tour video export is available. Tour videos are created on your device. Before sharing, review the title, visible route and photos. Use only images for which you hold the necessary rights to share them; also respect the rights of recognisable people. Saved or sent video copies cannot be recalled by HBTA and do not expire after 30 days. Creating a video alone creates no public link. A tour link optionally added for account recordings remains independently revocable and uses the original tour title. Details about export and map requests are provided in the privacy notice and FAQ.
Community tours can be found by signed-in HBTA users and may remain visible indefinitely until you withdraw or delete them. Publish only routes, descriptions and photos that you are permitted to provide and that do not infringe the rights of others. You may share personal content concerning others only with the required permission or other lawful basis. You decide separately whether your display name is shown; otherwise “HBTA Rider” appears. Withdrawal ends community access but may preserve the private draft and previously uploaded photos for your continued editing.
You retain your rights to your own descriptions, routes and photos. To the extent technically required for the community publication you select, you grant the operator a non-exclusive, royalty-free and geographically unrestricted right to store, technically process and reproduce the content and make it accessible to signed-in users for HBTA. This right applies only to operating, safeguarding and displaying the selected publication and ends upon its final deletion, unless statutory retention or a necessary backup prevents this. There is no transfer of ownership or blanket sublicensing of your tour under an open-data licence.
Routes curated by the HBTA editorial team may, by contrast, originate from expressly identified OpenStreetMap data. In this case, the app displays the source, attribution, modification status and ODbL 1.0 licence and provides the derived line to signed-in users in machine-readable form. This identification and licence apply only to the respective curated dataset, not to your own community content.
Community information about difficulty, surface, e-bike suitability and accessibility is supplied by users and may be wrong or outdated. Always check the actual situation yourself. Photos are regenerated without original metadata, but their visible content may nevertheless reveal places or people.
From version 0.7.11: Guest mode, local GPX exchange and tour offline packages are additional optional features. Guest data stay local and are not automatically assigned to an account used later. GPX files can contain complete precise locations and are unencrypted; copies saved through a selected document or cloud provider cannot be revoked. Import and share only files you have the right to use for this purpose. A GPX line does not establish permission or safe access to a path. A complete offline package does not replace on-site checks and does not provide offline recalculation; downloading alone neither starts nor ends a tour.
7. Permitted use
Do not use HBTA to infringe the rights of others, disrupt systems, circumvent safeguards, send an excessive number of automated requests, or distribute unlawful content or route information. Accounts, publications or shares may be restricted or terminated in the event of misuse.
You can report problematic community tours in the app using a predefined reason. Chat messages, users and community authors can be reported with a category and optional further explanation. For a substantiated report of allegedly illegal information, the electronic reporting procedure described in the legal notice is also available.
Technical input checks, volume limits and the detection of duplicate reports are automated. They do not make a final decision on the legality of content. The actual moderation decision is made by a human, carefully, promptly, objectively and proportionately. The nature, severity, frequency and context of the possible infringement, as well as the rights and legitimate interests of everyone involved, are taken into account, in particular freedom of expression and information, privacy and non-discrimination.
Where an electronic contact method is known and no statutory grounds prevent it, affected users receive a clear and specific statement of reasons in the app or reliably by email for any removal or restriction. It states the nature, territorial scope and duration of the measure, the relevant facts and their source, including whether it was triggered by a report or the operator's own review, any automation used in the decision, the specific rule or legal provision applied, and available means of review. A review may be requested by email to admin@hugosbiketouren.de, specifying the affected content and decision.
Where Article 18 DSA applies to HBTA and the operator becomes aware of circumstances giving rise to a suspicion that a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of one or more persons has taken place, is taking place or is likely to take place, the operator reports the suspicion without delay. In Germany, the report is made to the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) as the central office under section 13 DDG; it forwards the information to the competent law-enforcement authority. HBTA provides the relevant information available to it but does not conduct its own investigations.
The community and child-safety guidelines additionally apply to chat, direct messages and other social functions. The version of the rules displayed at the time must be accepted before the first message. Messages and users can be reported separately, users can be blocked, and content or accounts can be restricted in the event of infringements.
8. Availability, maintenance, changes and discontinuation
HBTA is provided without any assurance of a particular level of availability or support. Maintenance, security measures, technical disruptions or events beyond the operator's control may temporarily restrict use. Keep important tour data separately in a suitable form if you depend on it permanently.
Beyond adaptations required to maintain conformity, functions are changed only for a valid reason, such as new statutory requirements, security risks or necessary technical compatibility. Such changes do not cause you any additional costs. You will be informed clearly and comprehensibly; where a change affects your access or use more than insignificantly, the advance information required by law will be provided on a durable medium. Your mandatory statutory rights remain unaffected.
A permanent discontinuation or material restriction of the service will, where possible and reasonable, be announced with appropriate notice. To the extent technically and legally possible, users will first have an opportunity to export or delete their own routes and content. An immediate restriction may be necessary where urgent security, misuse or statutory grounds prevent advance notice. Statutory rights remain unaffected.
9. Personal responsibility and statutory liability
Routes and map, elevation, navigation and community information may be incomplete, inaccurate or outdated. Paths may be closed, not open to public use, or unsuitable or dangerous due to weather, construction work or terrain. Signs, traffic rules, closures and actual local conditions take precedence. Check the route, weather, equipment and your riding ability before and during every tour.
Liability under statutory provisions remains unaffected. In particular, liability for intent and gross negligence, injury to life, limb or health and other mandatory statutory liability is not excluded or limited.
10. Privacy and final provisions
Information about the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy notice. Operator details are provided in the legal notice. Mandatory statutory rights and liability provisions remain unaffected.