Privacy Policy

The Short Version

MapTools.co is designed with privacy in mind. We don't log or store your searches on our own servers, and most map calculations happen directly in your browser. Some tools send a ZIP code, place name, or map coordinates to an outside service, or fetch data from our own servers, to answer a search: see Third-Party Services below for which tool uses which service. Google Analytics records which pages you visit, but not what you searched: since September 30, 2026 the page address it receives carries no search terms. See Analytics below.

One exception: street-address matching, used by the Route Optimizer, Measure Distance, Elevation Finder, Flood Zone Checker, Area Calculator, and County Lines Map. Addresses any of these tools can match against our local address data are resolved entirely in your browser, same as everything else. If it can't find a local match, that one address is sent to our server, which asks a mapping service (the US Census Bureau, and Geocodio as a backup) for its coordinates. We don't log the address, and we don't record who searched it, when, or how many times. If Geocodio places the address at street level or better, we keep the result for 24 hours in a shared cache, so a repeat search for the same address in that time doesn't need to ask Geocodio again. A cache entry holds the coordinate, how precisely it was found, and which of Geocodio's data sources found it, filed under a one-way hash of the address. It does not hold the address itself, and it is deleted automatically after 24 hours.

A second exception: the Address County Lookup. Every address you look up there, typed, pasted or in a CSV file you upload (only the address columns of the file), is sent from your browser to our server, which sends it to the US Census Bureau's geocoder to find its county, city and ZIP code, and returns the answer. We don't log, store or cache those addresses or the answers. If you press "Try another geocoder" for an address Census couldn't match, that one address goes through the same lookup as the tools above (Census, then Geocodio, with the same 24-hour cache), and our server counts how many of these second lookups it makes each day (a single number, deleted after two days).

Our own data files: when you search, your browser downloads our data file for that area from our servers (hosted by Cloudflare), which see which file was asked for, not your exact search. For example: the file for a ZIP code or a 3-digit ZIP prefix; an Australian postcode; the first 3 characters of a Canadian postal code; a French commune or department; place names starting with the first two letters you typed (as you type, in Distance Between and the Radius Map); the elevation tile covering a point; or, on the County Lines Map and the ZIP Code Territory Map, the file for a state. Files you upload to the Australian Route Optimiser or the Canadian Postcode Mapper fetch these files by postcode in the same way.

Your position when a page opens: the US Restroom Finder and the US Elevation Finder use your device's position as soon as the page opens, without a button press, but only if you have already allowed location for this site in your browser. The page checks that without showing a prompt; if you haven't decided, or have said no, nothing happens until you press Use My Location. On the Restroom Finder your position is not sent to any outside service: your browser uses it to choose which of our restroom data files to download (one per one-degree square of latitude and longitude, from our servers as described above). On the Elevation Finder your coordinates are sent to Open-Meteo to look up the height, as every lookup there is. On both, the map then loads its tiles for your area. Neither page stores your position or puts it in a link, and analytics records only that the page found your location by itself, never the location.

What We Collect

Analytics (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics to understand how people use MapTools.co. This collects:

• The page you visit (the address without its search parameters: a searched ZIP code, postal code, place or coordinate shown in the address bar is not sent to Google Analytics, since September 30, 2026)
• Time spent on each page
• General location (country/region level)
• Device type and browser
• Referral source
• On Distance Between and Radius Map: a search_shape event recording only the shape of what you searched (a ZIP code, a street address, or a place name) and whether it resolved to a location - never the search text itself

This data is aggregated and cannot identify you personally. You can opt out using browser extensions like Google Analytics Opt-out or by enabling "Do Not Track".

Cookies

We use minimal cookies for analytics and remembering your preferences (like dark mode). See our Cookie Policy for details.

What We Don't Collect

• Any address you search, linked to you personally or your session
• Files you upload (CSV, etc.) - these stay in your browser, except the address columns of a file you look up in the Address County Lookup, which are sent for that lookup and not kept (see above), and rows the Radius Map or the Australian Drive Time Map can't place themselves, which go to Nominatim (see Third-Party Services)
• Shapes you draw or measurements you take
• Personal information like name or email (we don't have accounts)

Exception: see the street-address note above about addresses that need a fallback lookup. That address reaches our server for the lookup and is not logged. If Geocodio resolves it, the coordinate is kept for 24 hours under a one-way hash of the address, never with who searched it, when, or how many times.

Third-Party Services

MapTools.co uses these external services:

• OpenStreetMap - Map tiles and data (their privacy policy)
• OpenFreeMap - Street map tiles when our own tile server can't answer; it receives requests for the map area on screen (openfreemap.org)
• Esri - Satellite imagery (Area Calculator and other tools with a Satellite view); it receives requests for the map area on screen (Esri privacy statement)
• Nominatim - the OpenStreetMap Foundation's place-search service, called straight from your browser, so it sees your IP address (OSM Foundation privacy policy). Place names and addresses you type, only when you press Calculate, Draw or Search, never while you type: US Distance Between and the US Radius Map when our own place files can't answer (an address, a landmark, a name several towns share, or a place abroad; Distance Between then tries worldwide if there is no US match), and the rows of a file you upload to the US Radius Map that aren't coordinates or ZIP codes; the Australian Radius Map and Drive Time Map (including the rows of a file you upload), and Canadian Distance Between when our own place list has no match. The point you click or your location, to name the place: US and Canadian Sunrise & Sunset, the US Dark Sky Finder, Where Am I and the Flood Zone Checker (also the point in a shared link you open on those, Where Am I aside), and, when you place a point by clicking, the US and Australian Radius Map and the Australian Drive Time Map.
• Zippopotam.us - ZIP codes you enter, called straight from your browser: on Dark Sky Finder, EV Charging and School Finder, and on Nearest ZIP, ZIP Radius and ZIP Mapper when a ZIP code isn't in our own files (zippopotam.us)
• FEMA and Esri - Flood Zone Checker: the point you check goes through our server to FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer and to Esri's Living Atlas copy of it, both every time, and the flood map overlay is fetched through our server from Esri for the map area on screen; FEMA and Esri see our server, not you, and we don't keep the point (Esri privacy statement)
• David Lorenz's light pollution atlas (djlorenz.github.io, hosted by GitHub) - Dark Sky Finder loads its light pollution map tiles from it for the area on screen, and, for the light pollution reading at a point you search, click or locate, the atlas tile around that point (a few hundred miles across), even with the map layer switched off; it sees your IP address and which tile was asked for (GitHub privacy statement)
• Open-Meteo - Elevation lookup on Elevation Finder (Open-Meteo terms)
• US Census Bureau Geocoder - Route Optimizer, Measure Distance, Elevation Finder, Flood Zone Checker, Area Calculator, and County Lines Map fallback address lookup, used only when an address can't be matched against our local data; and every lookup on the Address County Lookup, which sends each address, and the point found for it, through our server to the Census geocoder (Census Bureau privacy policy)
• Geocodio - Route Optimizer, Measure Distance, Elevation Finder, Flood Zone Checker, Area Calculator, and County Lines Map backup fallback address lookup, used only if the Census lookup fails; on the Address County Lookup, only for an address you choose to "Try another geocoder" on (Geocodio privacy policy)
• Google Analytics - Usage statistics (Google's privacy policy)
• Google AdSense - Advertising (Google's privacy policy)

Like any page with ads, Google AdSense receives the web address of the page you're on. That address no longer includes what you searched for: our tools keep your search in your browser tab (so it survives a reload) and take it out of the address before the ad code loads. When you copy a share link, the search is in that link, and it is taken out of the address again when the link is opened. Campaign tags on a link you followed to reach us (such as utm_source) can stay in the address; they never contain your search.

Data Retention

Since we don't collect personal data, there's little to retain. The one thing our own servers keep from a search is the street-address cache described above: the coordinate Geocodio found, how precisely, and which data source it came from, under a one-way hash of the address. Each entry is deleted automatically 24 hours after it is written. The address text itself is not kept. Separately, our server counts how many Geocodio lookups it makes each day (a single number, with nothing about the searches), and each day's count is deleted after two days; the Address County Lookup's count of second lookups is kept the same way. Analytics data is held by Google according to their retention policies.

Your Rights

Under CCPA (California) and similar laws, you have the right to know what data is collected about you. For MapTools.co, that's just anonymous analytics. For data held by Google, use Google's account tools.

Contact

Questions about privacy? Contact us.