Privacy Policy

Location and route requests

UTMap asks for browser location permission when the map loads, and again when you start a route. It also asks when you select a current-location control. If you allow it, your position can appear on the map, center the map, or set a route endpoint. You can deny the prompt and still use the map and enter addresses.

Go to nearest stop requests your location when you select it on a bus route. Your browser asks for location permission if needed. UTMap compares stop distances in your browser, then opens the nearest stop. It does not upload or store that location fix.

Selecting Go starts live navigation with continuous location updates enabled. Your browser is asked for location again from that click, then reuses its saved permission for the live updates. UTMap compares those updates with instruction checkpoints in your browser, shows your live position, updates remaining-trip estimates, and marks completed path sections grey. It does not send this stream to UTMap’s server or save a location history. Edit, End, or leaving navigation stops the stream.

The compass faces the map north. Clicking it again, while the map already faces north, asks supported phones for motion and orientation permission and turns the map toward the direction the phone points. Those readings stay in browser memory. They stop when you face north again, rotate the map yourself, or leave the page. A phone without a compass keeps the north view.

Navigation starts by following your position along the route. The map and location marker face the direction the route is heading, and the camera eases toward that view. Your browser may ask for motion and orientation permission when you select Go. Those readings stay in browser memory and stop when you leave navigation. Dragging, rotating, or tilting the map turns follow off and shows Recenter on the right. Zooming keeps follow at the zoom you chose. Recenter faces the route again and resumes that follow without changing zoom. Live location can keep running while you look around.

Map requests share the area you view with Mapbox. Place and address search sends your search text to Mapbox or Geoapify, plus a nearby point from your location or the map center. Nearby category search sends the chosen category and a buffered map area to Geoapify. The server can share these category results for five minutes using rounded area coordinates. It does not save a search history. Directions send the selected endpoints and any toll or highway avoidance choice to Mapbox, which can return two route options. Driving options include live-traffic estimates that UTMap uses to color the drive line and estimate drive time. The same Mapbox response can include crashes, police, road closures, construction, and other hazards, which UTMap shows on the route. During driving navigation those traffic colors and incident markers refresh about once a minute. The route endpoints are sent again for that refresh. UTMap does not add a separate incident provider. Bus planning uses a saved CapMetro timetable and sends walking-leg endpoints to Mapbox. Weather and air-quality requests use the map center and send area coordinates to Open-Meteo. These coordinates may be near your position if you center the map on yourself.

If Mapbox fails, UTMap can show a 2D backup map from MapTiler. In backup mode, you can switch between the standard map and satellite imagery with road labels. Developer tools can also select this backup for the current page. Only the backup sends map-tile requests to MapTiler. Those requests share the area you view.

The Transit layer shows construction zones from UT Austin’s public ArcGIS service. Our server requests the same active-zone dataset for everyone and caches it for 15 minutes. These requests do not send your location or route to UT’s construction service.

Opening Request SureWalk loads an embedded Google Forms page. Google Forms and the form operator handle the information you enter or submit there. This form is separate from UTMap’s feedback form.

During navigation, a confirmed deviation of more than 10 metres from the route triggers a new directions request to the same destination. To account for GPS uncertainty, UTMap uses the point inside your accuracy circle that is closest to the route. That conservative current position is sent to Mapbox through UTMap’s directions service. UTMap does not create a location-history database. Providers process the requests needed to supply their services.

What stays in your browser

• utmap.last-weather stores the last weather result, including its area coordinates, time, and time zone. The app can show this saved result while it loads fresh weather.
• utmap-browser-id is a random identifier. The app creates it when it collects diagnostics for a feedback submission. Later reports from the same browser can include it.
• utmap.saved-places stores the IDs and names of campus buildings and bus stops you bookmark. For other saved buildings, addresses, and dining places, it also stores the selected place’s map coordinates so you can reopen it. The list stays in this browser. UTMap does not upload it to an account. You can remove items from Saved in search. Temporary Mapbox Search Box results stay in page memory and are not offered as browser bookmarks.
• Map appearance, layer choices, and route selections stay in the current page session. The app does not save them as a route history.

UTMap does not set a login or advertising cookie. Mapbox and Cloudflare Turnstile may use browser storage or cookies for their services and abuse prevention.

Share place copies a public building or bus-stop link and shows it for manual copying. The link contains the selected place ID. It does not contain your GPS position or saved-places list.

Services that handle requests

• Mapbox supplies maps, tiles, terrain, address lookup, directions, alternate routes, and live traffic conditions. Its GL JS library can also send usage and performance telemetry.
• MapTiler supplies map tiles when the 2D backup is active.
• Geoapify supplies nearby category results and address suggestions.
• Google Forms hosts the embedded SureWalk request form, which loads when you open Request SureWalk.
• Open-Meteo supplies weather and air quality under CC BY 4.0. Air quality comes from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) through Open-Meteo. Displayed values are rounded. Opening a weather card lists that value for each of the next 24 hours. Sources and acknowledgements lists the forecast sources and US AQI categories.
• Cloudflare hosts the app and the shared buses service. It also supplies image processing and Turnstile verification for feedback. The Turnstile Privacy Addendum explains its verification signals and processing.
• Brevo delivers feedback emails to UTMap support.

These services receive network information such as an IP address and request headers. Their policies apply to their processing. UTMap also uses public Texas Open Data transit feeds, saved campus records, UT LibCal hours, and locally stored building photos. Refreshing these saved records does not send your map activity to the source sites. Opening a photo credit or another external link visits that website.

Operational diagnostics

The map reports the number of bus models it renders, zoom level, tab visibility, directions mode, and timestamps under a random ID for that page load. Reports do not contain route endpoints or GPS coordinates. The diagnostic endpoint can return those reports. It keeps them in server memory and removes reports older than two minutes when it handles another request. Memory state also resets when that server instance restarts.

The server uses IP addresses for short-lived, in-memory abuse limits. Cloudflare and other providers may retain their own security and service logs.

Feedback and privacy requests

If you send a report, it includes your message, category, optional name, and the email address or social handle you supply. It also includes the browser ID, page URL, referrer, browser and device details, language, time zone, screen and window sizes, display preferences, app version, and submission time. The server adds network details, including your IP address and country when available.

Turnstile checks the submission for abuse. Brevo sends the report to help@utmap.app. UTMap does not store reports in an app database. Reports and replies can remain in the support mailbox and the email provider’s systems while needed to handle the request and maintain service records. Do not put passwords or other sensitive information in a report.

Your choices

You can deny or revoke location and device-orientation permission in your browser. You can remove UTMap’s saved weather, bookmarks, and feedback ID by clearing site data for this website. This does not remove emails already sent or records held by service providers.

For access, correction, or deletion requests, email help@utmap.app or use the privacy form above. Include enough detail to identify your report. We may need to confirm that a request concerns your information.

We will update this page when the app’s data practices change.