Privacy Policy
Last updated: July 2026
Wild Atlas Guide ("we", "us", "our") operates wildatlasguide.com, a platform for wildlife discovery, nature observation and eco-tourism. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and protect your personal data when you use our website and services.
1. Who is responsible for your data?
Wild Atlas Guide is the data controller for personal data processed through this website. You can contact us at:
Email: hello@wildatlasguide.com
2. What data we collect
2.1 Account data
When you register, we collect your email address, display name, and password (stored as a one-way hash — we never store your plain-text password). Optionally you may provide a website URL, a short biography, and a profile photo (avatar).
2.2 Content you create
When you use Wild Atlas Guide features, we store the content you voluntarily submit:
- Observation Lists — species sightings, dates, locations, notes, individual counts, and photos you attach to observations.
- My Lists — personal species lists you create and optionally share publicly.
- Reviews — star ratings, written reviews and tags for nature hotspots.
- Favourites and seen species — species you mark as favourites or as observed.
- Photos — images you upload to observations. We strip GPS metadata (EXIF) from uploaded photos before storing them and resize them to a maximum of 2000 px on the longest edge.
- Booking and custom trip requests — when you submit a booking request or a tailor-made trip enquiry, we store your name, email address, phone number, the details of your request (dates, number of people, message), and the conversation thread between you and the operator. This data is used solely to facilitate the enquiry and, if confirmed, the booking. The same data categories apply to custom trip proposals exchanged between you and the operator.
2.3 Usage data
We automatically collect limited technical and usage data to keep the service working and improve it:
- IP address (used for rate-limiting on login, registration and content uploads; not linked to your browsing history).
- Search queries entered in the Wild Atlas Guide search bar (stored anonymously to help us understand what content is needed).
- Page view counts per hotspot, species and country page (aggregated, not linked to individual users for non-logged-in visitors).
- Session cookies necessary for login and CSRF protection (WordPress nonces). These expire at the end of your browser session or after a fixed period.
2.4 Data we do NOT collect
We do not use advertising trackers, third-party analytics cookies, or sell your data to any third party. We do not collect payment card data — payments for bookings are arranged directly between you and the business.
3. Why we use your data (legal basis)
- Performance of a contract — Account data, observation content, reviews and lists are processed to provide you with the service you signed up for (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b)).
- Legitimate interests — IP-based rate limiting, aggregated analytics (view counts, search logs) and service security (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)).
- Consent — When you voluntarily upload a photo to an observation or your profile, you consent to that photo being stored and displayed. You may withdraw this at any time by deleting the photo (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)).
- Legal obligation — We may retain or disclose data when required by law (GDPR Art. 6(1)(c)).
4. Third-party services
- iNaturalist — We query the iNaturalist public API to retrieve Creative Commons-licensed species photographs. Only scientific names or taxon identifiers are sent; no personal data is shared.
- OpenStreetMap / Nominatim — Used for map geocoding. Only place names are sent; no personal data is shared.
- CARTO — Provides map tile images. CARTO receives your IP address when map tiles are loaded. See carto.com/privacy.
- Leaflet.js — Open-source mapping library loaded from the unpkg CDN. No personal data is shared.
- GBIF — Used to display species distribution maps. Only taxon identifiers are sent; no personal data is shared.
We do not use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel or any other advertising or cross-site tracking technology.
5. How long we keep your data
- Account data — Kept for as long as your account exists. Deleting your account erases your personal data and all user-generated content (observations, reviews, lists, photos).
- Photos — Deleted immediately when you remove them or when your account is deleted.
- IP logs for rate limiting — Cleared automatically after a short rolling window (minutes to hours).
- Search logs — Internal search queries are linked to your account for at most 30 days, after which they are automatically anonymised. Raw search log entries are deleted after 180 days.
- Page view statistics — Counted per page per day with no personal data attached. Daily detail is kept for 3 months, then consolidated into monthly totals which are retained indefinitely.
6. Your rights under GDPR
- Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Rectification — Correct inaccurate data at any time from your profile settings.
- Erasure — Request deletion of your account and all associated personal data.
- Restriction — Ask us to restrict processing in certain circumstances.
- Data portability — Receive your content in a machine-readable format on request.
- Objection — Object to processing based on our legitimate interests.
- Complaint — Lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority.
To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@wildatlasguide.com. We will respond within 30 days.
7. Cookies
We use only strictly necessary cookies: a WordPress session cookie (keeps you logged in) and WordPress nonce cookies (short-lived security tokens to protect forms). We do not use advertising or analytics cookies.
8. Data security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your data: HTTPS encryption for all connections, hashed password storage, EXIF/GPS stripping from uploaded photos, server-side file type validation, and rate limiting on sensitive endpoints.
9. Children's privacy
Wild Atlas Guide is not directed at children under 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. Contact us if you believe a child has provided us data and we will delete it.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be reflected in the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of Wild Atlas Guide after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.