Privacy policy
Last updated: 26 October 2026
Short version: MapsTo3D has no accounts and shows no ads. It does use Google Analytics with Google Signals, which sets cookies and shares data with Google for advertising purposes, and in the EU, EEA and UK that only happens if you agree. Your models are built in your browser and are never uploaded, and neither are files you open. When you build or download a model, we keep an anonymous record of the area and settings, with nothing that identifies you.
What we collect
A record of the areas people make. When you build a model, and again when you download one, the map maker sends this site a short record: the area's coordinates, size, shape and rotation, the place name shown above the model, and the settings (print width, tiles, detail, height, surface, which layers were on, how many files were imported and, for a download, the file format), plus the name of the website that sent you here (for example google.com, nothing more of the address) and which of our pages linked you to the map maker. To carry that name across, our links add it to the address as ?src=; nothing is stored on your device. It is stored with the time, on our own server. It does not include the model, your imported files, your IP address, a cookie or any other identifier, and nothing ties one record to another or to you. We use it to see which places and settings people use, so we know what to improve. It is sent whatever you choose about analytics, because nothing in it is about you; if an area you build could identify you, such as your own house, bear in mind that its coordinates are part of the record.
A count of visits. Each page you open on this site also tells our own server which page it was and the name of the website that sent you, if any. To count people rather than page loads without a cookie, the server works out a code from your IP address and browser, mixed with a secret that is replaced every midnight (UTC) and then thrown away. The same code all day means you count once that day; the next day's code is unrelated, and the code cannot be turned back into your address. Your IP address itself is not stored. The build and download records above carry the same daily code, so we can tell how many of the day's visitors made something. This is counted whatever you choose about analytics, and nothing is stored in your browser.
There is no sign-in for visitors. The map libraries, fonts and scripts are served from this site itself.
Visitor statistics, if you allow them. The site uses Google Analytics 4 to see how it is used. It records the page you are on, roughly where in the world you are, your browser and screen size, and where you arrived from, and it sets cookies to tell one visit from another. In the map maker it also notes when you build a model or download one, with the file format, the print width, the size of the area and how many tiles it was split into. Google is never sent the place you chose, its coordinates, or the file itself.
Google Signals is switched on, which goes further than counting visits. For people signed in to Google who have turned on Ads Personalisation, it lets Google recognise the same person across their devices, report age, gender and interest groups back to us in aggregate, and add them to advertising audiences that could be used to show them ads elsewhere. This is why the site contacts stats.g.doubleclick.net and google.com as well as the analytics servers. We do not run ads on this site and we do not sell data, but data does reach Google for advertising purposes, and you should assume that is what you are agreeing to. Google acts as our processor for the analytics part, and its own privacy policy covers the rest.
If you are in the EU, the EEA or the UK you are asked first, and until you accept nothing is sent to Google at all. The tag is not downloaded, no cookie is set and no request is made, not even an anonymous one. Decline and it stays that way. Your answer is remembered in your browser's local storage under mapsto3d-consent so you are not asked again; clearing your site data makes the question come back.
Whether you are asked is worked out from your browser's own time zone. That keeps the check on your device: looking your location up by IP address would mean handing your address to another company purely to decide whether to ask about analytics, which would be worse than the thing being consented to. It is a rough check and it errs towards asking.
Changing your mind. Any browser setting, extension or tracker blocker that blocks Google Analytics also stops it, and the rest of the site works exactly the same without it. Google publishes a browser opt-out add-on as well.
What stays on your device
- The finished 3D model exists only in your browser's memory. Only the record described above leaves it.
- GeoJSON, GPX and KML files you open are read locally. They are never sent anywhere.
- Files you download are written straight to your device.
- A share link stores the area and settings inside the link itself, after the
#. Browsers never send that part to a server.
Map services your browser calls
To draw a map and build a model, your browser requests data directly from the services below. Those requests come from your device, so each service can see your IP address, the time and what you asked for. We never see them. Each service has its own privacy policy.
| Service | Used for |
|---|---|
| AWS Terrain Tiles, Mapterhorn | Elevation data |
| Esri ArcGIS Online | Satellite and topographic imagery |
| OpenFreeMap, OpenMapTiles | Street basemap, and buildings, roads, water and land cover when Overpass is busy |
| CARTO, OpenStreetMap tiles | Backup street tiles and the 3D street surface |
| Overpass API | Buildings, roads, water, trees |
| Photon (Komoot), Nominatim | Place search and place names |
Location lookup ("go to my location") only runs when you press the button, and your browser asks for permission first. The coordinates stay on your device.
Hosting logs
This site is static files on a hosting provider. Like any web host, the provider may keep short-lived server logs containing IP addresses and requested files, for security and abuse prevention. We do not use those logs to identify you.
Children
The site is not aimed at children and collects no personal data from anyone.
Your rights
Because we hold no personal data about you, there is nothing for us to export, correct or delete. If you email us, we keep that message only to reply, and you may ask us to delete it at any time.
Changes
If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it.
Contact
Questions about privacy: see the contact page.