Privacy policy

Last updated: 2026-11-10

MapCairn has no user accounts, no forms and no server-side database of visitor data. The site stores or sends only the following.

Cookies

The site sets no cookies. Your settings are kept in local storage on your device instead, as described below.

Local storage

Your browser's localStorage keeps your settings: your light or dark theme (under the key mapcairn:theme), your units, whether the zoom buttons show, whether Save data is on, your chosen basemap and where the map was last left. The other keys start with mapcairn:. These stay on your device and are never sent to a server. Where your browser reports a data saver or a very slow connection, the page reads that locally to choose the default for Save data. Nothing about it is sent anywhere.

Analytics

This site uses Cloudflare Web Analytics for aggregate page-view counts. It is cookieless, does not fingerprint visitors, does not track you across sites and stores no personal data. Requests are made to static.cloudflareinsights.com and cloudflareinsights.com.

Error reporting

If the app hits an unexpected error in your browser, it sends a short diagnostic report to this site's own server, where it is written to Cloudflare's operational logs so the fault can be fixed. The report holds the error message, a stack trace, the page's address without its query or the part after # (for example https://mapcairn.timothybrits.co.za/), and whether it was an uncaught error or a rejected promise. It never includes the map's position or yours. No cookies, personal data or persistent identifiers are attached to the report, and it is not stored in any database. One page load sends at most five reports, and the same error only once.

Hosting logs

Cloudflare, as host, may log standard request metadata (IP address, user agent, timestamp) as part of normal operation. See Cloudflare's own privacy policy (opens in a new tab).

Map tiles and location search

The basemap tile providers, OpenFreeMap, the OpenStreetMap Foundation when you choose the Streets basemap, and Maptoolkit and Mapterhorn when you choose Maptoolkit Dark (see below), may log tile requests, including your IP address, as part of serving the map. This is standard for any web map. When you search (by pressing Enter or the Search button), your query is sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim geocoding service, which may likewise log the query and your IP address. Nothing is sent while you type.

Maptoolkit Dark basemap

Nothing is sent to Maptoolkit unless you choose the Maptoolkit Dark basemap. Choosing it, opening a link that names it, or opening the site again after you chose it makes your browser load the map from Maptoolkit's servers, run by Toursprung GmbH in Vienna: styles.maptoolkit.org, tiles.maptoolkit.org, icons.maptoolkit.org and fonts.maptoolkit.org. Its style also takes terrain tiles from tiles.mapterhorn.com, run by Mapterhorn, a separate service. They receive your IP address and the headers your browser always sends, such as its user agent and this site's origin (no page path). The tiles you ask for show roughly where you are looking. Maptoolkit says it shortens your IP address before processing it, keeps the shortened address in log files for up to 30 days, relies on its legitimate interest, and sets no tracking cookies. This site sets none either. Mapterhorn says it keeps request logs, including IP addresses, for up to 30 days. The Maptoolkit logo and credit stay on screen while the basemap is shown, as its licence requires, and its licence does not allow saving images of its map, so Save image is off while it is shown.

Read Maptoolkit's privacy policy (opens in a new tab) and Mapterhorn's privacy policy (opens in a new tab) for the details.

Data layers

Every data layer is off until you turn it on, and nothing is requested before that. Turning a layer on, changing its controls or pressing Try again sends a request from your browser straight to that layer's provider, which may log it with your IP address: the US Geological Survey (USGS) for earthquakes, NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services for satellite imagery, rainfall and fire hotspots, the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) for fire, flood, tropical cyclone, volcano and drought alerts, and Copernicus (the Global Flood Awareness System) for the flood hazard map, and the jsDelivr content delivery network for the country boundaries. Show affected area sends one more request to GDACS for that event only. Tile layers request images for the part of the map you are looking at, so the provider can tell roughly where you are looking. Nothing passes through this site, and nothing is stored beyond the page you have open. The layers you turn on are written into the page address so a link can be shared; they are not sent anywhere else. Opening a link that has layers turned on requests those layers straight away, because the link turns them on.

Pin addresses

Dropping a pin sends nothing. A pin's address is looked up only when you press Look up address on the pin. That sends the pin's position, rounded to about 11 m, to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service, which may log it with your IP address.

Routes and travel-time areas

When you ask for a route or a travel-time area, the request goes to the public Valhalla routing service at valhalla1.openstreetmap.de, run by the FOSSGIS community and built on OpenStreetMap data. It sends the route's coordinates (its stops, or the origin of a travel-time area) and the travel mode, and the server may log them with your IP address. Nothing is sent before you ask. MapCairn stores nothing about the request, and the results are not saved or put in the page address.

Your location

The Locate me button asks your browser for your position only when you press it. The position is used to show where you are on the map. It is not sent to this site and is not stored.

Contact

For a question or concern about privacy, write to mapcairn@timothybrits.co.za, or open an issue on GitHub.