FAQ CivilNavigation.com

  • What is the Civil Navigation Service?

    • This is a volunteer service that has formed quickly to help civilians caught in conflict zones find their way out of harm’s way. We developed this service to aggregate other efforts into an easy-to-use tool. We provide information to give civilians the information to make informed choices.

  • How does this Service deal with sensitive information?

    • As a civilian service run by civilians, we only operate on official and publicly verified information. We take great care not to share any information that would put people at greater risk. We actively seek to give our users options to escape danger. We also work to ensure that our service offers no opportunity for misuse by those wishing to harm our country or our citizens. Should you feel that there is inappropriate information on our service, please inform us immediately at editors@civilnavigation.com

  • What data sources are used for the routes?

    • Our editorial team gathers data from several public sources such as train schedules, car, and bus routes and we cross-reference the information with other independent sources to ensure we have the latest accurate information. For transparency, each route description cites our sources and when it was last updated. Do note that the situation is evolving quickly and might have changed since our last update. Be careful and alert and look for more sources of information.

  • Does the service track any information about its users?

    • No, we do not track any personal information. Check our code, we have a beacon to let us know traffic and the devices our users have, so that we may improve our service over time. We drop one security cookie.

  • What is your relationship with the Ukrainian Government?

    • We are citizens of Ukraine, we abide strictly by the laws of this country. We have informed our Government at the highest level of our service and cooperate fully with them. Their concerns are our concerns.

  • What are the red areas on the map?

    • These are areas which we classify as ‘Danger Areas’, our data source is the team at https://liveuamap.com who compile and plot reports of armed conflict. The map is broadly accurate, but not precise as we are concerned for humanitarian safety. Do note that this data is not real-time nor subject to a careful approval process.

  • Where does the Border Post data come from?

    • Trusted Border Post volunteers who have passed through or are helping at these posts submit reports to us via a system developed by our friends at Softserve inc.

  • Who is behind Civil Navigation?

    • A team of experienced entrepreneurs from Ukraine, Sweden, and Ireland, engineers from France, Romania, and the United States, designers, and many volunteers inside Ukraine. We developed the service in cooperation with Ukrainian officials. The team is growing each day and if you want to be a part of it, please reach out to us at info@civilnavigation.com to learn more.

  • How is the Civil Navigation Service governed?

    • The founders of the project sit on a Steering Committee together with our Editorial team. Major decisions about the service, resources and security questions are managed through this forum and in consultation with representatives from the Ukrainian government.

  • Is this service secure against attack?

    • Like all web services, it is a public application available to most requests. We have taken care to make the system secure against attacks and restrict its availability to those who need it and prevent access to it by those who wish to harm people.

  • How can I contact you?

    • Email us at editors@civilnavigation.com Service status announcements are made on our Twitter feed @civilnavigation

  • Should I trust the Civil Navigation Service?

    • You should be cautious and double-check any source of information you access. We work hard to be transparent, whilst not compromising our national security. We ensure that you have the information to double-check our information. Trust is something that can only be earned over time, yet it can be lost in an instant. We will work hard to earn and keep the trust of our users.


Our warmest thanks to the following companies who have helped with resources, free plans and great and fast support: