Walking Forum
Main Boards => General Walking Discussion => Topic started by: April on 20:58:00, 15/09/20
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When I record the routes we do on Viewranger it asks if I want to record a "walk" or a "hike"
To me they really are the same thing, it seems odd Viewranger would make a choice between the two.
Does anyone know if choosing one over the other if this would make any difference as regards the distance/ascent/descent?recorded?
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I think they are whatever you want them to be. Round here. half day trips predominantly on lanes or tracks, up to say 14km, mostly likely in shoes - I record as a walk. Cross country, probably greater than 14km, probably in boots I record as a hike. As far as I can tell, VR really doesn't care and if you are not publishing the outcome for use by 3rd parties, it doesn't matter. You could email VR and ask.
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It makes no difference to what it records. It may have some value to the user to tag their different activities but ultimately it’s of use to ViewRanger as ninthace suggests. If you make tracks public they’re searchable on their website by activity. So you can look for cycling routes in a particular area etc.
The difference between a walk and a hike is a semantic distinction but I guess there’s some nebulous length/toughness threshold in most people’s minds.
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Thanks ninthace and Percy. I never thought it might be for someone else's benefit if they were looking at the route on Viewranger.
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Makes not the slightest difference to the distance/altitude gain recorded, April - a Hike is just a long walk, after all.
PS - I don't give it much thought, but nearly all of mine are 'Hikes'.
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Hi April,
Thoughts are pretty much the same as the other comments here.
Generally what I do is if it is on the road or a clearly defined path I put it down as a walk. If it is over rough ground and non pathed hill with decent elevation I call it a hike.
Possible goes back to my running days, if it is what I would have called a cross country or fell run that goes under hike, if it is what I would call a road run it goes under walk.
In the early days I think Viewranger defaulted to hike and you had to select walk if you wanted to record it as such
(I may be wrong) but now you have to make a selection before you set off.
And as I have been limited to easier walks on the road lately I have started logging them as walks.
I don't think there is a distinct definition, its just how I chose to list them.
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Thanks Richard and watershed O0
I've used Viewranger for years and they haven't always gave you a choice of what to record it as. I have wondered about for a while, the Walk or Hike choice and thought I would ask on here.
We have Long Distance Walks (LDW) in this country not Long Distance Hikes. Fell or hill walking, the word hike or hiking seems superfluous really ;D
Like others have mentioned I select "hike" when doing a fell walk or "walk" when doing a more flat easy route. Now I know it is of no importance to me I might just record them all as walks.
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I thought I'd ask ViewRanger themselves and this was the reply (within 30 minutes of sending). This was the the response.
There is no official rule on whether a route is considered a walk or a hike in ViewRanger, as it is up to the discretion of the user who publishes the route. And it makes no difference to anything except filtering routes. However, generally walking routes would follow a reasonably smooth or fine track without obstacles. Likely to need less gear. While a hiking route would be more complex and could involve changes in elevation, likely longer and more challenging. We do think most users stick to this general guideline when deciding how to classify their routes.