Terms of Service

1. Who we are and what these Terms cover

ParkGauge (parkgauge.com) is operated by PSB Venture Group LLC (“ParkGauge,” “we,” “us”). These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your use of parkgauge.com, including the park dashboards, trip planner, campsite finder, park passport, account features, and email alerts (together, the “Service”).

By using the Service you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service. You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. If you are under 18, you should use it only with a parent or guardian’s permission.

2. We are not an official source and not affiliated with any park agency

ParkGauge is an independent project. It is not operated, endorsed, or sponsored by the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of the Interior, any other government agency, any national park, or any park concessioner or partner. Park names, agency names, and logos belong to their owners and are used only to identify the places and sources we are describing.

3. Safety, accuracy, and your responsibility

Specifically:

• Weather. Forecasts and current conditions come from weather models and are shown for one reference point per park. Conditions at your location, especially in mountains and canyons, can be very different.
• Air quality. A reading may come from an EPA monitor, from nearby community sensors, or from a computer-model estimate. The page says which. Any of these can differ from the air where you are, and smoke can change quickly. For health decisions, consult AirNow and local health guidance.
• Rivers and water. Stream gauge data is often provisional and delayed. Do not use it to decide whether it is safe to cross, swim, boat, or fish. Flash floods can happen with little warning.
• Alerts, closures, roads, entrances, shuttles, and wait times. These come from the National Park Service and others and may be late, incomplete, or already out of date.
• Campsite availability. This is a snapshot from Recreation.gov at one moment and can change in seconds. We do not make reservations and cannot guarantee that any site will be available.
• Webcams. Images come from third parties and can be delayed, frozen, offline, or not representative of where you will be.
• Saved data. When your connection is weak or missing, the Service may show information it saved earlier. We label it with how old it is, but it may no longer be true.

Always check official sources (such as the park’s own website and visitor centers, the National Weather Service, AirNow, and Recreation.gov) and follow the instructions of park rangers and posted signs. Official information always takes priority over anything on ParkGauge.

Outdoor recreation involves inherent risks, including serious injury and death. Many parks have no cell service. Carry the essentials, tell someone your plans, and know your limits. You alone are responsible for your decisions and your safety. The Service is not for emergencies. In an emergency, call 911.

4. Your account

You can use the park dashboards without an account. Some features, such as favorites, saved trips, the park passport, and alerts, need one. You sign in with an emailed link; there are no passwords.

• Use an email address you control, and keep access to that email secure. Anyone who can open your sign-in links can use your account.
• You are responsible for activity on your account. Tell us if you think it has been used without your permission.
• One person per account, and please provide accurate information.
• You can delete your account at any time from your Account page, which removes the data described in our Privacy Policy.

5. Saved items and alerts

With an account you can save favorite parks, record parks you have visited, save trips, and subscribe to email alerts, such as NPS alerts, air quality thresholds, and campsite availability, sent immediately or as a daily or weekly digest.

• Alerts are a best-effort convenience. They can be late, missed, duplicated, or based on information that is itself wrong. Never rely on an alert for your safety or to make a time-critical decision.
• A campsite alert is not a reservation. Booking happens on Recreation.gov, and availability may be gone by the time you act.
• Email delivery depends on mail providers and spam filters that we do not control.
• Every alert email has an unsubscribe link, and you can manage alerts on your Account page. We may change, limit, or stop any type of alert.

6. Trip planner and maps

The trip planner uses third-party mapping services to show routes, drive times, and distances. These are estimates. They may not reflect closures, seasonal roads, construction, weather, or lack of cell coverage. Check current road conditions, obey traffic laws and posted signs, and never use the Service while driving.

7. Acceptable use

Please do not:

• break the law, or use the Service to harm, harass, or deceive anyone;
• try to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other people’s accounts, or our systems, or probe or test their security;
• interfere with or overload the Service, or get around rate limits or other protections;
• use the contact form, alerts, or sign-in emails to send spam or to send email to people who did not ask for it;
• copy the Service’s code or design, or reverse engineer it, except where the law allows;
• pretend to be us, or imply that we or any park agency endorse you.

Automated access (such as crawlers and scripts) is fine if it is reasonable, respects our robots.txt and rate limits, and does not harm the Service. We may block access that does not.

8. Your content and feedback

You may give us things such as trip names, saved trips, and messages through the contact form. You keep ownership of what you give us. You allow us to store and use it to run the Service for you, and to use any feedback or suggestions you send to improve the Service, without owing you payment or credit. Please do not send anything unlawful or anyone else’s private information.

9. Third-party data, links, and services

The Service relies on outside sources, including the National Park Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, NOAA and the National Weather Service, the EPA’s AirNow, the U.S. Forest Service AirFire archive and community air sensors, Open-Meteo, Recreation.gov, Mapbox, and park partners that provide webcams. We do not control these sources and are not responsible for their content, availability, or accuracy. Their own terms and licenses apply to their data. See our Sources page for details.

We are not responsible for inaccurate or incomplete third-party data. We do not create most of the information on the Service, and we do not independently verify it. It may be wrong, out of date, incomplete, or changed or withdrawn by its source at any time. To the fullest extent the law allows, PSB Venture Group LLC is not liable for any error, omission, delay, or interruption in that data, whether it starts with the source or happens when we collect, convert, combine, estimate, save, or display it, or for anything you do or do not do because of it. Where we combine or estimate data (for example, an air quality estimate built from nearby sensors or a computer model), the page says so, and the same limits apply.

Webcam images, photographs, and other third-party content belong to their owners. Links to other sites are provided for convenience; we do not endorse them and are not responsible for them.

10. Our intellectual property

The Service, including its design, software, text, graphics, and the way we compile and present information, belongs to PSB Venture Group LLC or its licensors and is protected by law. “ParkGauge” and our logo are our marks. We give you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, revocable permission to use the Service as intended. Public-domain government data remains public; this section does not claim ownership of it or of any third party’s content.

If you believe something on the Service infringes your rights, please contact us (see Section 18) with details and we will look into it.

11. Changes to the Service, and ending your use

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the Service at any time, including features, data sources, and alerts. We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms or if your use puts the Service or others at risk. You may stop using the Service at any time and can delete your account yourself. Sections that by their nature should survive (such as the disclaimers, limits of liability, and governing law) will survive.

12. Disclaimer of warranties

THE SERVICE AND ALL INFORMATION ON IT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, TIMELINESS, RELIABILITY, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY DATA OBTAINED FROM THIRD-PARTY SOURCES. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANY ALERT WILL BE DELIVERED OR ACCURATE.

13. Limit of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, PSB VENTURE GROUP LLC AND ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, OR FOR ANY INJURY, ILLNESS, DEATH, PROPERTY DAMAGE, OR TRIP-RELATED COST, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF, OR RELIANCE ON, THE SERVICE OR ANY INFORMATION OR ALERT PROVIDED THROUGH IT, INCLUDING ANY ERROR, OMISSION, DELAY, OR INACCURACY IN DATA OBTAINED FROM THIRD-PARTY SOURCES, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS (US $100).

Some places do not allow certain exclusions or limits, so parts of this section may not apply to you. In that case, our liability is limited to the smallest amount the law allows. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

14. Indemnity

To the extent the law allows, you agree to defend and hold harmless PSB Venture Group LLC and its members, managers, employees, and agents from claims, damages, and costs (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from your violation of these Terms or your misuse of the Service.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. If we have a dispute, please contact us first (Section 18) and give us 30 days to try to resolve it informally. If that does not work, any claim will be brought in the state or federal courts located in California, and you and we consent to the jurisdiction of those courts, except where the law of your home jurisdiction gives you the right to bring a claim there.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the new version here with a new “Last updated” date. If a change is significant, we will make a reasonable effort to tell account holders, for example by email or a notice on the site. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, you accept the updated Terms.

17. General

These Terms and our Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service. If a part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. If we do not enforce something, that does not waive our right to later. You may not transfer your rights under these Terms; we may transfer ours as part of a sale or reorganization of our business. You agree that we may communicate with you electronically, including by email and by posting notices on the Service.

18. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Send us a message through the contact form on our About page. ParkGauge is operated by PSB Venture Group LLC.