Social Media and the Oversharing of Sensitive Sites

Dave

Adventurist
Founder
Senior Staff
Editor
American Adventurist now has a policy of not sharing geo tags or the exact locations of remote, sensitive sites on social media. It seems some folks may not like that.

Too bad.

The ugly truth is, most people are lazy. They don't want to explore or research. So they click on a link and tell their friends and bam! Dozens of trucks show up at _____ location despite any rules or common sense. And then they tell more people. Sadly, it seems that all too often we end up regretting it when it's trashed or ultimately gated.

There are some great articles on the topic HERE and HERE.

We appreciate your support on this topic on social, and hope you do the same. There are a growing number of people and accounts who are finally realizing that our best places really can get "loved to death".

This quote below from Outside Online really sums it up:

Not long ago, Matera posted a stunning photo of a person staring out at a landscape of drippy red-rock hoodoos. “The Southwest is so huge that there are still tons of place to be ‘discovered,’ including this one I’m calling Canyon X,” he wrote below the picture. “The point here is to get out and do some exploring of your own. Find some places and keep them to yourself. It’s not about capturing the same shot you saw on Instagram, but to find your own special spot and make your own images.”

The picture was tagged, vaguely, “Sedona, Arizona.”

The point of our social media presence on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest is to be inspirational. To get people motivated to travel, explore, and live their own story.

:thumbsup
 
Excellent choice in doing so. I have recently seen some of my favorite spots been put on youtube and the like with the person talking saying I added the coordinates and directions to this secluded spot below. As much as I like to share some of those spots with friends when this sort of thing starts happening they quickly can become over crowded, full of trash and graffiti inevitably begins to show up.
 
Yeah its unfortunate, I never tag locations. Someone went to one of my favorite "spots" and moved the fire pit. For who knows what reason..... Now there are two burn locations.... And its not even all that secret, but everyone in the past has generally been respectful and clean.
 
Yeah, I used to give location data to friends but then found out that some were sending it to random places and posting them up on forums. I don't do that anymore. If they want to come along on a trip that I organize and plan, they can come along, but it'll be up to them to create the nav data by actively participating on the trip.

If anything, there's enough data in those back road guides and I just tell them to buy those instead.
 
Cosigned.

"Loved to death" has been my go-to phrase for several years now, after a Ranger used it when discussing overuse-damage in an area where we met.
 
Your smartphone and some cameras do this by default.
Yup. With an exif reader you can extract the gps coordinates if the phone or modern camera embedded it. It was easier to do on forums where photosharing services (photobucket, etc) were used. People would post a photo of their vehicle and cover the licnse plate, but you could drop a pin on their driveway in google maps.

I'm not sure if this site discards the data when you upload, I haven't checked. Beyond that it is just a matter of not putting too much in the description and not entering a location in social media sites. Turn off location permissions on these apps for better infosec and battery life.
 
One of the hazards of getting older. I recall having similar discussions almost two decades ago but the discussion was whether to post those new-fangled GPS tracks, no discussion of geotagged pictures back then.
 
Totally agree with all that has been said. I NEVER understood why some people need to make additional fire pits at a location just one of my pet peeves. Here in TX we have little (less) public dispersed sites. Some very nice land owners let us use their property. Always some BOZO that ruins it for the rest :(. I'm old and challenged... how do I know if Geotags are off on my pics? I use a Samsung android most of the time.
 
Totally agree with all that has been said. I NEVER understood why some people need to make additional fire pits at a location just one of my pet peeves. Here in TX we have little (less) public dispersed sites. Some very nice land owners let us use their property. Always some BOZO that ruins it for the rest :(. I'm old and challenged... how do I know if Geotags are off on my pics? I use a Samsung android most of the time.


On most Android phones, you can just open camera app and tap on Settings. From the Settings, scroll down until you see the option “Geo tags” (or similar option) and disable it.

If the above doesn’t work for you, then try tapping on Settings icon in Camera app and from the menu tap on the Settings icon again.
 
https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/25/...ers-can-navigate-anywhere-using-just-3-words/

<excerpt>
However, that likely won’t be a typical use-case. It’s more about helping people find their way to very specific points of interest such as a hard-to-find sea view, a beer festival in a remote forest, or holiday accommodation in the desert — so travel guide producers, event organizers, or an Airbnb host can tell people where to go using just three words.
 
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