Effective 9 October 2026
Privacy at mapf
mapf helps you discover places and what is happening in the city. This policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices and rights you have. It applies to the mapf websites, apps, connectors and related services (the “Service”).
The short version
- We collect information you give us, information generated when you use the Service, and information from partners and public sources.
- We use it to provide, personalise, secure and improve mapf. We do not sell your personal information or use it for targeted advertising.
- Precise location is used only with your permission, and you can turn it off at any time.
- We work with trusted service providers, including infrastructure, mapping, payment and AI providers, who may be located in other countries.
- Depending on where you live, you can access, correct, delete or export your information, and object to certain uses.
01Who we are
The Service is operated by mapfAI (“mapf,” “we,” “us,” “our”). mapfAI is the controller of the personal information described in this policy, which also serves as our notice at collection. Use of the Service is also subject to our terms of use. For any privacy question or request, contact privacy@mapf.ai.
02Information we collect
Information you provide
- Account information. Such as your email address (or, for some earlier accounts, a phone number), an optional display name, sign-in credentials and account preferences. Sign-in is passwordless; we never collect your biometric data.
- Profile and preferences. Optional information you add to tailor the Service, such as a free-text traveller profile. It holds whatever you choose to put in it, and you can edit or clear it at any time. We may also infer preferences from how you use the Service, such as what you search for and the places you open or save. We keep these up to date as your use changes; you can review or remove them in Settings or by asking the assistant, and a preference you remove is not inferred again.
- Content. Searches, questions and requests you enter, places you save, photos and other content you upload, corrections and reports you submit, and feedback.
- Business and purchase information. If you claim a venue or buy a Paid Service, information needed to verify your claim and manage your subscription, such as contact details, plan and billing status. Card details are collected directly by our payment providers; we do not receive or store them. If you pay with digital assets, we receive your wallet address and transaction details.
- Communications. Information you provide when you contact us, report a problem, or take part in research, testing or pilot programmes.
Information collected automatically
- Usage information. How you interact with the Service, such as the features you use, searches you run, places and results you view or select, and the date, time and duration of your activity. If you have an account, we keep a list of your recent activity that you can view and delete.
- Device and technical information. Such as IP address, device and browser type, operating system, app version, language, time zone, screen size, and identifiers stored on your device.
- Approximate location. A general location, such as country or city, derived from your IP address or network.
- Precise location. Only with your permission. See Precise location.
- Security and log information. Such as sign-in events, access records, error reports and signals used to detect and prevent fraud and abuse.
Information from others
- AI assistants and platforms. When you use mapf through a third-party assistant, we receive the request it sends, technical information about the request, and any identifier the assistant provides. If you connect an assistant to your mapf account, we also receive information about that connection.
- Payment and service providers. Such as confirmation of a payment, subscription status, and information that helps us verify accounts and prevent fraud.
- Public and third-party sources. Information about places, businesses and events. See Information about places and public content.
03Information about places and public content
To build the Service, we collect and analyse information about places, businesses and events from publicly available sources, licensed sources and partners, and from businesses themselves. This includes names, locations, contact details, opening hours, descriptions, images and events, and content that people have published publicly about places, such as reviews and ratings. Some of this may relate to identifiable individuals, such as a person who trades under their own name, an event organiser, or the author of a public review.
We use this information, on the basis of our legitimate interests, to help people discover places and to compile, rank and describe them. We design our processing to focus on places rather than people, and we do not use it to build profiles of the individuals who wrote it. If you believe the Service contains information about you that you would like us to review, correct or remove, or you object to this processing, write to privacy@mapf.ai.
04How we use information
We use information for the following purposes:
- Providing the Service - to operate, maintain and deliver mapf and its features, process transactions, and sync your account across devices;
- Personalisation - to understand your requests and tailor results and recommendations;
- Improvement and development - to measure performance, understand how the Service is used, and research, develop and improve our products, data, models and algorithms;
- Safety and security - to verify accounts and claims, enforce limits, and detect, prevent and respond to fraud, abuse, security incidents and breaches of our terms;
- Communications - to send sign-in codes, service and account messages, and responses to your enquiries, and, only if you opt in, recommendations by in-app message, notification or email, which you can turn off at any time in Settings or from any such email; and
- Legal - to comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests, and establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
We may also create aggregated, anonymised or de-identified information that cannot reasonably be used to identify you, and use it for any purpose. We will not attempt to re-identify it except as permitted by law.
Where the law requires a legal basis, we rely on performance of our contract with you, our legitimate interests (such as operating, securing and improving the Service), your consent (which you may withdraw at any time), and compliance with legal obligations. See the regional supplements below.
05AI, personalisation and automated processing
The Service uses machine learning, AI and other automated processing to interpret requests, rank places, generate recommendations, plans, summaries and answers, and protect the Service from abuse. To provide AI features, the content of your request and related context may be processed by third-party AI service providers acting on our behalf. Please avoid including sensitive personal information in your requests.
If you add a traveller profile, or we infer preferences from your activity, we use them to tailor what you see - for example the order of results, which places are highlighted or set aside, and the AI-generated answers you receive. To understand a profile, its content may be processed by AI service providers acting on our behalf. Tailoring never changes the information we show about a place; it changes what we put in front of you. You can review what we inferred, remove it, or clear your profile at any time.
We do not use automated processing to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you.
06Precise location
Some features can use your device’s precise location, for example to centre the map on you and make results more relevant. We use precise location only with your permission:
- We ask within the Service before precise location is used, in addition to the permission prompt shown by your device or browser, and we keep a record of your choice.
- Where you have given permission, location information may be associated with your activity and account to provide and secure the Service.
- You can withdraw permission at any time in the Service’s settings or your device or browser settings. The Service works without it.
- We do not infer your precise location from how you move the map.
07Cookies and similar technologies
We use cookies, local storage and similar technologies to keep you signed in, remember your preferences and privacy choices, keep the Service secure, and understand how it is used. We do not use advertising cookies or allow third parties to track you across websites through the Service. You can control these technologies through your browser or device settings, but some features may not work without them.
08How we share information
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. We disclose personal information only as follows:
- With other users, at your direction. Content you choose to make public, such as photos of places, is visible to others. We remove embedded metadata, such as location, from images, but the image itself is public.
- With service providers. Vendors that process information on our behalf, including providers of infrastructure, storage and backup, content delivery and security, mapping, communications, payments, and AI and machine learning services. When your device loads maps, mapping providers may receive your IP address and the area you view.
- With AI assistants you use. When you use mapf through a third-party assistant, our response goes to that assistant and is governed by its provider’s policies. A connected assistant can use the Service on your behalf, but does not receive your saved places, activity list or profile.
- With partners, when you choose. If you follow a link to a booking partner or another third party, it may learn that you came from mapf.
- For legal and safety reasons. Where we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law or legal process, or is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of mapf, our users or the public, or to detect, prevent or address fraud, security or technical issues.
- In a business transfer. In connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganisation, bankruptcy or sale of all or part of our business or assets, or negotiations for any of these.
- With your consent, or at your direction.
09International data transfers
We operate globally. We and our service providers may process and store information in countries other than the one in which you live, including countries whose data protection laws differ from yours. Where required, we use appropriate safeguards for these transfers, as described in the regional supplements below.
10How long we keep it
We keep personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy. How long depends on the nature of the information, why we collected it, whether we need it to provide the Service to you, and our legal, security, fraud-prevention, accounting and operational requirements. For example:
- Account information, and the technical and security information associated with your account, is kept while your account is active, and deleted when you delete your account, subject to the exceptions below.
- Usage, technical and location information is kept for limited periods, after which it is deleted, or de-identified or aggregated so that it no longer identifies you.
- Some information may be kept for longer where necessary for security, fraud prevention, payment and accounting records, dispute resolution, enforcing our terms, or complying with law, and residual copies may remain in backups for a limited time.
11Security
We use technical, organisational and administrative measures designed to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse and alteration. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you believe you have found a vulnerability, contact security@mapf.ai.
12Your choices and rights
- Location. Turn precise location off at any time in the Service’s settings or your device or browser permissions.
- Analytics. We honour your browser’s Do Not Track signal, and where our apps offer a setting to turn off analytics, you can use it. You can also clear the identifiers stored on your device through your browser or device settings.
- Account and content. Signed-in users can view, export and delete their information, and delete their account, in the Service’s settings, and can remove items from their activity list at any time.
- Privacy rights. Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete or port your personal information; to object to or restrict certain processing; to withdraw consent; and to appeal our decision on a request. Contact privacy@mapf.ai. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request, and in some cases the law allows us to decline it.
We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. See the regional supplements below for additional information that may apply where you live.
13Third-party services
The Service may link to or work with services we do not control, such as venues, booking partners, mapping providers, payment providers and AI assistants. Their collection and use of your information is governed by their own privacy policies, not this one, and we are not responsible for their practices.
14Children
The Service is not directed to children under 16 (or a higher minimum age where required), and we do not knowingly collect their personal information. If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact privacy@mapf.ai and we will take appropriate steps to delete it.
15Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated version here with a new effective date, and if the changes are material, we will provide additional notice as appropriate or as required by law.
16Artwork and featured artists
The artwork throughout mapf is curated by us - each piece chosen deliberately, and shown to celebrate the individual talent of the artist behind it. It stays theirs: artists retain every right in their work, and nothing in this product grants or transfers to you any right, title, or interest in it.
We work with emerging artists regularly, and we are always looking for the next one. If you would like to see your work featured in mapf - or to collaborate with us in some other way - write to curation@mapf.ai. A few pieces, or a link to your portfolio, is enough to start.
17How to contact us
We keep a separate mailbox for each kind of request so yours reaches the right people first time.
- privacy@mapf.ai
- Questions about this policy, and requests to access, correct, delete, or port your information, or to object to its use.
- legal@mapf.ai
- Legal notices, regulatory and law-enforcement requests, and copyright or other requests to take down a photo or other content.
- security@mapf.ai
- Vulnerability reports and anything that looks like a security problem.
- partners@mapf.ai
- Business partnerships and licensing.
- curation@mapf.ai
- Artists - having your work featured in mapf, and collaborating with us.
- press@mapf.ai
- Media inquiries from journalists and publications.
- support@mapf.ai
- Help with mapf or your account - and anything else, including if you are not sure where to start.
United States state privacy rights
This section applies to residents of California and other U.S. states with comprehensive privacy laws, and supplements the rest of this policy.
Categories of personal information
In the preceding 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information, from the sources and for the purposes described in this policy: identifiers (such as email address, account and device identifiers and IP address); commercial information (such as plans purchased); internet or other electronic network activity (such as usage information); geolocation data (approximate, and precise with your permission); audio, electronic or visual information (such as photos you upload); and inferences drawn to personalise the Service. We disclose these categories for business purposes to the categories of recipients described in How we share information, and retain them as described in How long we keep it.
No sale or sharing
We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising or targeted advertising, as those terms are defined in these laws, and have not done so in the preceding 12 months. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16.
Sensitive personal information
We treat precise geolocation as sensitive personal information. We collect it only with your permission and use it only to provide the Service and for other purposes permitted by law, not to infer characteristics about you. Your traveller profile may contain information you choose to share, such as dietary, religious or accessibility needs; we use it only to tailor the Service for you, not to infer other characteristics, and you can remove it at any time.
Your rights
Subject to applicable law and verification, you may have the right to:
- know about and access the personal information we hold about you;
- correct inaccurate information, and delete your information;
- obtain a portable copy of your information;
- opt out of sale, sharing, targeted advertising and profiling (we do none of these);
- limit the use of sensitive personal information;
- not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising your rights; and
- appeal our decision on your request.
How to exercise them
Use the Service’s settings or contact privacy@mapf.ai. You may use an authorised agent, and we may need to verify your identity and your agent’s authority before acting. If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision; if you are not satisfied with the outcome, you may contact your state attorney general.
Europe, the UK & Switzerland
This section applies if you are in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, and supplements the rest of this policy. mapfAI is the controller of your personal information.
Legal bases
- Contract - to provide the Service and the features you request, and to manage your account and purchases;
- Legitimate interests - to operate, secure, measure, personalise and improve the Service, to compile information about places, and to prevent fraud and abuse, where these interests are not overridden by your rights;
- Consent - for precise location and where we otherwise ask for it; you may withdraw consent at any time without affecting earlier processing; and
- Legal obligation - to comply with applicable law.
Your rights
You have the right to access, rectify, erase and port your personal information, to restrict its processing, and to object to processing based on legitimate interests, including for information about places described in Information about places and public content. To exercise them, contact privacy@mapf.ai.
International transfers
When we transfer personal information out of the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, we rely on an adequacy decision, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (with the UK and Swiss addenda), or another lawful transfer mechanism.
Complaints
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection authority where you live or work, or where you believe an infringement occurred. We would appreciate the chance to address your concern first at privacy@mapf.ai.
Asia-Pacific & other regions
This section applies if you are in a country or territory with data protection law not addressed above, including in the Asia-Pacific region, and supplements the rest of this policy.
- Purposes and consent. We collect and use personal information for the purposes described in this policy. Where the law requires your consent, we rely on it, and you may withdraw it at any time; withdrawing may mean some features are no longer available to you.
- Cross-border transfers. Your information may be transferred to and processed in other countries, as described in International data transfers. Where required, we take steps to ensure that recipients protect it to a standard comparable to the law where you live.
- Access and correction. You may request access to and correction of your personal information, and information about how it has been used and disclosed. We may charge a reasonable fee where the law allows.
- Complaints. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the data protection authority in your country.