Terms of Use
These terms apply when you use Vertex Maps: the iPhone app, the web app and the website at vertexmaps.app (together "Vertex Maps" or "the service"). By creating an account, signing in or otherwise using the service you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use Vertex Maps. Please also read our Privacy Policy.
Read this first: the mountains are dangerous
Ski touring, off-piste skiing, mountaineering and travel in winter terrain can lead to serious injury or death, from avalanches, falls, crevasses, cornices, ice, rockfall, weather, cold and getting lost. Vertex Maps cannot remove these risks and does not make any slope, route or day safe.
- Vertex Maps is a planning aid. It is not an avalanche bulletin, a guide, an avalanche or hazard map, a navigation device or a rescue service.
- Its layers, colours, lines, words and times are model estimates made automatically from public data. They can be late, incomplete or wrong, and they do not see the snowpack, the weather or the terrain in front of you.
- You decide whether, where and when you go, and you carry the risk of that decision. Always read the official avalanche bulletin, check the weather and conditions, and judge the terrain on site. Turn back when what you see does not match the app.
- Do not use Vertex Maps as the only basis for any decision in avalanche terrain.
- In an emergency, call 112. The app does not alert rescuers.
1. Who we are
Vertex Maps is provided by Björn Falkenäng, a private individual, Svartensgatan 8B, 116 20 Stockholm, Sweden ("we", "us"). You can reach us at [email protected].
2. What Vertex Maps is and is not
Vertex Maps shows maps, terrain, weather, snow and official avalanche information in one place to help you plan and record ski tours and ski days. It is an information and planning tool.
Vertex Maps is not:
- an official avalanche bulletin or a replacement for one;
- a mountain guide, an instructor or professional advice;
- a slope-by-slope safety assessment or a hazard map;
- a certified navigation device or a replacement for a map, compass and the skills to use them;
- an emergency, tracking or rescue service.
Using Vertex Maps does not replace avalanche training, experience, the right equipment (at least transceiver, probe and shovel in avalanche terrain, and glacier equipment on glaciers), a capable partner, or your own observations and judgement.
3. Your responsibility and the risks you accept
You use Vertex Maps and go into the mountains at your own risk and on your own responsibility. Before and during every trip it is up to you to:
- read the current official avalanche bulletin for the area, in full, from its issuing service;
- check the weather forecast and the local conditions, closures, protected areas and rules;
- choose a route, timing and group that fit the conditions, your skills, fitness and equipment;
- keep watching the snow, the weather and the terrain, and change plans or turn back when needed;
- follow the law and the instructions of lift operators, landowners, authorities and rescue services.
The app may show a line, a colour or a word that looks like good news. Conditions on the mountain always win over what the app shows.
4. Official avalanche bulletins
Avalanche danger levels, problems, aspects and elevations come from official regional warning services. We fetch, shorten, translate, combine and draw them on the map automatically. In doing so we may make mistakes or show information late. Some services only describe problems in text, and Vertex Maps then reads them from that text, which can be wrong.
The bulletin published by the issuing service is the only authoritative version. If anything in Vertex Maps differs from it, the official bulletin applies. A bulletin is a regional forecast. It does not tell you whether a particular slope will slide. Bulletins may be missing, out of date, out of season or not cover where you are. Each bulletin in the app names its issuer and links to the original; read the original.
5. Map layers, models and automatic features
Many features are calculated automatically from elevation models, satellite images, weather models and bulletins. This includes, among others, Steepness, Aspect, Powder, Wind, Snow surface and corn timing, Latest snow, New snow, Snow line, Reach, From the lift, Today's problem, the risk colour of tours ("Fits today", "Careful today", "Avoid today"), difficulty dots, Auto line, the line colours of routes and all time, distance and elevation estimates.
- They are simplified rules and models. They have limited resolution, use forecasts that can be wrong, and do not know the actual snowpack, cornices, crevasses, ice, avalanche debris, closed areas or many other hazards.
- Auto line suggests a line between points you choose using fixed rules about slope angle, aspect, elevation and the bulletin. It is a suggestion to review, not a safe or recommended route. It may lead through dangerous, impassable, closed or private terrain.
- Words such as "Fits today", "Fine" or "Careful" only describe how the line or tour compares with those rules. They do not mean safe. Where there is no bulletin, the app assumes a danger level and says so; this assumption can be wrong.
- Times are estimates from simple formulas. Your actual time can be much longer.
- Satellite and snow images can be days or years old and may be partly covered by cloud.
6. Tours and routes from others
The tour library contains tracks from third parties such as Camptocamp, OpenStreetMap contributors and other open sources, and routes shared by users. We do not check or walk these tracks. They can be inaccurate, out of date or unsuitable for today's conditions, and a track existing does not mean anyone has judged it safe. The original source and licence are shown with each track. You use them at your own risk.
7. GPS, recording and availability
Location from your phone can be inaccurate or stop working, for example in steep terrain, in the cold or without a signal. Batteries run out. Recording, maps and data may not work offline unless you have prepared for it, and the app can stop or be closed by your phone. Always carry other means of navigation and a way to call for help.
We work to keep Vertex Maps available and correct, but we do not promise that the service or any data source will be available at all times, without errors or without delay. We depend on third-party providers and may change, add or remove features, data sources and regions.
8. Emergencies
Vertex Maps is not an emergency service. It does not notify anyone when you are in trouble and does not share your location with rescuers. In an emergency call 112 (works in the EU, Norway, Switzerland and many other countries; 911 in North America). In Switzerland you can also call Rega on 1414.
9. Your account
You must be at least 13 years old to use Vertex Maps, and the age of digital consent in your country if it is higher. Give correct information and keep your password private. You are responsible for what happens in your account. You can delete your account at any time in Settings → Delete account.
10. Vertex Pro, trials and payment
Vertex Pro gives access to the full app. The current prices are shown in the app before you buy, at present 249 kr per year (about 21 kr per month) and a 79 kr week pass for 7 days that does not renew. New users may get a free trial. Prices include VAT where it applies.
- Purchases in the iPhone app are made through Apple's App Store. Apple handles the payment, renewal, cancellation and refunds under its own terms. A yearly subscription renews automatically until you cancel it in your Apple account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the period. A free trial turns into a paid subscription unless you cancel it before the trial ends.
- If we offer purchases outside the App Store, the price, period, renewal, cancellation and right of withdrawal will be shown before you buy.
- Under EU law you normally have 14 days to withdraw from a purchase made at a distance. If you ask for Vertex Pro to start at once, you may have to pay for the time you have used if you withdraw. For App Store purchases you ask Apple for a refund.
Nothing in these terms limits your statutory rights if the service is faulty or not as described.
11. What you share
You keep the rights to routes, activities, photos, names and other content you add. When you make content visible to others, you give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, free licence to store, show, copy and adapt it (for example on maps and in lists) for as long as it is shared in the service. The licence ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies others have already saved or that we must keep by law.
Only share content you have the right to share. Do not share content that is false or misleading about safety, illegal, or that infringes others' rights. You can report content in the app; we may remove content and suspend accounts that break these terms.
12. Fair use
Do not misuse the service, for example by bulk downloading or scraping data, getting around payment or limits, reverse engineering it except where the law allows, interfering with its operation, or using it to harm others. Map and data sources are licensed to us under their own terms, listed on Sources and licences; you may not copy them out of the app except as those licences allow.
13. Our liability
We are responsible for providing Vertex Maps as described in these terms and as required by mandatory law. Because the service is a planning aid built on models and third-party data (sections 2–7), an estimate, layer or line that turns out not to match reality is not in itself a fault in the service.
To the extent permitted by applicable law:
- we are not liable for decisions you make or for accidents, injury or loss that result from mountain hazards, the conditions, or from relying on information in the app instead of your own assessment on site;
- we are not liable for errors in, or the unavailability of, data and content from third parties, including avalanche warning services, weather and map providers and other users;
- we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, such as lost trips, travel costs or lost profit;
- our total liability for other loss is limited to the amount you paid us for Vertex Maps in the 12 months before the event that caused it, or 500 kr if that is more.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for intent or gross negligence, under product liability law, or your mandatory rights as a consumer.
14. Users outside the EU and EEA
If you live outside the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, then to the fullest extent your local law allows: the service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and accuracy; you voluntarily assume all risks of mountain activities and of using the service; and you release us from claims arising from those risks, except where the law does not allow such a release.
15. Ending
You can stop using Vertex Maps and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or close an account that seriously or repeatedly breaks these terms, after a warning where reasonable. If we close the service entirely, we will tell you in advance where possible and you can export your routes and activities as GPX before it closes. Paid periods are handled under section 10.
16. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms, for example when we add features or when the law changes. We will update the date above. For important changes we will tell you in the app or by email before they apply, and you can stop using the service and cancel if you do not accept them.
17. Law and disputes
These terms are governed by Swedish law. If you are a consumer, you also keep the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where you live, and you may bring a claim in the courts there or in Sweden.
If you have a complaint, contact us first at [email protected]. If we cannot agree, consumers in Sweden can turn to the National Board for Consumer Disputes (Allmänna reklamationsnämnden, ARN), Box 174, 101 23 Stockholm, arn.se.
18. Other
If any part of these terms is found invalid, the rest still applies. For the iPhone app, Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement also applies between you and us; these terms add to it, and Apple is not responsible for the service. The data sources we use and their licences are listed on Sources and licences.