Privacy · technical transparency
No visitor account, and only the telemetry needed for reliability
This page describes how the site currently works. It avoids promising the absence of data that a web server, tile provider or external link could not uphold.
Public pages
- Published
- Revised
No account, and no profile built by Fire Maps
Viewing the site requires no name, email address or account creation. Fire Maps builds no profile and sells no visit data. The site does carry advertising served by Google, a third party which can build one: the “Advertising” section below describes what happens then and how to refuse it.
Interface preferences may be retained in the browser so a map state can be restored. They stay on the device unless a user chooses to share a URL containing that state.
Advertising
The site is free and funds itself with advertising, served through Google AdSense. Google chooses the placements and the ads; Fire Maps sends Google no map state, no search content and nothing you typed.
Before any tracker is written or read for advertising or measurement, a consent dialog managed by Google is shown. Until you answer, the consent signals are set to denied. Refusing removes no feature from the site: advertising becomes non-personalized rather than disappearing.
Your choice can be changed at any time from the consent management link that same dialog provides, and revoked by clearing site data in your browser. Google’s own processing is governed by its privacy policy, at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Shared URLs can contain map state
A share URL can encode framing, layers, settings and selection. Anyone receiving that URL can read that state, so it should be treated as a document the user chooses to send.
The site adds no private note to that state. Still, avoid sharing a URL when its framing or selection reveals information you wish to keep confidential.
Logs and performance
Like any web service, the infrastructure produces technical request and security logs. They may include network address, user agent, time, requested path and response code to detect errors, abuse and outages.
The browser may send sampled Core Web Vitals: metric name, value, rating, navigation type and a path without parameters. The metric body sends no search content, map state or account identifier.
When the map comes to rest, the browser reports the area being viewed, rounded to about 28 kilometres before anything is sent, together with one of four zoom levels. The server keeps only the name of the matching region and the hour: no coordinate, no identifier, and nothing linking two viewings to each other. These counters show which regions are being watched through a fire season; they cannot describe anyone.
External services and links
Some map tiles and photographs may load from their provider. The provider then receives the technical information needed for a web request, including network address. Attributions and links identify these services.
Opening Wikimedia Commons, an official source, a social network or a tracking site leaves Fire Maps and applies that service’s policy. External links do not intentionally transmit the complete map state.
Control and contact
You can clear site data in browser settings. Shared links remain under the control of the people who received them.
For a privacy or security question, write to contact@josedacosta.info. Vulnerability reports also have a security.txt file at the domain root.