Terms of Use

Welcome! We are Groundspeak, Inc. (“Groundspeak”), a Washington, USA, company with a registered office located at 837 N. 34th Street, Suite 300, Seattle, Washington 98103. Our mission is to inspire outdoor adventure, exploration, and community.

We provide you with the websites, applications, and other services listed below. For more information about our company and how to contact us, visit our Contact Us page. Although we are a U.S. based company, our services are available worldwide. As such, some terms in the agreement below are specific to residents of certain countries for legal reasons. We have explicitly stated where this is the case. Otherwise, all terms apply to all users.

  1. This Agreement

    Please read this Terms of Use Agreement (“Agreement ”) carefully. It governs the use of our services. By registering for the services as described below, you agree to all the terms in this Agreement and all terms that are incorporated into this Agreement as referenced below. These terms can be viewed and printed at any time through the “Terms of Use” link at the bottom of our websites and viewed in our mobile applications. This Agreement is divided into sections to make it easier to read.

    If you are a resident of Germany: By filling in the account creation details and submitting the form to us, you make an offer to enter into an agreement regarding the products offered by Groundspeak, Inc., subject to the present Terms. The Agreement is concluded once we either accept your registration by email or provide you access to our services at your chosen membership level. Prior to submitting your registration, you can see all the information you provided and correct any mistakes directly in the registration form. We recommend that you print a copy of this Agreement for your records. We do not store a copy on your behalf.

    If you do not agree to all of these terms, do not use our services.

    1. Scope.

      This Agreement applies to your use of all Groundspeak services, in particular the Basic Membership and the Premium Membership (as selected) and includes all of the following services: While Groundspeak offers ways for individuals to exchange information about location-based outdoor play, Groundspeak does not provide any games or location-based activities itself and such games are not part of our services. As described below, Groundspeak is not responsible for game-related information available through our services, and users are responsible for their own safety.

    2. What we mean.

      The websites and mobile applications above, including all associated software, content, products and data will be referred to throughout this Agreement simply as our “services.” References to “content” should be read in the broadest context possible; content includes among other things text, images, code, feedback, forum posts, your account details, emails, music, and audiovisual materials. This Agreement applies to “you” as a person accessing or using our services.

    3. Minors.

      Because of the nature of our services, which require a cellular data plan or GPS device and the ability to travel to various locations, our services are not directed toward anyone under the age of 16. Although individuals under 16 are welcome to use our services, their parents or guardians must own and manage their accounts. You must be 18 or older to post in the Geocaching Forums.

      If you are under the age of 18 but at least 16, you may only use our services with the consent of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to be bound by this Agreement.

      If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your child under the age of 16 has an account not created and managed by you, then you may alert us via email and request that we delete that child’s personal information.

    4. Privacy Policy.

      Groundspeak’s Privacy Policy explains how we treat your personal data and protect your privacy when you use our services.

    5. Other terms.

      To the extent your use of our services includes Google Maps, you are bound by the Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service (including the Google Privacy Policy). In some cases, we use Google APIs and Google Firebase products to help us provide the services, such as for monitoring the performance of our apps, to send you notifications, and to provide us with information on who is using our services and how you are using them (via Google Analytics for Firebase custom and pre-defined events). To the extent we make use of the Google APIs to provide our services, you are bound by the Google APIs Terms of Service.

      The use of certain services may be subject to other terms, policies, or guidelines. Where this is the case, we will ask you to accept the relevant terms before providing the service. In the event there is any conflict between this Agreement and any other policies or guidelines that appear on our websites or through our mobile applications, this Agreement will govern. In the event there is any conflict between this Agreement and any other agreements required to use a specific component of our services, such as our API License Agreement, the specific terms in conflict will take precedence over the corresponding terms in this Agreement. If you navigate away from our websites or applications to a third party website or application, the terms and conditions of use applicable to that website or application will govern your use of that website or application.

  2. Use of our services.

    1. Inherent risks.

      The location-based activities facilitated by our services can be dangerous and may take you to difficult to access or potentially treacherous locations. When taking part in these location-based activities, you risk property damage, bodily injury, or death. There are many variables that must be considered including: weather, fitness level, terrain features, and outdoor experience. Be prepared and be sure to check the current conditions before heading outdoors. Always exercise common sense and caution.

      Presence of certain information within the Groundspeak services (e.g. the location of a geocache or Adventure) does not imply that accessing such location is safe or legal. Do not enter third parties’ property without permission and always obey applicable laws when using our services. You assume all risks and responsibilities associated with hiding or seeking a geocache or Adventure, and other location-based activities associated with our services.

      You must comply with all applicable laws, including health and safety guidelines, while using our services. Event cache owners are responsible for ensuring the number of people in attendance is in accordance with any requirements or restrictions for gatherings. Event attendees assume the risk of potential exposure to and illness or death from infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.

    2. Account registration.

      You must create an account and provide certain information about yourself in order to use many of the features of our services. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account password. You may not share your access credentials with any third party or let anyone else use your account or your access credentials. You are also responsible for keeping your account data updated and for all activities that occur in connection with your account. Account information will be treated in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

    3. License.

      Groundspeak hereby grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, fully revocable (pursuant to the termination provisions below) license to view and use our services for your own personal, non-commercial purposes in accordance with this Agreement.

      Additionally, you may access and use our services via the authorized application of one of our Authorized Developers.

    4. Restrictions.

      Permission to use our services is subject to the following restrictions. We reserve the right to terminate your account and access to our services if we reasonably believe that there has been conduct that creates (or could create) liability or harm to any user, other third party, us, our Authorized Developers, or community members who serve as community volunteer reviewers, translators, and forum moderators/administrators. Whether these restrictions have been violated shall be determined in our sole discretion. You agree not to:
      1. Frame our services, use any robot, spider, scraper, or other means to access, display, or collect data from our services without our express written permission.
      2. Use our services, including GPX files, for any purpose other than your personal use without our written permission.
      3. Abuse or exploit bugs, undocumented features, design errors, or problems in our services.
      4. Interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of our services, access to, or use of our services, including by imposing a disproportionately large load on our infrastructure.
      5. Upload, post, transmit, or otherwise distribute (including by emailing us) any content or act in a way that targets others on the basis of a legal protected status; is unlawful, harmful, threatening, intimidating, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, profane, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, embarrassing, harmful to minors; promotes political or religious extremism; promotes or provides instructional information about illegal activities; or is otherwise reasonably objectionable to any person or entity.
      6. Impersonate any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity.
      7. Disrupt the normal flow of dialogue in our forums or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other users’ ability to engage in real time exchanges.
      8. Upload, post, transmit, or otherwise distribute any content that infringes any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual property, or proprietary rights of any person, including without limitation under any privacy or publicity rights.
      9. Upload, post, transmit, or otherwise distribute any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, spam, chain letters, or any other form of unauthorized solicitation.
      10. Reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract the source code of the software associated with our services.
      11. Violate any applicable local, state, national, or international law.
      12. Violate any of the guidelines or policies associated with our services.
      13. Interfere with the ability of others to enjoy our services.
      14. Collect, store, or distribute personal data about other users of our services.
      15. Publish on our websites or anywhere else, solutions, hints, spoilers, or any hidden coordinates for any geocache or Adventure without consent from the owner.
      16. Misrepresent the location, permission status, or legality of a geocache or Adventure you have submitted through our services.
      17. Use apps, devices, programs, or any other means to misrepresent your device’s location for any purpose.
      18. Discuss or incite illegal or violent activity.
      19. Send, store, or transmit viruses or other harmful computer code through or onto our services.

    5. Shop Geocaching and Premium Membership.

      All tangible goods purchased on our merchant site, shop.geocaching.com, are subject to the Shop Geocaching Returns and Exchanges policy. Premium membership purchases are subject to our Terms of Sale policy.

    6. Reporting and moderation.

      If you see behavior that you reasonably believe violates our Terms of Use, such as abusive behavior or violent posts, you may report it by using our contact form.

    7. Suspension and termination.

      We may suspend or terminate your account upon notice if you violate the terms of this Agreement. If the situation warrants, we will give you a reasonable opportunity to fix the issue before suspending or terminating your account. Any suspension or termination of your account applies to you personally; you may not access our services through any other account that you own or create or through accounts owned or created by others. You can stop using our services and terminate this Agreement at any time. All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including, without limitation, ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.

      If you are a resident of Germany: The statutory right of extraordinary termination for cause remains unaffected.

    8. Changes to our services.

      We will provide you with notice of any material changes to our services or plans to suspend or terminate our services. Our services include software that may update automatically on your device once a new version or feature is available. We are under no obligation to provide maintenance support or upgrades for any of our software except where required by applicable law.

  3. Ownership

    1. Groundspeak’s services.

      Our services are the property of Groundspeak or our licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. Using our services does not give you ownership of any intellectual property rights in our services or the content you access. Do not copy or download any of the content available through our services (except your own) unless we have expressly authorized you to do so. All rights not expressly granted in this Agreement are reserved by Groundspeak or by the respective owners of the intellectual property rights.

      Do not remove, obscure, or change any legal notices displayed in or along with our services. We allow limited, non-commercial use of some of our trademarks as provided in our logo usage guidelines. We also allow limited use of some of the data available through our services via our API subject to the terms of our API License Agreement. Please contact us via email with any questions.

    2. Others’ content and products.

      Our services display content that does not belong to Groundspeak. Except as part of our services, you may not use third party content from our services unless you have our permission, obtain the permission of the content owner, or are otherwise permitted by law. Content available through our services that does not belong to Groundspeak is the sole responsibility of the person or entity that has made it available. We do not review content available through our services although we may remove content we become aware of and that we reasonably believe violates our policies or applicable law.

      Third parties may provide products for use with our services, such as software or widgets, and our website may include third party products and links to third party sites. As an example, Adventure Lab includes videos accessible via YouTube’s Application Programming Interface. By using the Adventure Lab mobile application, you agree to be bound by the YouTube Terms of Service.

    3. Your digital content.

      All digital content you submit through our services remains yours (subject only to the license granted below); this includes your logs and pictures, your comments, your messages to other users, and anything you post to our discussion forums. You and not Groundspeak are entirely responsible for all content that you upload, post, or otherwise transmit via our services and the consequences of posting the content and your interactions with third parties through our services. You represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights and permissions required for all content you post and for the rights you grant to us below, and that your content does not violate this Agreement, other Groundspeak terms, policies or guidelines, the rights of any other party, or applicable law.

    4. The rights you grant us to your content.

      By submitting content to our services, you grant Groundspeak a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, for the legal duration of intellectual property protection, irrevocable, fully transferable, and sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content as well as those derivative works on our websites or applications, on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram (whether or not from our accounts), on sharing platforms (such as YouTube, Dailymotion, whether or not from our channels), in our emails and e-banner ads, on our intranet and on our internal documentation, in our business to business marketing materials, for commercial, or promotional purposes. You agree that we have no obligation to monitor or protect your rights in any content that you may submit to us, but in the event that someone else takes content you have submitted through our services without either of our permission, you give us the right to request that they take the content off of their website or otherwise stop using it.
    5. Groundspeak respects the intellectual property rights of others, and asks that you and all users of our services do the same. If you believe your work has been published on our services in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, you must notify Groundspeak’s copyright agent. Our Copyright Complaint form is the easiest and fastest way to notify us. Otherwise, you may notify us by providing all of the following information:
      1. A description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed.
      2. Identification of the material that you claim is infringing and needs to be removed, including a description of where it is located on our websites or mobile applications.
      3. Your address, telephone number, and, if available, email address, so that Groundspeak can contact you about your complaint. If you are representing a third party or a legal entity, please provide its name and address as well.
      4. A physical or electronically signed statement that the above information is accurate; that you have a good faith belief that the identified use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf in this situation. Groundspeak’s copyright agent for claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement can be reached as follows:
        • By using our Copyright Complaint form
        • By mail:
          Groundspeak, Inc. 837 N 34th Street, Suite 300 Seattle, WA 98103 Attn: Corporate Counsel
        • By email
        • By phone or fax: Ph. 206.302.7721 / Fax 206.374.8161
        It is our policy, in appropriate circumstances, to terminate the accounts of individuals who are repeat infringers or are repeatedly the subject of infringement claims.

    6. Inactive or abandoned geocaches.

      One of our goals as a company is to keep the world free of abandoned and/or unmaintained geocaches. As a geocache owner, you give us permission to allow other individuals to remove and/or dispose of your physical geocache(s) if any one or more of the following situations are met:
      1. We have a reasonable belief that you are no longer active in the game.
      2. You fail to respond to a communication from us that relates to a complaint from a landowner or law enforcement official within a reasonable period of time.
      3. We have a reasonable belief that the geocache has been abandoned (e.g. it’s not actively being maintained or your geocache listing has been archived but the physical container is still in place).
      4. We believe the removal of the geocache container is in the best interest of the geocaching game and/or community. If possible under the circumstances, we will make a reasonable attempt to contact you before we take any of the actions above. In the event that your geocache is removed and/or disposed of pursuant to this section, you agree to hold harmless and release from all claims both Groundspeak and any person who has adopted, removed, and/or disposed of your geocache. Learn more about how we address unmaintained caches in our Help Center.

  4. No warranties

    All except residents of Germany and France: OUR SERVICES ARE PROVIDED AS-IS AND AS-AVAILABLE, AND YOU ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES AND THE CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH OUR SERVICES. WE MAKE NO SPECIFIC PROMISES ABOUT OUR SERVICES OR CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH OUR SERVICES, INCLUDING WITH REGARD TO THEIR AVAILABILITY, RELIABILITY, FUNCTIONALITY, ACCURACY, OR TRUTHFULNESS (WHETHER PROVIDED BY GROUNDSPEAK OR OUR USERS), OR LACK OF VIRUSES OR ERRORS. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS, TERMS OR CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WHETHER BY STATUTE, COMMON LAW OR OTHERWISE, REGARDING OUR SERVICES AND THE CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH OUR SERVICES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WORKMANLIKE EFFORT, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AVAILABILITY, AND LACK OF NEGLIGENCE. If you are a resident of France or Germany: TO THE EXTENT THEY ARE PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE, OUR SERVICES ARE PROVIDED AS-IS, AS-AVAILABLE, AND WITHOUT WARRANTY. WE MAKE NO SPECIFIC PROMISES ABOUT OUR SERVICES OTHER THAN OUR ENGAGEMENTS UNDER THESE TERMS. IN PARTICULAR, TO THE EXTENT SERVICES ARE PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE, WE DO NOT GRANT ANY COMMERCIAL WARRANTIES ON OUR SERVICES OR CONTENT AVAILABLE THROUGH OUR SERVICES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

  5. Limitation of Liability

    All except residents of Germany and France: REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OR CAUSE OF ACTION OF THE ALLEGED BASIS OF THE CLAIM, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, GROUNDSPEAK AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO SERVE AS COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER REVIEWERS, TRANSLATORS, AND FORUM MODERATORS/ADMINISTRATORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, REVENUES OR DATA ARISING FROM THIS AGREEMENT OR YOUR USE OF OUR SERVICES EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES AND EVEN IF THE REMEDIES OTHERWISE PROVIDED UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, AT LAW, OR IN EQUITY, FAIL OF THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. SHOULD A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION DETERMINE THAT THE LIMITATION ABOVE IS NOT LEGALLY VALID, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE TOTAL LIABILITY OF GROUNDSPEAK AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO SERVE AS COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER REVIEWERS, TRANSLATORS, AND FORUM MODERATORS/ADMINISTRATORS TO YOU FOR ANY CLAIM UNDER THIS AGREEMENT OR ARISING OUT OF OUR SERVICES, INCLUDING FOR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, IS LIMITED TO THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR OUR SERVICES OR THE AMOUNT OF DIRECT DAMAGES INCURRED BY YOU IN RELIANCE ON OUR SERVICES, WHICHEVER IS LESS. YOU AGREE THAT THIS IS YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY AND YOU HEREBY RELEASE GROUNDSPEAK AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO SERVE AS COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER REVIEWERS, TRANSLATORS, AND FORUM MODERATORS/ADMINISTRATORS FROM ALL OBLIGATIONS, LIABILITY, CLAIMS, OR DEMANDS IN EXCESS OF THE LIMITATION.

    If you are a resident of France: GROUNDSPEAK, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, SHAREHOLDERS, AGENTS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES, SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO SERVE AS COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER REVIEWERS, TRANSLATORS, AND FORUM MODERATORS/ADMINISTRATORS (THE “RELEASED PARTIES”) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE ARISING FROM THIS AGREEMENT OR YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES THAT (i) DOES NOT RESULT FROM A BREACH OF OUR CONTRACTUAL OR LEGAL OBLIGATIONS, (II) IS INDIRECT; AND/OR (III) RESULTS FROM A FORCE MAJEURE EVENT, AS DEFINED UNDER ARTICLE 1218 OF THE CIVIL CODE.

    If you are a resident of Germany: To the extent Groundspeak provides any goods, content, or services free of charge, our liability is limited to gross negligence and intent, in accordance with applicable statutory law. To the extent Groundspeak provides any goods, content, or services against a fee, our liability is limited as follows:

    • For claims against Groundspeak for compensation due to damages resulting from Groundspeak’s willful or gross negligence, or in case of misrepresentation where an explicitly promised feature is lacking from a service, Groundspeak’s liability for damages will not be limited.
    • For claims against Groundspeak for compensation due to damages resulting from Groundspeak’s negligence (regardless of the legal basis), Groundspeak will not be liable unless it has violated a substantial contractual obligation or cardinal duty. Such an obligation or duty will be an obligation of this Agreement on which you would have reasonably relied or which is essential to the performance of this Agreement or, if breached, would frustrate the purpose of this Agreement. Such claims will be limited to such amounts as are typical and foreseeable.
    • For claims based on loss of data due to Groundspeak’s negligence, Groundspeak will be liable in accordance with the foregoing paragraph only to the extent that you have backed up data at reasonable intervals in a way that allows reconstruction with reasonable efforts.
    • Liability for all other damages is excluded, in particular for loss of data or hardware defects or interruption which are caused by unforeseen incompatibility with your systems or mobile devices or for system interruptions caused by incorrect configuration or outdated components.
    All limitations of liability in this Agreement shall apply in equal scope and substance to Groundspeak’s officers, directors, shareholders, agents, employees, contractors, representatives, successors, assigns, and to geocaching community volunteers who serve as reviewers, translators, and forum moderators/administrators.

    Liability for advice, recommendations and any information shared on Groundspeak’s services is limited according to sec 675 par 2 BGB.

    Nothing in this Agreement shall limit our liability under applicable German product liability law (Produkthaftungsgesetz).

  6. Indemnification

    You agree to indemnify and hold Groundspeak, our officers, employees, agents and community members who serve as Community Volunteer Reviewers, translators, and forum moderators/administrators harmless against all losses, claims, damages, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) that Groundspeak may incur in connection with: (a) your breach of any of the terms of this Agreement; (b) your fraudulent use of the services; or (c) your violation of applicable law which you are responsible for.

  7. Governing Law and Forum

    All except residents of Germany and France: In all cases, you agree that any dispute shall be resolved only in the Western District of Washington U.S. District Court or in King County, WA State Court.

    For residents of Germany and France: The law of your country of residence shall apply to any dispute arising out of or relating to the content or formation of this Agreement or the services. Any dispute that may arise from the negotiation, validity, interpretation, execution, interruption, or termination of this Agreement shall be submitted exclusively to the courts of your country of residence.

    Information concerning dispute resolution for users in Europe

    The EU Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR) at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/. Consumers can use this platform for the resolution of disputes. However, we are not obliged or willing to participate in these dispute resolution procedures before a consumer dispute resolution body.

  8. Changes to this Agreement

    We may need to update our Terms of Use from time to time, for example, to correctly reflect our services or changes in the law. We will notify you before we make any changes that affect your rights or substantively modify the agreement. By continuing to use our services after the changes go into effect, you agree to be bound by the revised Agreement. If you do not agree to the revised Agreement, you should stop using our services. Changes will not apply retroactively.

  9. General Terms (Severability, Waiver, Entire Agreement)

    If any provision of this Agreement is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unenforceable, Groundspeak and you agree that the remaining provisions of the Agreement will remain in effect, and the allocation of risk described in this Agreement will be given effect to the fullest extent possible. Groundspeak’s failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not constitute a waiver of Groundspeak’s right to enforce our rights with respect to later or similar breaches. This Agreement, along with any guidelines, terms, or policies posted on our websites or mobile applications or that we otherwise provide to you, constitutes the entire agreement between us with regard to your use of our services.