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Summary
- SituationWare is a team map for field and emergency-response work. It is built to share: your position, the markers and routes you add, your chat messages and your photos go to a SituationWare server and to the other members of your team.
- By default that server is ours. Your team can point the app at a different server on the sign-in screen.
- While the map is open and you have allowed location, the app sends your position to the server about every 5 seconds when you move, and your teammates see it live.
- Map pictures come from public map services (OpenStreetMap, Esri and OpenTopoMap), which see which area you are looking at.
- The app sends usage analytics (which screens you open, plus a few basic device details) to our own analytics server. It does not include your position, your messages or your callsign.
- The app has no AI features and does not talk to any other Curtilage app.
What the app collects
- Sign-in details. Your team code, the name (callsign) you choose, and your team's passphrase if it has one. No email address, phone number or password account is needed. The app keeps the passphrase in memory only and does not save it to storage.
- Your location. Precise location from GPS and the phone's network, only if you allow it, and only while the map screen is open.
- What you add to the map. Markers with titles and notes, routes, areas, measurements, image overlays you place on the map, and links you attach to markers.
- Photos, videos, voice recordings and files you choose to attach to a marker. The app opens your phone's own camera, recorder or file picker to get them. Files are limited to 50 MB (megabytes), and map overlay images to 25 MB.
- Chat messages you send to your team.
- Training exercise actions, for team members who run exercises.
- Usage analytics. See "Analytics".
It does not read your contacts, text messages, calendar or photo library (except a file you pick yourself).
Where it goes
On your phone
- The app saves your sign-in token, team code, callsign, team name, join time and the server address in its private settings storage. It keeps a copy of recent server responses (up to 25 MB) so the map and chat still show the last-loaded picture without a connection. It also keeps a queue of changes you made while offline, map pictures it has loaded or that you saved for offline use, and a temporary copy of photos and recordings you capture.
- The app does not add its own encryption to any of this. It is protected by Android's normal app sandbox and your phone's own storage encryption, if your phone uses it.
- Backup: Android Auto Backup is turned on for this app, and the app does not exclude anything from it. If your phone backs up apps to your Google account, the app's settings (including your sign-in token, team code and callsign) and its queue of unsent changes can be included in that backup and in a transfer to a new phone. Android does not back up the cached copies and map pictures.
- Sign-out removes your sign-in token, team code, callsign, team name and join time from the phone. It does not delete the cached server responses, saved map pictures, captured media or the queue of unsent changes. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its storage in Android's settings, removes all of them.
- When you open an uploaded attachment, the app downloads it with Android's download manager into your phone's Downloads folder, where it stays until you delete it.
The SituationWare server
- Everything you share goes to the server shown on the sign-in screen. By default that is our server; your team can enter its own. All connections use HTTPS (encrypted in transit); the app refuses unencrypted connections.
- Your position, with your callsign, is sent to the server about every 5 seconds (when you have moved at least 5 meters) while the map is open, and the server passes it straight to your teammates. If someone on your team has started a recording of the session, the server also saves your positions in that recording so it can be played back later.
- Markers, routes, areas, overlays, attachments, chat messages and exercise actions are stored on the server and shown to your team.
- Addresses for markers. When you open a marker's details, the app asks the server for a street address for that marker's location. Our server looks it up with OpenStreetMap's address service (Nominatim), sending only the marker's coordinates. It does not send your callsign or team.
Map services
- To draw the map, the app loads map pictures directly from the service for the map style you choose: OpenStreetMap's tile servers for the street map, Esri's ArcGIS World Imagery service for the satellite view, and OpenTopoMap for the topographic map. Each request tells that service which area and zoom level you are looking at, along with your phone's internet (IP) address. The app identifies itself to these services by its app name. These services are run by others, under their own privacy policies.
Links your team adds
- If a teammate attaches a picture link to a marker, the app may load that picture directly from the website in the link when you open the marker. Opening a non-picture link opens it in your browser.
Our analytics server
- See "Analytics".
This policy covers the Android app. SituationWare also has a web version on the same server, which loads fonts and map code from public content services; it is not described here.
Permissions and why
- Location (precise and approximate)
- Why the app asks: To show you on the map and share your position with your team
- When: The first time you open the map. Only used while the map screen is open. The app does not ask for background location
- Internet and network state
- Why the app asks: To reach the SituationWare server and the map services, and to know when you are offline so it can queue your changes
- When: Granted at install
- Storage (write), Android 9 and earlier only
- Why the app asks: To save map pictures for offline use on older phones
- When: Granted at install on those versions
The app has no camera or microphone permission. To take a photo or video or record audio, it hands off to your phone's own camera or recorder app, and only the file you finish capturing comes back.
Analytics
SituationWare sends usage analytics to our own analytics server (BizEyes, run by us, not by an outside analytics company). It sends:
- When the app opens: the app version, that it is running on Android and which Android version, your phone's language and time zone, and the number of processor cores.
- Each screen you open: sign-in, map, chat, exercise, resources or about.
- A "signed in" event when you sign in.
It does not send your position, your callsign, your team, your messages or anything you put on the map. Like any web request, it reaches our analytics server from your phone's internet (IP) address. There is no setting in the app to turn analytics off.
The app has no crash-reporting service of its own.
Sharing with other Curtilage apps
None. SituationWare does not exchange data with BrainTrust or any other Curtilage app, and it has no AI features.
Your choices
- Location: You can deny location, or allow it only while using the app. Without it you can still see the map and your team, but your own position is not shared. You can change this at any time in Android's settings.
- Server: You can enter your team's own server on the sign-in screen instead of ours.
- Map style: Choosing a different map style changes which map service the app loads pictures from.
- Delete: You can delete markers, routes and overlays you are allowed to edit. A team commander can remove you from the team. To ask us to delete your membership and what you shared on our server, use the contact link below. Data on a server your team runs itself is controlled by your team.
- Phone data: Sign-out removes your sign-in details from the phone; uninstall or "clear storage" removes everything the app saved, as described under "On your phone".
- Export: The Android app has no export feature.
Children
SituationWare is a tool for adult field and emergency-response teams. It is not designed for or directed at children, and it does not ask for anyone's age.
Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we will post the new version on this page and update the date at the top.
Contact
Questions about this policy: https://curtilage.zone/contact