Location privacy
Your house will not show up on the ITMO map. Here is how big the hexagons are on web and iOS, what we store, and what happens to photo metadata.
Short answer: no, your house will not show up on the map.
How it works
When you report, your device figures out where you are, then rounds that to a hexagon using an open source library called H3 (originally from Uber). The hexagon is sent to our servers, not your latitude and longitude. The report request carries the hexagon, a GPS accuracy number, and the state you picked. The coordinates themselves aren't part of it.
Here's how big those hexagons are:
| Where you report | Hexagon sent | About how big |
|---|---|---|
| iOS app | H3 resolution 9 | Roughly 175 m (about 570 ft) per side, about 350 m across. Think a handful of city blocks. |
| Website | H3 resolution 10 | Roughly 65 m (about 215 ft) per side, about 130 m across. Think one city block. |
Those are averages. H3 cells vary a bit in size depending on where they sit on the globe.
What we keep:
- Website: the report's location is saved at resolution 9 or coarser. If your browser says its GPS fix was fuzzy (the accuracy number it sends), the server rounds up to a bigger hexagon to match, but never to a smaller one. We also keep the hexagon your browser sent with the report record.
- iOS app: the hexagon the app sent is saved as-is. The app sends resolution 9.
- Both: we don't store your raw coordinates with the report. The website and the app both turn the coordinates into a hexagon before the report is sent. The Privacy Policy says it the same way: your device computes the hexagon, only that cell is sent, and your raw GPS coordinates never leave your device.
On top of that:
- The public map uses larger areas until there are enough reports in a spot to safely show smaller ones.
- Photos have their EXIF metadata (including GPS) removed. On the iOS app that happens on your phone and again on our servers. On the website it happens on our servers before the photo is stored. See photos.
One honest footnote
In the iOS app, after you report, the app looks up a friendly place name (like "Enumclaw") for the celebration screen. To do that it sends a deliberately blurred coordinate (rounded to roughly a kilometer, not your real position) to our map provider, Mapbox. It is separate from the report itself.
Location permission
We only ask for location when you report, and we take a single one-time reading. If your browser or phone says no, see permissions for iOS, or the tip on how to report.
Anonymous reporting vs. an account
ITMO works without signing up. Here is how device-based anonymous reporting works, what a free account adds, and how the two connect.
What we collect
A plain-English summary of the data ITMO collects, why, and the service providers involved. Not a substitute for the full privacy policy.