Heritage Navigator – Privacy Policy Effective: 27 July 2026

This policy is available in English and Danish.


1 Who Is Responsible

Flemming Berthelsen operates Heritage Navigator (the "Service") and is the data controller for the personal data described below.

Email: flemming.berthelsen+hn-privacy@gmail.com

We have not appointed a Data Protection Officer; write to the address above with any question about this policy or your data.

2 The Short Version

You can read, listen to and walk everything in Heritage Navigator without an account, without signing in and without telling us who you are. Your location never leaves your device, and your favourites, progress and settings are stored only in your own browser. What does reach a server is the ordinary technical traffic any website receives, optional analytics you can refuse, and anything you choose to write in the feedback form.

3 Your Location

When you allow the browser to share your position, Heritage Navigator uses it to sort sites by distance, show you on the map and detect when you arrive at a stop on a walk.

  • The position is read by the browser's geolocation API and used in the app on your device only.
  • It is briefly cached in your browser's sessionStorage (key heritage-nav-gps-cache, cleared when you close the tab) so the app does not have to ask the GPS again on every page.
  • It is never sent to our servers, never stored in our database and never shared with anyone. The distance calculations happen in your browser.
  • Legal basis: your consent, given through the browser's own permission prompt (GDPR art. 6(1)(a)). You can withdraw it at any time in your browser's site settings; the app then simply stops sorting by distance.

4 Data Stored on Your Device

The following is kept in your browser's local storage. It stays on your device, is not transmitted to us, and you can delete all of it by clearing site data for this website in your browser.

WhatWhy
FavouritesSo your saved sites survive a reload
Visited sites and route progressSo a walk can be resumed and the Passport can be stamped
Audio playback positionSo a narration resumes where you stopped
Filters, language choiceSo the app looks the way you left it
Introduction cards already seenSo you are not shown the same onboarding twice
Whether you agreed to share your locationSo you are not asked again unnecessarily
Downloaded narration audio (browser Cache API)So a prepared walk plays without a connection

Legal basis: these entries are necessary to provide the functionality you have asked for (GDPR art. 6(1)(b)/(f); ePrivacy: strictly necessary storage). They are not used for tracking or advertising.

5 Data Processed on Our Servers

Hosting and server logs. The Service is hosted on Netlify. Like any web host, Netlify processes your IP address, the requested address, timestamp, browser and operating system in order to deliver the pages and protect against abuse and attacks. Legal basis: our legitimate interest in operating and securing the Service (GDPR art. 6(1)(f)).

Content delivery. Text, images and audio narrations are stored with Supabase (PostgreSQL and object storage). When your browser fetches them, Supabase's servers see your IP address and the file requested. Visitors are anonymous — no visitor account exists and no visitor identifier is stored. Legal basis: art. 6(1)(f).

Technical error reports. If the app crashes or throws an unexpected error, it may send a short automatic report containing the error message, the technical stack trace, the address of the page, your browser's user-agent string and the interface language. Reports are stored in our database and used solely to find and fix bugs. They are not linked to a person and contain no location data. Legal basis: art. 6(1)(f).

Editorial accounts. The editorial team signs in with Supabase Auth, which stores an email address, a hashed password and a session cookie. This applies only to us, not to visitors.

6 Analytics — Only If You Say Yes

In production, the Service uses Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-VRMW42J07F) to count visits and see which content is used.

Analytics is switched off by default: Google Consent Mode is initialised with analytics_storage, ad_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization, functionality_storage and personalization_storage all set to denied, and the consent banner from CookieYes asks you before anything changes. If you decline, no analytics cookies are set and no analytics measurement is performed. If you accept, Google processes cookie identifiers, IP-derived approximate location, device and browser information and the pages you view.

CookieYes stores your own choice so you are not asked on every visit.

Legal basis: your consent (GDPR art. 6(1)(a); ePrivacy). You can change or withdraw it at any time through the cookie banner or by clearing site data.

7 Third‑Party Content Loaded in Your Browser

Some parts of the Service are fetched directly from other providers. Your browser contacts them itself, so they see your IP address and what you requested, and their own privacy policies apply:

  • OpenStreetMap – standard map tiles
  • Esri / ArcGIS Online – satellite map tiles
  • Wikimedia Commons – some historical images
  • YouTube (loaded through youtube-nocookie.com) – embedded video on some sites
  • GetYourGuide – tour and activity widgets, including the provider's own measurement of widget usage; loaded only on pages that actually contain such a widget
  • Supabase – our own images and audio files
  • Google – analytics, only after consent (see §6)

We do not send them any information about you beyond what your browser sends when it requests the content.

8 Feedback Form

The "Give feedback" link opens a form hosted by Jotform. What you enter — a rating, your message, the city you were looking at, and your email address if you choose to provide one — is stored by Jotform and forwarded to us. We use it to answer you and to improve the content; entries are recorded in an internal, non‑public log and may become a task in our private issue tracker.

Legal basis: your consent, given by submitting the form (GDPR art. 6(1)(a)), and our legitimate interest in improving the Service (art. 6(1)(f)). Submitting the form is entirely voluntary. Ask us and we will delete your submission.

9 What We Do Not Do

  • We do not create profiles of you and we make no automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.
  • We do not sell, rent or trade personal data.
  • We do not store your position on our servers.
  • We do not require an account, and we do not ask for your name, address or payment details.

10 Recipients and Transfers Outside the EU/EEA

The providers named above act as processors or independent controllers for the data described: Netlify, Supabase, Google, CookieYes, Jotform, GetYourGuide, the OpenStreetMap Foundation, Esri and the Wikimedia Foundation.

Several of them are established outside the EU/EEA, primarily in the United States, or may process data there. Such transfers take place under the data‑processing terms and EU Standard Contractual Clauses that these providers make available, and — where applicable — the EU‑U.S. Data Privacy Framework.

11 How Long We Keep Data

  • On your device: until you clear the site's data in your browser. The location cache is cleared when you close the tab.
  • Server logs: for the retention period applied by our host, typically a few weeks.
  • Error reports: until they have served their purpose, normally no more than 12 months.
  • Feedback: until the request it describes has been dealt with, and any follow‑up promised to you has been made.
  • Analytics: according to Google Analytics' retention settings, at most 14 months.

12 Your Rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to request access to your personal data, rectification of inaccurate data, erasure, restriction of processing, and data portability, and to object to processing based on legitimate interest. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of what was done before.

Write to flemming.berthelsen+hn-privacy@gmail.com and we will respond within one month. Note that for most of what the app does we hold no data that can identify you, so we may be unable to link a request to a specific person — that is by design.

You may also lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, for example the Danish Datatilsynet (datatilsynet.dk) or the Portuguese CNPD (cnpd.pt), or the authority in your own country of residence.

13 Children

The Service is not directed at children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect personal data from them.

14 Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy. The date at the top always shows the current version, and material changes will be announced in the app.

15 Contact

Email: flemming.berthelsen+hn-privacy@gmail.com

See also our Terms of Service.