# abseits

> abseits is a free, privacy-friendly outdoor map and trip-planning app for hikers, backcountry skiers, and cyclists. Plan trips with routes and waypoints, work fully offline with cached vector tiles, and keep your data yours. No ads, no tracking, no freemium paywall for core features.

abseits runs entirely on Cloudflare's edge (Workers + Pages + R2) and installs as a standalone PWA on iOS, Android, and desktop. Map data is sourced from OpenStreetMap and rendered with a custom cartography pipeline tuned for terrain readability (terrain shading, contours, rendered icons, and dedicated winter/cycling/summer styles).

## Key features

### Map & cartography
- **Four built-in styles**: standard topo, winter (ski-touring oriented, lift and route rendering), cycling (road and off-road classes differentiated), satellite
- **Custom vector tile pipeline** built from OpenStreetMap data, not a reseller of a third-party style
- **Terrain shading and contour lines** layered on all styles at useful zooms
- **Optional third-party styles** (opt-in): MapTiler winter topo, Esri World Imagery, OpenTopoMap, OpenStreetMap raster fallback
- **Custom sprite atlas** for POIs, with palette-aware text halos per style (icy blue in winter, warm in summer)

### Trip planning
- **Trips** hold routes and waypoints together as a planned outing
- **Routes** created interactively on the map; supports multi-segment routes with waypoints in between
- **Waypoints** with categories (hut, summit, trailhead, danger, etc.) and custom notes
- **Share trips** via short share codes for collaborators to join and sync

### Offline
- **Vector tiles cached in OPFS / IndexedDB** for selected regions, not just ephemeral tile fetches
- **Offline-first**: full map, routing, and trip editing work without any connection after initial region download
- **Writes queue locally** and sync back to the account when online
- **Progressive Web App**: installable, runs standalone, no app store required

### Account & sync
- **Optional account** for syncing trips across devices; the app works fully anonymously if you skip signup
- **Email + password** or **OAuth** (Apple, Google)
- **No marketing email, no data sharing**; account email is used only for authentication and password recovery

### Privacy & security
- **No analytics**, no Google/Meta SDKs, no fingerprinting, no cross-site tracking
- **Cloudflare Turnstile** + rate limiting on auth endpoints to prevent abuse
- **Email enumeration protection**: constant-time responses on signup / forgot-password, no different error messages for "wrong password" vs "no user"
- **GDPR-compliant**: data minimisation, EU-US Data Privacy Framework participants (Cloudflare, Esri), full subject-rights workflow

## Use cases

- **Day hiking and multi-day hiking** in the Alps, Nordics, and anywhere OSM has good coverage
- **Backcountry ski touring** with the winter style that renders lifts, pistes, and ski routes alongside terrain
- **Gravel and bikepacking** with the cycling style that differentiates road classes
- **Trip planning** with routes, waypoints, and shared access for planning with friends
- **Fully offline use** in remote or signal-sparse areas (huts, backcountry, flights, trains)

## Comparisons

abseits is often searched for as a free alternative to Komoot or AllTrails. Neutral comparison pages:

- [abseits vs Komoot](https://abseits.app/compare/komoot/) — where each wins. Short version: abseits is free with no region packs and no subscription; Komoot wins on route discovery, voice nav, and native mobile apps.
- [abseits vs AllTrails](https://abseits.app/compare/alltrails/) — short version: abseits has custom offline cartography and no ads; AllTrails wins on trail reviews, photos, and its very large US trail database.

## Pages

- [App](https://abseits.app/) — landing page and full web application
- [vs Komoot](https://abseits.app/compare/komoot/) — feature comparison
- [vs AllTrails](https://abseits.app/compare/alltrails/) — feature comparison
- [Privacy policy](https://abseits.app/legal/privacy) — GDPR-compliant, no tracking
- [Imprint](https://abseits.app/legal/imprint) — §5 TMG + OSM attribution
- [Sitemap](https://abseits.app/sitemap.xml)