Privacy
This describes what the code actually does, not what a policy template permits. If the app changes, this page changes with it.
The short version
No accounts, no tracking, no personal data stored. Your location is used on your own device to work out what is near you. The only time a coordinate is sent anywhere is when you ask for nearby hospitals, and it is rounded to about a kilometre first.
What is not collected
- Nothing that identifies you
- There is no sign-up, no login, no email address and no user database. Nothing on this site asks who you are, and there is no record to leak if the server were ever breached.
- No analytics or advertising trackers
- No Google Analytics, no advertising pixels, no third-party tracking scripts of any kind. The Content Security Policy restricts scripts to this site's own origin, so a third-party tracker cannot be added without changing that policy in the open.
- No cookies for tracking
- The site sets no tracking cookies. Two small preferences are kept in your browser's own storage: whether you dismissed the install card, and whether you were already asked for location. They never leave your device and are readable only by this site.
How your location is used
- Distances are worked out on your device
- When you allow location access, your coordinates stay in your browser. The hazard list is already downloaded, and the distance between you and each hazard is calculated locally. The server is never told where you are, which is why it can show what is near you without knowing anything about you.
- The one exception, stated plainly
- Finding the nearest hospitals and police stations genuinely requires knowing roughly where you are. For that single lookup, your position is rounded to two decimal places, about one kilometre, before it leaves your browser. The rounded point goes to this site's server, which asks OpenStreetMap and returns the result. It is not written to any log or database, and one kilometre is coarse enough to find the right hospitals and too coarse to identify a household.
- You can refuse, and the site still works
- Decline the location prompt and everything except the proximity list keeps working: the map, the incident log, the charts, the news and every emergency number. Your browser also lets you revoke the permission at any time in its site settings.
Who else is involved
The site draws on public data. This is who sees what.
| Purpose | Service | What they can see |
|---|---|---|
| Map tiles | CARTO and OpenStreetMap | Your browser requests map images directly, so those services can see your IP address and which area of the map you are viewing. They are not told who you are. |
| Hazard data | BIPAD, USGS, GDACS, NASA EONET | Requested by this site's server, not your browser. Those services never see you. |
| Nearby facilities | OpenStreetMap via Overpass | Requested by this site's server using the rounded position described above. |
| Press coverage | Google News | Requested by this site's server. Following a headline takes you to the publisher's own site, which has its own policy. |
Server logs
Like any web server, this one records ordinary request information such as IP address, time and the page requested, which is what makes it possible to keep the site running and to stop abuse. Those logs are not used to build a profile of anyone, are not sold or shared, and are not connected to any identity, because none is collected.
Questions about any of this are answered on the questions page.