Verification is not a box-ticking exercise. It ensures that a page’s boundaries match what can actually be proved. We check the entity, location, copy, relationships, changing conditions and media separately: one strong piece of evidence does not automatically carry across every field.
1. Establish the exact entity
We first determine exactly what the page describes: a particular building, institution, branch, park, bridge, venue, settlement or editorial article. The names of a network, complex, branch and legal entity are not interchangeable. A shared address also does not prove that two organisations are the same entity.
For directories, we check a stable identifier against an accountable register or founder, and do not present a former name or reorganisation as a new institution. A conflict involving a code, status or address puts the record under review instead of silently selecting the more convenient version.
2. Verify the address or landmark
A specific premises receives a postal address only when a source connects the street number to the entity being described. For a street, bridge, park, island, body of water or large natural area, we use the narrowest confirmed landmark or boundary. A city district does not stand in for an address, and an approximate point does not become an entrance.
On a published profile, the address or landmark appears in one place, immediately after the photograph or the standard no-photo state. Search and directions links use an existing address or confirmed coordinates, but do not create a new geographic fact.
3. Separate geographic levels
For Dnipro, we distinguish the city, the Dnipro urban territorial community, the Dniprovskyi district of the region and Dnipropetrovsk region. A city administrative district, river bank, historic area and residential neighbourhood are not synonyms either. Aviatorske is a separate settlement within the community, not a city district. These levels are explained further on the atlas’s Ukrainian geography page.
If there is no accepted source for district attribution, the field remains empty. We do not make a spatial assumption from approximate boundaries just to support a filter or make a profile look more complete.
4. Match claims to sources
Every material claim must correspond to what a particular page or document establishes. An official contact page may prove an address but not history; a charter may prove legal identity but not that a public reception is open; an old improvement project may prove an intention but not the current condition of the area.
We prefer direct national, municipal, institutional, register or first-party channels of the organisation being described. Search results, aggregators, reviews, directories, link farms and automatically populated SEO sites may help uncover a lead, but they do not become factual sources on a public page.
We accept an exact Wikipedia article only as secondary context when it is substantial, stable and has a serious list of sources. An indexable profile must still include a direct accountable source; we do not use Wikipedia to establish a current address, timetable, price, access, safety or operating status.
5. Separate stable facts from changing ones
A building’s name or address may be relatively stable, while hours, fares, menus, programmes, availability, current entrances and repairs change quickly. A useful changing fact needs a verification date, a narrow scope and a shorter review period. When the value itself does not need to be stored, we link directly to the accountable channel.
We are especially careful with water and recreation near it. The presence of a river, a shore that resembles a beach or an old project does not prove official bathing-site status, current permission, water quality or safety.
6. Check the copy and relationships
Original copy should add specific context for the reader instead of recounting the profile fields or source in sequence. Before publication, we check that the title and description are unique, the text is substantial, no details have been invented and related places reflect a real editorial relationship.
The label “nearby” is used only for a confirmed relationship. A themed guide explains its selection method and links to canonical profiles, but does not become an unmeasured route with invented travel time or order.
7. Verify images separately
A page’s factual source is not automatic permission to copy its photograph. Every image needs an exact match to the subject, a creator or rights holder, a source, a licence or permission, the date when the right was recorded and the permitted uses.
If either the image’s identity or the right to publish it has not been proved, the page shows a deliberate no-photo state. A photograph of a similar place is not used as a decorative substitute.
The caption explains exactly what the photograph shows. We state the capture date separately from the date when the right to use it was checked; if it is unknown or sources conflict, we do not present the photograph as current.
For a current profile image with confirmed rights, we look for a daylight photograph of the exact facade or entrance, with few people and a visible sign or official plaque. We avoid identifiable children, sensitive interiors and incidental licence plates. One illustration made for a category can serve only as labelled context on cards; it does not become a photograph of a specific place or replace its honest no-photo state.
8. Publish only when the full set of signals agrees
The record status, section activity, substantial copy, sources, relationships and SEO signals must agree at the same time. A page under review does not enter the canonical index, sitemap, search, Atom or structured data. After publication, all of these surfaces are built from one eligibility register.
The general principles for independence, advertising and corrections are set out in the editorial policy.