Privacy policy
Last updated:
This page explains what Botanic Garden Atlas stores about you and why. “We” and “the operator” mean the operator of this site; you can reach them through the contact page. This text describes how the site software behaves today. It is a draft and will be reviewed legally before launch.
The short version
There are no accounts, no sign-in and no saved lists. You can look up gardens without giving us anything. Your location is used only in your browser to show distances; it is never sent to us. We do not sell or share personal information for advertising, send marketing email or take payments. Whether analytics cookies are set depends on how this site is set up; see “Analytics and statistics”. Where the garden and map data comes from is listed under “Data sources”.
Who is responsible
The operator of Botanic Garden Atlas decides how data on this site is processed. You can reach them by email at support@botanicgardenatlas.cc or through the contact page.
What we collect
The pages you read need no personal information from you. In detail:
- Search words you type appear in the page address, like any web request. The site does not keep a search history.
- If you email us, we receive the address and the message you send, and we keep the conversation for as long as it is needed to answer you. Please do not include personal information in a problem report.
- The site software can write a technical request log (time, method, path, status, duration, request id; no query string, cookie or IP address). The server or network that hosts the site may keep its own standard logs.
Your location
“Use my location” asks your browser for your position. If you allow it, the position stays in this browser tab (sessionStorage) and is used only to calculate straight-line distances on the page. It is not sent to our server and not shared. Sorting by distance downloads the coordinates of listed gardens and sorts them in your browser. “Clear” or closing the tab removes the position.
Data sources
Botanic Garden Atlas shows botanical gardens and arboretums in the United States that are recorded in open data. This section says where the information comes from, under which license, and what it does not offer.
- Wikidata: the list of gardens and arboretums, their names, map positions and, where one is recorded, the official website come from Wikidata, whose structured data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Licensing
- OpenStreetMap: some positions and names that Wikidata does not provide come from OpenStreetMap. © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License (ODbL): https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
- United States Census Bureau: the state, county and city of a garden are worked out from the Bureau’s 2024 cartographic boundary files (TIGER/Line derived), which are public-domain U.S. government data. A garden whose position falls outside every city boundary has no city.
- Sun times: sunrise, sunset, civil dusk, hours of daylight and the sunset direction are calculated by this site from each garden’s map position with the NOAA / Meeus solar position method (standard horizon, sun at −0.833°, civil dusk at −6°, observer height zero) for 16 dates in 2027.
- Map tiles: OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles · Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Your browser loads the tiles from tiles.openfreemap.org whenever a map is shown. The credit also appears on the map itself.
What you should know about the information:
- The records come from volunteers and public databases. They can be out of date, incomplete or wrong, and not every garden is listed. A listing is not a statement that a garden exists today, is open, or is open to the public.
- A garden is listed as “a botanical garden or arboretum”. We show no opening hours, tickets, prices, access, parking, events, bloom times, collections, size or descriptions.
- The official website, where shown, is the website recorded for the garden. We do not check that it is current.
- Sun times are for a flat, open horizon at the recorded map position. Terrain, trees, buildings and weather change what you see on site, and map positions have limited precision. They are not opening hours.
- Time zones are derived from the garden’s state and county; a place on a zone boundary can be wrong by an hour.
- The distance between gardens, and from you, is a straight line, not a driving route or travel time.
- Images on the site are illustrative photos and do not show the garden named.
- We reload the data from new extracts from time to time. Whatever has changed at the sources in the meantime appears here only after the next reload.
Reporting a mistake: if a garden is missing or a detail is wrong, use the “Something missing or wrong?” link on the page or the contact page. We read every message.
Why we use it
We do not use your data for marketing email.
- To answer your messages.
- To protect the site: the software limits and logs requests in the way described above.
- To count aggregate usage (see “Analytics and statistics”).
Our reasons for processing
- Answering your email: our legitimate interest in answering people who write to us.
- Protecting the site and the technical request log: our legitimate interest in a working, protected service.
- Google Analytics and the cookies it sets: switched on by default for our interest in knowing how the site is used; you can object at any time with the control under “Analytics and statistics”, and we then stop it in your browser.
- Location: you trigger the location request yourself and your browser asks you first. The position stays in your browser and is not sent to us.
Who processes data
- Google: if analytics is set up and you have not objected, Google Analytics receives page views. Google handles that data under its own policies and may process it in the United States and other countries.
- Site statistics service: the site can send the operator’s own statistics service one daily aggregate (the site identifier, the domain and constant zero counts, because there are no accounts). It contains no visitor data.
- Maps: when a page shows a map, your browser loads map tiles from tiles.openfreemap.org (OpenFreeMap). OpenFreeMap receives the usual request data (such as your IP address). Your shared location is not sent with these requests. Your browser also asks us for the gardens on the map; we do not store those requests.
- Hosting: the server or network that hosts the site may keep its own standard logs.
- The “Directions in your maps app” link opens Google Maps, a third-party service with its own privacy policy, only when you click it. The “Official website” link opens the garden’s own website, which has its own privacy policy.
Advertising
The site shows no advertising and loads no advertising network. If that changes, this policy will be updated before any advertising is shown.
Analytics and statistics
Analytics cookies are not active on this site, so no request is made to Google Analytics. If this changes, this page will say so first.
Separately from Google Analytics, the site sends the daily aggregate described under “Who processes data”. It contains no personal data.
How long we keep data
- Emails to the support address are kept for as long as needed to answer them and for a short time afterwards.
- Request logs are kept briefly and rotated.
- Google Analytics keeps data according to its own retention setting, which the operator chooses in the Analytics property.
Your choices and rights
Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to receive a copy, and to object to or opt out of certain processing. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context advertising.
For requests about your data, use the contact page or write to support@botanicgardenatlas.cc. No automated decision-making takes place.
You can change your analytics choice at any time with the control in “Analytics and statistics”, and you can clear cookies and tab storage in your browser.
Children
This site is aimed at adults and families planning a visit to a garden, and not at children. It collects no personal information from anyone.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when the site changes. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. See also the terms of use.