Privacy notice
These tools are free and built for students, educators and practitioners. To show funders and endorsing bodies that they are used, and to improve them, I count visits anonymously and invite people to join a community list if they want to. I collect as little as possible, never sell data, and never ask for passwords.
1. Anonymous usage counts (everyone)
Pages use GoatCounter, an open-source analytics service that sets no cookies and does not track you across websites.
| What is counted | The page or tool section viewed, actions such as “opened a goal”, “connected an exchange” or “drafted an essay”, the referring website, browser and operating system type, screen size, language, and country (and region). |
|---|---|
| What is not collected | Your name, email, account, cookies, or anything you type into the tools. Your IP address is used only to derive a country and an anonymous daily visit count, then discarded. |
| Why | To report how many people use the tools, from where, and which features help them, and to fix what doesn't work. |
2. “Join the community” form (only if you choose)
The form is optional and the tools work fully without it. It is hosted by Tally.
| What you share | Your name, email, role, institution and country, and whether you want occasional updates. The form also records which tool you joined from. |
|---|---|
| How it is used | To understand who the tools serve, to report aggregate figures (for example “members from 30 institutions in 12 countries”) to funders and endorsing bodies, and to send updates if you ticked that box. Your name or institution is never published without asking you first. |
| How long it is kept | Until you ask for it to be removed, or when the project ends. |
3. Reports, prices and suggestions (only if you send them)
Some tools let you contribute. Each is optional, and you choose what to include.
| Forest and water field reports | The site, what you observed, date, title, details, and optionally your organisation and an evidence link. These are published in the shared field log (or as a public GitHub issue if you choose that route), so do not include personal details about yourself or anyone else. |
|---|---|
| Dumpsite reports (Waste Sites Atlas) | Sent through a KoBoToolbox form: a photo, location and answers about the site, and optionally your name and phone number so a report can be checked. Your name and number are never shown. Approved site details (not the reporter) are added to the map. |
| Prices, suggestions and corrections | Sent through Tally forms in the Market Atlas, Peoples & Cultures Atlas and Literature Landscape. Used to check and update the data; contact details, if given, are used only to follow up on your submission. |
Submissions must follow the contribution rules. Reports can be removed at any time on request.
4. Services that load content into the pages
To show maps, photos and live data, your browser connects directly to these services, which see your IP address and browser type as any website does: map and imagery tiles (OpenStreetMap, OpenTopoMap, Esri, NASA GIBS, EOX, Global Forest Watch, Google-hosted JRC and Hansen layers), Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and Wikipedia, Google Fonts, code libraries from cdnjs, jsDelivr and unpkg, and privacy-enhanced YouTube embeds (youtube-nocookie.com) where a video is shown. I receive nothing from these requests. Their own privacy policies apply.
5. Data kept in your own browser
Some tools save your progress, drafts or tracker on your own device (browser storage) so you can continue later. It never leaves your device, and clearing your browser data deletes it.
6. Your choices and rights
- You can use every tool without joining or signing in.
- You can block analytics with any content blocker; the tools keep working.
- You can ask to see, correct or delete anything you submitted (join form, reports, prices or suggestions), object to its use, withdraw consent, or unsubscribe from updates at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect use before you withdrew it.
- No decisions about you are made automatically, and personal data are never sold, rented or used for advertising.
- Anyone can use the tools, but if you are under 18, please ask a parent or guardian before sending a form or report. Please don't send personal information about children.
Lawful basis. Anonymous counting relies on legitimate interest (showing that free tools are used and improving them); forms and reports rely on your consent, given when you submit them.
Where data are stored. Form and analytics providers store data outside Nigeria and Canada (Tally and GoatCounter in the European Union; KoBoToolbox in the United States). These providers are bound by the GDPR or equivalent safeguards, which give protection comparable to the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.
Security. No passwords are collected; form data stay in the providers' password-protected accounts and are not shared with anyone else; published reports contain no reporter details.
These commitments are intended to follow Canada's PIPEDA, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and its General Application and Implementation Directive, and the UK and EU GDPR. If you are unhappy with how your data are handled, please contact me first; you can also complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
7. Contact
Shagbaor Hycent Amool, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada · amool@unbc.ca