Legal Documentation

Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 25, 2026 · Effective Immediately

At What Elevation (whatelevation.com), your privacy is our foundational commitment. Because our primary utility requires location access to function, we adhere to strict zero-retention and privacy-by-design principles.

1. Summary of Core Principles

  • We do not require accounts, passwords, or personal signups.
  • We do not store, save, or log your geographic coordinates on our web servers.
  • We do not track your movements, construct location profiles, or sell location data to brokers.
  • You can revoke browser location permissions at any time with a single click in your device settings.

2. Information We Process

A. Geolocation Data

When you click "Find My Elevation" or enable automatic detection, your browser uses the HTML5 Geolocation API to detect your approximate or high-accuracy latitude and longitude coordinates. This data is processed temporarily in your browser's local memory (RAM) to formulate an elevation lookup query. Once your elevation result is retrieved, the coordinates are discarded when the session ends.

B. Technical & Network Telemetry

Like virtually all web services, our hosting infrastructure (such as Cloudflare edge networks) temporarily receives standard HTTP request headers, including your IP address, browser user agent, referring URL, and timestamp. These logs are used exclusively for security defense (preventing DDoS attacks) and technical diagnostic performance.

3. Third-Party Service Providers

To provide accurate digital elevation figures and interactive map previews, What Elevation interfaces with the following privacy-respecting third-party resources:

Open-Meteo Elevation API

Our client-side script sends your latitude and longitude directly to Open-Meteo's public API to query the Copernicus Digital Elevation Model. Open-Meteo does not require user authentication, does not track individual IP footprints, and processes requests transiently.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

The visual location map displays a localized OpenStreetMap frame centered on your approximate coordinates. OpenStreetMap is governed by the OpenStreetMap Foundation privacy policy and serves map tiles via HTTPS.

4. Cookies and Local Storage

What Elevation does not use persistent tracking cookies, marketing beacons, or cross-site fingerprinting scripts. We may use your browser's lightweight localStorage solely to remember your preferred elevation measurement unit (Meters vs. Feet) between visits.

5. User Control & Revoking Permissions

You maintain full sovereignty over your location data. If you have granted location access and wish to withdraw it:

  • Google Chrome: Click the settings icon in the URL bar → Permissions → Reset Location.
  • Apple Safari (iOS / macOS): Settings → Safari → Location → Ask or Deny.
  • Mozilla Firefox: Click the shield or permissions icon in the address bar → Clear Location Access.

6. Compliance with GDPR & CCPA

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), users possess rights regarding their personal data. Because we do not collect names, email addresses, accounts, or persistent location histories, we possess no identifiable records to sell, share, or monetize.

7. Contact Our Privacy Team

If you have questions regarding this Privacy Policy or our zero-retention architecture, please contact us at:

What Elevation Privacy Team

Email: privacy@whatelevation.com

General Contact: whatelevation.com/contact