Terms of Service

Effective date: 9 May 2026

1. Scope

1.1 These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) govern the contractual relationship between Zavod Novi (matična številka 7325428000; davčna številka 16806077), a zavod established in the Republic of Slovenia (in these Terms “Zavod Novi”, “we”, or “us”), and any natural or legal person who uses the website gravelatlas.com or any related service operated by Zavod Novi under the Gravel Atlas brand (each a “User”, and the platform itself the “Service”).

1.2 By creating an account or otherwise using the Service, the User accepts these Terms in full, together with the Privacy Policy, which forms an integral part of these Terms.

1.3 Gravel Atlas is operated by Zavod Novi as a sub-brand. References to Gravel Atlas in these Terms mean Zavod Novi acting under that brand.

1.4 Where the User qualifies as a consumer within the meaning of the Slovenian Consumer Protection Act (Zakon o varstvu potrošnikov, ZVPot) and Directive (EU) 2011/83 on consumer rights, the mandatory consumer-protection provisions of Slovenian and European Union law apply in addition to and prevail over these Terms to the extent of any conflict.

2. The Service

2.1 The Service is a community-driven database of gravel cycling routes, events, collections, and related content. Registered Users may upload routes (including GPX files and photographs), record completions and check-ins, create collections, submit events, and connect a third-party Strava account in order to import activities.

2.2 Some functionality of the Service is provided free of charge. Other functionality is reserved for Users with an active Premium Subscription as described in section 7.

2.3 Zavod Novi reserves the right to add, modify, or remove functionality at any time. Where such a change materially reduces the functionality available to a User holding an active Premium Subscription, Zavod Novi shall notify the affected User and shall, where the User so requests, refund the unused portion of the subscription period on a pro-rata basis.

3. Conclusion of contract and User account

3.1 The contract between the User and Zavod Novi is concluded by the creation of a User account on the Service. Account creation is free of charge.

3.2 In order to create an account, the User must:

(a) be at least fifteen (15) years of age, being the age of digital consent under the Slovenian Personal Data Protection Act (ZVOP-2); Users below that age may create an account only with the documented consent of a parent or legal guardian;

(b) provide a valid email address and a password meeting the security requirements indicated at registration;

(c) provide accurate information and keep that information current.

3.3 The User shall keep account credentials confidential and shall not share them with any third party. The User is responsible for all activity carried out under the User's account, except where the User has notified Zavod Novi without undue delay of suspected unauthorised access.

3.4 Zavod Novi may refuse the creation of an account, or suspend or terminate an existing account, in the cases set out in section 6.

4. User content

4.1 The User retains full ownership of all content the User uploads or creates on the Service, including but not limited to route geometries, photographs, descriptions, comments, collections, and event submissions (“User Content”).

4.2 By uploading or creating User Content, the User grants Zavod Novi a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable (only to Zavod Novi's processors acting on Zavod Novi's instructions) licence to host, store, reproduce, display, and transmit such User Content solely to the extent necessary to operate the Service. This licence terminates when the User Content is deleted by the User, subject to backup-rotation periods documented in the Privacy Policy.

4.3 Zavod Novi shall not sell, license, or otherwise commercially exploit User Content beyond what is necessary to operate the Service.

4.4 The User warrants that the User holds all rights necessary to upload the User Content, that the User Content does not infringe any intellectual-property right, personality right, or other right of any third party, and that the User Content does not violate any applicable law.

4.5 Zavod Novi may, at its discretion and in accordance with the procedure set out in section 6, remove User Content that infringes these Terms or applicable law.

5. Routes are user-contributed content; assumption of risk

5.1 Zavod Novi operates the Service as a hosting platform for routes, events, and other content uploaded by Users. Zavod Novi is not the author, publisher, or curator of such content. Zavod Novi does not pre-ride, inspect, or otherwise verify routes prior to publication and makes no representation that any route is safe, lawful to ride, accurate, current, or fit for any particular purpose, rider, or bicycle.

5.2 Cycling carries inherent and substantial risk, including but not limited to loose or unstable surfaces, vehicular and other traffic, weather, mechanical failure, fatigue, disorientation, exposure, and encounters with wildlife or third parties. By undertaking any ride based on content obtained from the Service, the User knowingly and voluntarily assumes all such risks.

5.3 Routes constitute reference information only. Conditions on the ground change continually with seasons, weather, land-access decisions, and other factors beyond Zavod Novi's control. The User shall verify the current state of any route before riding it.

5.4 The User is solely responsible for the User's own preparation and equipment, including helmet, lights, redundant navigation, emergency communication, food, water, and tools. Zavod Novi neither prescribes equipment requirements nor monitors compliance with any such standard.

5.5 The User is solely responsible for compliance with all applicable laws and regulations governing the User's ride, including traffic laws, rules of the road, land-access rules, private-property boundaries, protected-area restrictions, and any other applicable statutory or regulatory regime in the jurisdiction in which the ride takes place. Where a route appears to traverse private land or restricted territory, the determination whether to proceed rests with the User, on the ground; Zavod Novi makes no warranty as to the legality of any route.

5.6 The User is solely responsible for assessing the User's own physical fitness, technical skill, and judgement in relation to any route. Zavod Novi cannot supervise individual rides and cannot intervene in real time.

5.7 Subject always to the User's non-waivable statutory rights as a consumer and to liability for personal injury arising from gross negligence or intentional misconduct on the part of Zavod Novi (which Zavod Novi neither seeks to nor lawfully may disclaim under European Union law), Zavod Novi expressly excludes any liability for injury, accident, property damage, fines, prosecution, lost time, or any other loss or damage of any kind arising directly or indirectly from the User's use of any route, event, or other community-contributed content made available through the Service.

6. Acceptable use; suspension and termination

6.1 The User shall not, in connection with the Service:

(a) upload or otherwise make available content that the User does not have the right to upload, or that infringes any intellectual-property, personality, privacy, or other right of any third party;

(b) impersonate any other person or misrepresent the User's affiliation with any person or entity;

(c) publish routes that knowingly cross private land without the landowner's permission, that traverse areas closed to public access, or that endanger other riders or third parties;

(d) harass, threaten, defame, or target any individual, or post content that incites violence, hatred, or discrimination;

(e) attempt to circumvent, probe, or compromise the security of the Service, scrape the Service at machine scale, interfere with the use of the Service by other Users, or circumvent rate limits, paid-feature gates, or beta-access controls;

(f) use the Service to send unsolicited bulk communications or to launder data collected from third-party sources;

(g) use the Service in any manner that violates applicable Slovenian or European Union law.

6.2 Where Zavod Novi determines that a User has breached section 6.1, Zavod Novi may, in its discretion and in proportion to the severity of the breach, remove the offending User Content, issue a warning, restrict access to specific functionality, suspend the User's account, or terminate the User's account. Where notice can be given without aggravating the breach or compromising the security of the Service, Zavod Novi shall give such notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure.

6.3 Zavod Novi may also suspend or terminate an account where continued provision of the Service would expose Zavod Novi to legal risk, where the account has been inactive for a substantial period, or where required by an order of a competent authority.

7. Premium Subscription

7.1 Premium Subscription pricing is displayed at the time of purchase, in euro (EUR) or in the User's local currency where so indicated, inclusive of value added tax (VAT) where applicable.

7.2 Payment for the Premium Subscription is processed by Stripe Inc. (“Stripe”). The User's payment-card details are collected and processed directly by Stripe pursuant to Stripe's terms and privacy policy and are not accessible to Zavod Novi.

7.3 The Premium Subscription renews automatically at the end of each billing period at the then-current price for that plan, unless cancelled by the User before the end of the period through the Stripe customer portal accessible from the User's account settings. Cancellation prevents future renewals; access to Premium functionality continues until the end of the billing period for which payment has already been made.

7.4 Where Zavod Novi offers a free trial, Zavod Novi shall communicate to the User the date on which the trial converts to a paid plan and shall send the User a reminder email at a reasonable interval before the first charge.

7.5 Refunds outside the right of withdrawal set out in section 8 are at the discretion of Zavod Novi, save where applicable law requires otherwise (in particular Articles 80 to 84 of the Slovenian Consumer Protection Act in respect of non-conformity).

8. Right of withdrawal (consumers)

8.1 A User who qualifies as a consumer has the right to withdraw from a Premium Subscription concluded at a distance, without giving any reason, within fourteen (14) days of the conclusion of the contract, pursuant to Article 134 of the Slovenian Consumer Protection Act (ZVPot) and Article 9 of Directive (EU) 2011/83.

8.2 To exercise the right of withdrawal, the consumer shall communicate to Zavod Novi an unequivocal statement of the decision to withdraw, by email to support@gravelatlas.com. Use of the model withdrawal form contained in Annex I, Part B of Directive (EU) 2011/83 is sufficient but not required.

8.3 Where the consumer has expressly requested at checkout that performance of the contract begin during the withdrawal period and has acknowledged that the right of withdrawal will be lost upon full performance, the right of withdrawal expires once the Premium functionality has been fully provided, in accordance with Article 135(1)(13) of the Slovenian Consumer Protection Act (ZVPot) and Article 16(m) of Directive (EU) 2011/83.

8.4 Where the right of withdrawal has not been lost under section 8.3, Zavod Novi shall reimburse all payments received from the consumer without undue delay and in any event not later than fourteen (14) days from the date of receipt of the withdrawal notice, using the same means of payment as the consumer used for the initial transaction unless the consumer has expressly agreed otherwise.

9. Disclaimers

9.1 The Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, and subject always to the User's non-waivable statutory rights as a consumer, Zavod Novi makes no warranties, express, implied, or statutory, beyond those required by law.

9.2 Zavod Novi does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected within any given timeframe, or that any route, event, or other community-contributed content is accurate, current, complete, or fit for any particular purpose. The user-responsibility framework set out in section 5 applies in full to anything the User chooses to do with the Service.

10. Limitation of liability

10.1 To the fullest extent permitted by law, Zavod Novi shall not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, for loss of profit, loss of revenue, loss of data, loss of business opportunity, or loss of goodwill, for losses arising from the User's use of routes or other community-contributed content (in respect of which section 5 applies), or for losses caused by third-party processors acting outside the written instructions of Zavod Novi.

10.2 Zavod Novi's aggregate liability to the User for direct damages, in any twelve (12) month period, shall not exceed the greater of (a) the total amount paid by the User to Zavod Novi during that period and (b) one hundred euro (EUR 100).

10.3 Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes liability for personal injury, for damage caused by gross negligence or intentional misconduct, or for any other liability that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable Slovenian or European Union law. Where the User qualifies as a consumer, the User's non-waivable statutory rights are unaffected by this section.

11. Term and termination

11.1 These Terms apply from the moment the User creates a User account or otherwise begins to use the Service and continue until terminated in accordance with this section.

11.2 The User may terminate the contract at any time by deleting the User account. A self-service deletion mechanism is being implemented; until that mechanism is available, the User may request deletion by writing to support@gravelatlas.com, and Zavod Novi shall action the request within thirty (30) days.

11.3 Zavod Novi may terminate the contract in the cases set out in section 6.

11.4 The provisions of these Terms which by their nature are intended to survive termination, including sections 4.2 (the licence granted in respect of User Content already published), 9 (Disclaimers), 10 (Limitation of liability), and 13 (Governing law and jurisdiction), shall survive termination of the contract.

12. Changes to the Terms

12.1 Zavod Novi may amend these Terms from time to time, in particular to reflect changes in the Service, in our processors, or in applicable law. The amended Terms will be communicated to registered Users by email and through a prominent notice on the Service.

12.2 The amended Terms take effect fourteen (14) days after such notice. Where the User does not agree to the amended Terms, the User may terminate the contract by deleting the User account before the amended Terms take effect; continued use of the Service after the amended Terms take effect constitutes acceptance.

13. Governing law and jurisdiction

13.1 These Terms are governed by the law of the Republic of Slovenia, without regard to its conflict-of-laws provisions and without prejudice to the mandatory consumer-protection provisions of the Member State in which a consumer has habitual residence.

13.2 The competent court at the seat of Zavod Novi (the District Court in Maribor) shall have exclusive jurisdiction in respect of any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms, save that a consumer may also bring proceedings before the courts of the Member State in which the consumer has habitual residence and may be sued only before those courts, in accordance with Articles 17 to 19 of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012.

13.3 The European Commission operates an Online Dispute Resolution platform pursuant to Regulation (EU) 524/2013, accessible at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr. Zavod Novi is neither obliged nor willing to participate in alternative dispute-resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

14. Final provisions and contact

14.1 If any provision of these Terms is held by a competent court or authority to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect, and the invalid provision shall be replaced by a valid provision reflecting as closely as possible the parties' original intent.

14.2 Zavod Novi may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, to an affiliate or to a successor in connection with a corporate reorganisation or sale of all or substantially all of its assets, provided that the assignee assumes Zavod Novi's obligations under these Terms.

14.3 Notices to Zavod Novi shall be sent by email to support@gravelatlas.com.

Privacy-related requests addressed to the same email address shall be routed internally; the Privacy Policy describes those rights and the procedure for exercising them.