Our method

How a listing is built

Each listing shows the facts that matter before you head out: distance, elevation gain, duration, difficulty, whether dogs are allowed, access, parking, season and fees. No fact is invented. When a piece of data is missing, the listing shows nothing, or "not provided" where that block is expected. Season, duration and difficulty are never guessed or filled in by default. When a duration is calculated from distance and elevation gain (Naismith's rule), it is labelled "estimated duration".

Where the facts come from

The facts come from named sources: the managing organization's website, national and provincial parks, official maps and GPS tracks. Every change to a listing goes through the same steps:

• Drafting ties each fact to its source.
• An independent second review re-checks each fact at the source.
• François Dumaine approves it before it goes live.

Automated tools, including AI, help gather sources, prepare drafts and review them. Nothing is published without a source, an independent review and François Dumaine's approval.

Who signs

The byline "By François Dumaine" appears only on listings he has hiked or reviewed himself. For now, that is 5 of the 4,647 published listings. The rest are published under the site's name, with no personal byline. A team of ambassadors exists, but their reviews do not yet appear on listings under their names. When the site opens to ambassadors and the community, every judgment will carry a named author.

Reviews and photos

Our database once held fabricated reviews: generated by a language model under invented names, or copied. Since October 2026, the site publishes only reviews from real, external accounts. When in doubt, the review stays unpublished. A listing with fewer than 3 real reviews shows no average and no aggregate stars.

A photo is evidence: a real photo, unretouched, with nothing added on top. Third-party photos are under a free licence and credited with author and licence. We never use an AI-generated image as a photo of a place. No photo beats a fake one.

What we do not do

• No generated reviews passed off as lived experience.
• No anonymous judgments.
• No "tested" claim without an actual outing.
• No guessed numbers on a listing: a distance or an elevation gain is the one the source gives.
• No hidden paid content: sponsored content is always identified as such.

Corrections and publisher

Every listing has a "Report an error" link. Corrections follow the same steps: source, review, approval. You can also write to info@letsgoplayoutside.com.

Let's Go Play Outside is a brand of Unik Experience Inc., 17275 Thuot Avenue, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec J2T 5A6. The site was founded in Quebec in 2014 by François Dumaine. It is independent and self-funded.