Coordinately

Privacy policy

What personal data Coordinately does and does not collect, and how third-party services interact with site visitors.

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Coordinately is an editorial site. We publish articles, tools, and reference datasets about coordinates and geodesy. The site does not require an account, does not collect names or email addresses through forms, and does not run third-party tracking. This page documents the small set of places where data flows through the site at all, so that any visitor can decide whether the practices are acceptable.

What we collect on the site

Nothing tied to your identity. There is no user account system, no newsletter signup form, no comment section, no registration. We do not request advertising identifiers from your browser, and we do not associate visits with personal identifiers.

Coordinately does use Google Analytics 4 to measure aggregate traffic patterns — page views, sessions, and rough geographic origin (country / region level only). GA4 sets a small number of first-party cookies and reports aggregated metrics to the site owner. No personally identifying information is sent to Google by Coordinately, and the data is used only to understand which articles and tools are useful enough to expand. The full disclosure is in the cookie policy; opt-out instructions are below.

Vercel (the hosting platform) records minimal access information at the network edge as part of operating the site — visitor IP addresses, request paths, user-agent strings. This data is used by Vercel for abuse prevention and operational diagnostics; it is not forwarded to Coordinately, and we do not analyse it.

Third-party services

Some tools on the site call third-party services in order to function. Each call goes from your browser (or our server, on your behalf) to a named external service:

  • Map tiles. Maps are rendered using tiles served by MapTiler. Loading a map involves requests to api.maptiler.com. MapTiler's privacy practices are governed by their own privacy policy.
  • Address geocoding. The address-to-coordinates tool sends the address you type to Mapbox's Geocoding API for resolution. Per Mapbox's terms, the response cannot be retained — Coordinately does not cache, log, or persist geocoding responses anywhere.
  • Elevation.The elevation tool queries either USGS 3DEP (for US points) or OpenTopoData's public SRTM30m endpoint (for non-US points). Only the coordinate value is sent — no identifier, no session, no IP-derived data.
  • Analytics. Coordinately loads Google Analytics 4 to count pageviews and understand which articles get used. GA4 sends pageview events to www.google-analytics.com and sets first-party cookies (_ga, _ga_<id>). We do not pass personally identifying information to Google. See the cookie policy for the full cookie list and opt-out paths.

Analytics

Coordinately runs Google Analytics 4(GA4) to measure aggregate site usage. The data answers questions like "how many people visited the UTM converter this month" and "which countries does the audience come from" (country / region level only, not addresses). It does notanswer "who specifically visited this page".

The GA4 script (gtag.js) loads from googletagmanager.com and sets a small number of first-party cookies that allow Google to count returning visitors and group their pageviews into sessions. The complete cookie list with names, purposes, and lifetimes lives on the cookie policy page. We do not pass user identifiers, addresses, or coordinates to GA4; the only payload is the URL, the referrer, and a randomised client ID stored in the _ga cookie.

You can opt out three ways: install the Google Analytics Opt-Out browser add-on (works everywhere); manage personalisation at adssettings.google.com; or block third-party scripts in your browser's privacy settings.

Advertising

Coordinately currently shows no advertising. No ad networks are loaded, no advertising cookies are set, and no third-party vendors track you across this site. This section documents future plans, not current practice.

The intent is to fund continued editorial work through display advertising once the site qualifies for a reputable network. The likely path is approval for Google AdSense once Coordinately meets AdSense's eligibility and content criteria, followed by a transition to a higher-CPM network like Raptive once monthly sessions cross that network's threshold. Sponsored content, paid inclusion in articles, and paid placement in the source list are all explicitly ruled out — see the editorial policy for the commercial-influence stance.

Before any advertising goes live, this privacy policy and the cookie policy will be updated to describe exactly what cookies are set, what data is sent to advertising vendors, how EU / UK / Swiss visitors interact with a consent flow, and how to opt out of personalised advertising. You will see the disclosure here before you see an ad on the site.

Browser geolocation

Some tools include a “Use my location” button that asks the browser for your current coordinates via the W3C Geolocation API. This is always a button click — never automatic. Your browser shows a permission prompt before the API runs. If you decline, the tool falls back to its default centre.

Coordinates returned by the browser are processed for the immediate tool action (typically: place a pin, compute the coordinate formats). They are not logged or sent to any server, and they are discarded when you navigate away.

Email correspondence

If you write to info@coordinately.org— for example, to report a factual error or suggest a source — that email correspondence is retained for as long as is reasonable to track the issue. It is stored in the author's mail provider; it is not shared with third parties.

Children

The site is suitable for general audiences. It does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone, including children.

Changes

When this policy changes, the change is reflected in the dateModified on this page and an entry is added to /changelog. We do not retroactively change past terms — your visit was governed by the policy active at the time.

Contact for privacy questions

Write to info@coordinately.org. Because the site collects almost no personal data, most requests (access, export, deletion under GDPR or CCPA) have nothing to act on; we will respond explaining that. If you have corresponded with us by email and want that correspondence deleted, write and we will delete it.

Related

Frequently asked questions

Does Coordinately use Google Analytics?

Yes. The site runs Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to measure how many people visit, which pages they read, and where they come from. GA4 loads a small script (gtag.js) from Google and sets first-party cookies (_ga, _ga_<container>) used to count returning visitors and group pageviews into sessions. No personally identifying information is sent to Google by Coordinately. You can opt out at any time via Google Ads Settings, by installing the Google Analytics Opt-Out browser add-on, or by blocking third-party scripts in your browser. The cookie policy lists every cookie set.

Does Coordinately show advertising?

No. The site is currently in a pre-monetisation phase — no ads run, no advertising cookies are set, and no advertising vendors are loaded. The intent is to apply for display-advertising approval (Google AdSense initially, and a higher-CPM network like Raptive once traffic scales further) once the site qualifies. This page and the cookie policy will be updated before any change takes effect, and you will see the disclosure here before you see an ad on the site.

What happens to the address I type into a geocoder?

The address is sent to Mapbox to resolve into coordinates. Mapbox returns a result that the page renders for you. Per Mapbox's terms of service, the response cannot be retained — Coordinately does not cache, log, or store geocoding responses. The address itself is processed transiently; it is not associated with you and it is not kept.

When does Coordinately know my location?

Only when you click the "Use my location" button on a tool that supports it. The browser asks you for permission first. The coordinates the browser provides are processed in your browser and (for tools that need it) sent to a geocoder server-side per the question above. They are not logged or stored.

How can I exercise my privacy rights (GDPR / CCPA)?

The simplest path is to write to info@coordinately.org. In practice, because Coordinately does not collect personal data on the site itself, there is usually nothing to access, export, or delete. If you have interacted with us by email, that email correspondence is the only data on file.

Cite this article

APA format:

Steve K. (2026). Privacy policy. Coordinately. https://coordinately.org/privacy-policy

BibTeX:

@misc{coordinately_privacypolicy_2026,
  author = {K., Steve},
  title  = {Privacy policy},
  year   = {2026},
  publisher = {Coordinately},
  url    = {https://coordinately.org/privacy-policy},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-06-05}
}