Last updated: February 29, 2023
ABOUT US
We are XploreGEO, LLC., the owner and operator of the following websites and mobile applications:
- https://xploregeo.com website, and mobile applications, and discussion forums;
In addition, we work with developers (“Authorized Developers”) who create XploreGEO-related websites and applications that connect with our services using our software interface, known as an application programming interface or API.
For the purpose of this privacy policy, we refer to the above as our “services”. References in this privacy policy to “we”, “us,” or “our” are references to XploreGEO.
ABOUT THIS PRIVACY POLICY
When you use our services, we process your personal information. This privacy policy explains the ways that we process your personal information and our reasons for doing so. It is divided into sections to make it easier to read.
While we are based in the United States, we recognize that people in many different countries also use our services. Privacy laws vary depending on your location. As the majority of people who use our services are in the U.S. and Europe, we have based our privacy policy on U.S. law and the European Economic Area’s (EEA) privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). When processing personal data (also “personal information” or “information” or “data”), we act as the controller within the meaning of GDPR.
CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We process the following categories of personal information about you in connection with our services.
Account and identity information | Any information about you that we use to identify you in connection with your account and our services, such as your name, email address(es), passwords, and other identification information, e.g. your user ID for the account through which you are accessing our services. |
Activity information | Any information relating to your game-related activities on our services, such as your finds and related logs (including uploaded photos), hides, favorite points (awarded and received), trackable logs and ownership, game statistics, standing compared to other users on a leaderboard, the Adventures you own and have played, as well as the ratings and reviews you’ve added, and the date and time that you finished the various stages of an Adventure or logged a particular geocache or trackable item. |
Browsing information | Any information on your browsing behavior while using our services, such as your IP address, time and date of access, and use of our services. |
Community information | Any information you provide to us when interacting with our community, including, but not limited to, any content you post publicly when you use the public features of our services, such as when you participate in the discussion forums or when you write a note to another user on their cache page. |
Contact information | Any information that can be used to communicate with you, including, but not limited to, your name, email address, and other contact details you provide, such as your phone number and address. |
Correspondence | Any information you provide to us through correspondence with us (e.g., by email or via our Help Center), such as any opinions you share with us, any survey responses, your comments and questions, and your feedback. |
Device information | Any information related to your mobile phone or GPS device, including, but not limited to, the unique identifier for your device, such as UUIDs, mobile ad IDs, Apple and Android IDs, analytics app instance IDs, and install IDs, your device type, device specifications, and crash data, including crash traces and breakpad minidump formatted data, your IP network state (online/offline), which version of our applications you’re using, the name of the application you’re using if you’re using an application provided by one of the Authorized Developers, and whether or not you have enabled an Android developer option that enables override of your phone’s GPS coordinates. |
Job application information | Any information you provide to us if you apply for a job with us, including information in your resume or application form. |
Location information | Any information that allows us to determine or approximate your location. We may be able to determine your general location based on the IP address you use to access our services. We may also be able to detect, based on your mobile device settings, if you have enabled a feature that allows you to override your device’s GPS coordinates with mocked coordinates. We also collect your search data, including the latitude and longitude of any location-based search you perform either intentionally or via the automatic search of your current location that is performed when you open our applications. Additionally, in your account Settings, you have the option to add your general location to your public profile (allowing you to notify other users of where you are based), as well as a “Home Location” in your non-public-facing profile (allowing us to show you events and geocaches near you). While our applications do access your precise location while you are using them in order to enable your use of them, we do not store that information or process it for any additional purposes. |
Membership information | Any information regarding your active membership, including whether you are Basic or Premium, the date you joined and last visited the site, and whether your account is validated. |
Messaging | Messages you send to or receive from other users through our Message Center. |
Other account information | Any information, such as email address, name, and profile photo, that we need to collect in order to link your account to a third-party account (e.g. Apple, Facebook, Google) when you choose to link your account with us to that third-party account for log-in or if you decide to share your game activity directly to social media via a link we’ve provided through our services. |
Preference information | Any information that indicates your preferences when using our services, whether provided by you or inferred by us. Such information includes, but is not limited to, information about how much time you spend on which pages, which links you choose to click, as well as files, listings, and content that you access, information about the pages you request, information that helps us better understand our visitors’ experience on our services in general, and your user experience, e.g. what you do and don’t like about our services. |
Profile information | Any information that you provide to us in your profile such as your location, profile photo, cover photo, photo gallery and any other photo uploads, “about me” information, and XploreGEO discussion forum title and signature. |
Promotion information | Any information you provide when you participate in a promotion, such as a trackable giveaway. This information includes your contact information, username, and may include your age and answers to questions provided by us or the promotion sponsor. |
Purchase information | Any information we use to complete a transaction with you to purchase a Premium membership or on Shop.XploreGEO.com, including, but not limited to, your contact information, your shipping and billing address, the product you purchased, price, and payment method. |
Review submissions | Any information used to assess whether your geocache meets the geocache hiding guidelines, such as your unpublished geocache page, correspondence with the community volunteer reviewers, your username, and any other content you include in your submission. |
USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
The purposes for which we process your personal information are below, along with our legal bases for processing as required by GDPR. (See Article 6(1)(a)-(f) of GDPR if you’d like to know more about the specific legal bases for processing.)
How do we use your personal information? | What categories of personal information do we use? | What is our legal basis for using your personal information? |
To provide our services to you and to administer your account with us. |
| Performance of a contract with you, e.g.:
Pursuing our legitimate interests in:
|
To complete your purchase transactions, including authorizing, processing, and tracking payments through our service providers’ secure credit card and payment processing gateways. |
| Performance of a contract with you, e.g.:
|
To enable your Premium membership status and follow up with you in connection with your membership. |
| Performance of a contract with you, e.g.:
Pursuing our legitimate interest in providing you with marketing communications relating to your Premium memberships, such as telling you about our services, products, or offers, if you have requested to receive these communications. Your consent, if requested and provided. |
To allow you to communicate through any of our communications services. |
| Performance of a contract with you by enabling you to send or receive messages through our communications services. |
For our own internal business purposes related to our services and operations, including market research, website and mobile application optimization, to improve our products and services, for record-keeping, as evidence in connection with a potential legal issue, back-ups, and data storage. |
| Pursuing our legitimate interest in:
Your consent, if requested and provided. |
To enable Authorized Developers to provide related websites and applications that extend and enhance your experience of the game and our services. |
Location information | Pursuing our legitimate interest and those of our Authorized Developers to create websites and applications that extend your experience of the games and services beyond what we are able to provide. Your consent, if requested and provided. |
To communicate with you about things we think might interest you such as our products and services and location-based entertainment-related activities. |
| Pursuing our legitimate interest in providing you with marketing communications, including telling you about our services, products, or offers relating to your membership or our services, if you have opted to receive these communications. Your consent, if requested and provided. |
To verify your identity |
| Performance of a contract with you, e.g. authenticating your identity. Pursuing our legitimate interest in ensuring that our services are secure and only used by authenticated and authorized users. |
To provide customer service and review issues with your account or your use of our services. |
| Performance of a contract with you, e.g.:
|
To allow you to share your experiences using our services with others. |
| Pursuing our legitimate interests in:
Your consent, if requested and provided. |
To update you on changes to our services, this Privacy Policy, or our Terms of Use and other administrative communications. |
| Performance of a contract with you, e.g. providing you with relevant non-marketing commercial communications. Complying with our legal obligations. |
To provide promotions with our partners, such as GeoTours, trackable promotions, and sponsored Adventures. |
| Pursuing our legitimate interest to develop our business. Your consent, if requested and provided. |
To allow you to log in via Apple, Google, or Facebook. | Other account information | Performance of a contract with you, in particular:
|
To share information through a social network site account, such as Facebook and Twitter |
| Your consent, if requested and provided. |
To investigate any complaints, restrict access to our services, or communicate with users who have violated our Terms of Use or otherwise violated our rights or the rights of others |
| Pursuing our legitimate interests in:
|
To enable XploreGEO community volunteers and us to review geocaches prior to publication and to moderate our discussion forums. | Review submissions | Pursuing our legitimate interest in:
|
To verify your location | Location information | Pursuing our legitimate interests in verifying your location when you participate in Adventure Lab activities and to ensure we are sending you information that is relevant for your location. |
If you have provided consent for us to use certain types of your personal information for specific purposes, you may withdraw it at any time, and we will stop using your information for those purposes moving forward. You may do this by “opting out” where we give you the opportunity to do so, by changing your account Settings, or by contacting us by one of the methods in the “How to contact us” section.
SHARING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Except as outlined below or otherwise described in this privacy policy, we do not share or sell personal information of our users. We only share your personal information with the categories of parties listed below for the following purposes and based on the corresponding legal bases:
Recipients | Categories of personal information | Our legal basis for sharing your personal information |
Other users |
| Pursuing our legitimate interest in:
|
Authorized Developers (unless you opt out of sharing in your account Settings) Note: Authorized Developers’ applications are not owned or operated by us. They have their own privacy policies in relation to personal information. We provide a list of our current Authorized Developers. |
| Pursuing our legitimate interests and those of our Authorized Developers in creating websites and applications that extend your and other account holders’ experience of the games and services beyond what we are able to provide Your consent, if requested and provided. |
Promotion partners (only if you choose to participate in their promotion) Our partners’ use of your information will be covered by their privacy policies. |
| Pursuing our legitimate interests and those of our partners in:
Your consent to:
|
Social media Review the privacy policies of any social media with whom you choose to share to understand how they use your information. | Activity information: only if you choose to share your activities to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter via buttons that may be available on our services | Your consent, if requested and provided. |
Advertising networks We have ads on our site served by a third-party advertising network. Using browser cookies, these ad networks use your navigation history to serve you ads they predict will interest you. Learn more in the Cookies section. | Browser information | Your consent, if requested and provided. |
Vendors and service providers, such as:
| The information category varies depending on the services. Access to personal information is only as necessary for the specific function they were hired to perform. Other use is prohibited. | These vendors and service providers act as our processors (see Art 28(1) GDPR) and will only process your personal information according to our instructions. |
Internal business providers, such as:
|
| Necessary for the provision of our services Our legitimate interest in the proper operation of our business (Art 6(1)(f) GDPR) |
Legal authorities, such as:
|
| If we are required to by law Our legitimate interest in combatting abuse; in prosecuting crimes; and in securing, establishing, and enforcing claims |
Merger and acquisition partners In the unlikely event that we wished to sell our business or reorganize our company, we may need to share your personal information with potential buyers or the new entity. |
| Our legitimate interest in changing the corporate structure of our business |
Third Party account providers, such as:
To allow you to log in to your XploreGEO account via these providers (aka “Single Sign-on”) |
| Performance of a contract with you, in particular:
|
Map Providers To enable map functionality |
| Pursuing our legitimate interest in making our services available to you |
Analytics Providers, such as:
| The information category varies depending on the services. Access to personal information is only as necessary for the specific function they were hired to perform. Other use is prohibited. | These vendors and service providers act as our processors (see Art 28(1) GDPR) and will only process your personal information according to our instructions. |
Payment Processors, such as:
| The information category varies depending on the services.
Access to personal information is only as necessary for the specific function they were hired to perform. Other use is prohibited. | These vendors and service providers act as our processors (see Art 28(1) GDPR) and will only process your personal information according to our instructions. |
Other services
We use YouTube API Services to display video uploaded to YouTube on our mobile applications. This use does not require access to your YouTube account data. YouTube’s API Services are governed by Google’s privacy policy.
NOTICE OF RIGHTS FOR EEA, UK, AND SWITZERLAND
If you reside in the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, our use of your personal information is governed by the GDPR or applicable EEA, UK, or Swiss national laws. These grant you the following rights:
- Right of access (Art. 15 GDPR): You have the right to ask us for confirmation on whether we are processing your personal information, and access to the personal information and related information on that processing (e.g., the purposes of the processing, or the categories of personal information involved). You also have the right to access your personal information, by requesting a copy of the personal information about you.
- Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR): You have the right to have your personal information corrected, as permitted by law.
- Right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR): Subject to the requirements of Art. 17 GDPR, you have the right to ask us to delete your personal information, as permitted by law. This right may be exercised among other things: (i) when your personal information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or otherwise processed; (ii) when you withdraw consent on which processing is based on your consent and where there is no other legal ground for processing; (iii) when you object to processing that is necessary for our legitimate interests (pursuant to Art. 21(1) GDPR) and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing, or when you object to your personal information being used for direct marketing purposes (pursuant to Art. 21(2) GDPR); or (iv) when your personal information has been unlawfully processed.
- Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR): Subject to the requirements of Art. 18 GDPR, you have the right to request the restriction of our processing under limited circumstances, including: when the accuracy of your personal information is contested; when the processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of your personal information and request the restriction of the use of your personal information instead; and when you have objected to processing that is necessary for our legitimate interests (pursuant to Art. 21(1) GDPR) pending the verification whether our legitimate interest overrides your grounds.
- Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR): Subject to the requirements of Art. 20 GDPR, you have the right to receive the personal information that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and you have the right to transmit that information to another controller, including to have it transmitted directly, where technically feasible.
- Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR): You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information, as permitted by law. This right is limited to processing that is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller or processing which is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(e) or (f) GDPR), and includes profiling based on those provisions, and processing for direct marketing purposes.
- Right to withdraw consent (Art. 7(3) GDPR): where we process your personal information on the basis of your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. However, such withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of the processing that occurred prior to such withdrawal.
YOUR RIGHTS AND CHOICES
You can choose how your information is shared by adjusting your account Settings or by opting out in the following circumstances:
- By signing into your account and accessing your account Settings, you can change various privacy settings and update certain personal information, including deleting information from your profile and deleting your geocache and trackable logs. You can also contact us via our webform to request deletion.
- You can also choose to opt out of allowing our Authorized Developers to share your XploreGEO.com Profile information with their users by changing your Authorizations in your account Settings. You can choose to allow Authorized Developers to share your XploreGEO activity with your XploreGEO friends.
- If you do not want to receive our newsletter or marketing messages from us, you can click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email or message you receive or adjust your email preferences in your account Settings.
- If you do not want to receive emails from us about specific geocaches or trackables, you can change your settings by logging into your account and removing these geocaches and/or trackables from your Watchlist or Lists. Please note that you cannot disable notifications related to geocaches or trackables owned by you.
- If you have granted us access to your Facebook, Google, or Apple sign-on, you can remove authorizations by logging into account Settings, selecting the Authorizations tab, and clicking to remove access.
- If you have provided consent for us to use your information, you may withdraw it at any time for our use moving forward. If not otherwise specified in this privacy policy, you may do this by “opting out” where we give you the opportunity to do so, by changing your account Settings, by changing your email preferences, or by contacting us.
Contacting us to exercise your rights
If you wish to exercise any of the above rights or need help doing so or have questions about them, please use one of the methods provided in the in the “How to Contact Us” section.
Personal information processed when you exercise your rights
We process the personal information provided by you when you exercise your rights under Art. 7(3) and Art. 15 through 22 GDPR, not only for the purpose of complying with these rights, but also so that we can demonstrate such compliance. This processing is based upon the legal basis of Art 6(1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with Art. 7(3) and Art. 15 through 22 GDPR.
Right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority
If you live in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, you have the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority about our collection and use of your personal information. For more information, please contact your local data protection supervisory authority.
COMPLAINTS AND QUESTIONS
If you have any complaints or questions about how we use your personal information, you may contact us using the contact details set out in the “How to Contact Us” section. We will then get in touch with you to see how we can help.
If you have a complaint about how we use your personal information, we would always prefer you to contact us first. However, as stated above, you may also make a complaint to your data protection supervisory authority, if you wish to do so. If you would like more information about how to contact the relevant data protection supervisory authority, please email or otherwise contact us.
STORAGE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We will keep your data only for as long as it is necessary for the specific purpose or purposes for which we have collected or used them in accordance with this privacy policy.
Account deletion
If you want to permanently delete your account or following your explicit request for deletion of any of your personal information, we will delete your account and/or help you to delete your personal information as requested. Due to the nature of the game and the way that users interact, you will need to take all steps necessary to facilitate the deletion, including adopting or removing any geocaches you own, deleting your logs, and disabling your account. We will then complete the deletion process as soon as possible. The way our systems are structured, in some cases, it may take up to 30 days for records to be deleted or overwritten. In some circumstances (set out below) we may keep your personal information for longer.
Because of the nature of the game, which requires a cellular data plan or GPS device and the ability to travel to geocache locations, our services are not directed toward anyone under the age of 16. If you are a parent or guardian and discover that your child under the age of 16 has an account not created and managed by you, then you may alert us via email or otherwise contact us and request that we delete that child’s personal information.
When you stop playing
If you stop playing or temporarily disable your account, without taking any further steps or asking us to permanently delete your account or personal information, we will keep your information as long as needed to ensure the integrity of the game and the enjoyment of other players. Your geocache and trackable logs and any images associated with them will remain as part of the historic record of the geocache or trackable with which they are associated unless you delete them. If you have provided personal information or content that other users need to use in relation to the services (for example, information about a particular geocache you have logged or placed; if you have moved or logged a particular trackable; or if you have left instructions or goals about a particular trackable), we may retain that information for as long as we need to provide the services to our other users, but you may always delete that information if you wish. We know that sometimes users take a break from the game and come back at a later time, which is why we don’t automatically permanently delete your account and personal information if you stop playing or temporarily disable your account. We may contact you if you have stopped playing or temporarily disabled your account to check if you would like us to permanently delete your information. However, after three years of inactivity, we may delete your account without contacting you, if you created an account and never took any other action in the game.
Please note that once your account and personal information has been deleted we cannot get it back. If you don’t ask us to permanently delete your account and personal information, except as provided above, we will keep it until you want to reactivate your account, and we will store it securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.
Information provided for a specific purpose
If you have provided us with personal information for a specific purpose, we will keep your personal information for as long as we need to fulfill that purpose. Specifically:
- If you have provided address information as part of a competition entry, we will keep that information for as long as necessary to administer the competition, typically about a year.
- We will retain your contact details if you have an account with us or if we think you may be interested in marketing messages, offers, promotions, or new services. You will always have the choice of opting out of receiving these messages. If you do so, we will remove you from our email marketing lists as soon as we can but within 10 business days.
- If you have posted content online in the discussion forums, unless you request deletion, we will retain that content for as long as we think the topic is relevant. After this time, we may delete the post or archive it.
Where we have obtained personal information automatically about your use of our services (e.g. analytics), we will keep this information for as long as we feel it may be useful to us to improve and develop our business. We will delete it when it is no longer useful. This will normally be within 24 months of completion of the purpose for which it was originally collected.
In some cases, we may be required to store personal information beyond the period of time that we need it for the purposes for which we have collected it, taking into account factors including:
- legal obligation(s) under applicable law to retain personal information for a certain period of time (e.g. compliance with tax and accounting requirements).
- the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims (e.g., for the purposes of a potential dispute).
If a law requires us to hold onto your personal information, we will store your data for the amount of time required by that law. Further, we will store your personal information on the basis of our legitimate interest, such as the requirement to create proper documentation of our business operations.
PROTECTION OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We have implemented many security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of your information. We protect your account information through the use of a password. To protect the confidentiality of your information, you MUST keep your password confidential and not disclose it to any other person. We and our payment card processors work to protect the security of your credit card information during transmission through the use of transport layer security (TLS), which encrypts the information you input.
TRANSFERS OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We are based in the United States (U.S.), and we process and store information in the U.S. Therefore, we
and our non-EEA service providers will store and access your personal information in the U.S. This means that if
you live outside of the U.S, your personal information will be transferred out of your home country to the U.S.
for processing and storage by us and our service providers. Please note that the U.S. may not provide equivalent
levels of data protection as enjoyed in your home jurisdiction. For example, there is currently no adequacy
decision of the EU Commission that the U.S. can ensure an adequate level of data protection. Also, we could be
required to disclose an individual’s personal information in response to a lawful request by public authorities,
including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
If you live in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, whenever we transfer your personal information outside of the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, we will ensure that at least one of the following safeguards is in place:
- The country is one that the European Commission have approved as providing an adequate level of protection for personal information;
- The transfer is subject to a specific derogation in the GDPR or national laws;
- Through the use of the standard data protection clauses as adopted by the EU Commission as the transfer mechanism when a case-by-case analysis has been performed;
- Where the transfer is to a place or by a method or in circumstances that is regarded by the European Commission as providing adequate protection for your personal information; or
- Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts or codes of conduct or certification mechanisms approved by the European Commission which give personal information substantially similar protection as in the EEA, UK, or Switzerland.
You can request further details about the safeguards that we have implemented by contacting us using the contact details set out in the “How to Contact Us” section.
HOW WE USE COOKIES
A cookie is a small text file that is downloaded and stored onto your computer, mobile phone, or similar
device when you use our websites. We use cookies and other similar data collection technologies on our websites
and – to a more limited extent – on our applications when you access mobile responsive page on our websites.
The cookies we currently use are available to review in the Cookies section of your account Settings on the website and at https://www.XploreGEO.com/account/documents/cookies.
Information we collect using cookies
We collect the following information from you:
- The date and time you use our websites.
- Information about your browser, system, or device configuration.
- Your IP address.
- Your interactions with our websites and the pages you visit.
Disabling cookies
Depending on the laws in your location, you may have the ability to choose which types of cookies you wish to accept through the tools we provide. You may also use the tools in your browser to decline, disable, or delete cookies. Declining or deleting certain cookies may limit functionality of our services. As an example, you will still be able to log on as a member if you decline or delete our cookie that enables automatic recognition. However, many important features of our websites will not be available (e.g. you will not be able to log a geocache if persistent cookies have been disabled). If you disable the session cookie for our websites, you may remain on the site, but you will not be able to use Shop XploreGEO and access certain other content. On some user profile pages and geocache details pages, account holders have used links to third-party sites to display content. In some cases, these third-party links may have associated cookies. Due to the volume of such content, we may be unable to identify all of these cookies or provide the ability for you to disable them. Please consider browser-based cookie blocking if you wish to block these types of cookies.
Types of cookies that we use
Strictly necessary cookies
Strictly necessary cookies help make our websites usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the websites. The websites cannot function properly without these cookies.
Preference cookies
Preference cookies enable our websites to remember information that changes the way the websites behave or look, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
Statistics cookies
Statistics cookies help us to understand how visitors interact with our websites by collecting and reporting information about interactions with our websites.
Advertising Cookies
Advertising cookies are used by third parties to track visitors across websites. The purpose is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and therefor more valuable for publishers and third-party advertisers.
For users in the EEA, UK, and Switzerland
For users in the EEA, UK or Switzerland, the legal basis for using strictly necessary cookies is Article 6(1)(b) GDPR. For all other cookies, including the third-party applications listed below, we use cookies on the basis of your consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR).
To the extent that we use cookies based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, which will take effect moving forward (but not retroactively). You can withdraw your consent by changing your cookie settings in your account Settings on our websites or as outlined below for specific third-party applications.
Please note that even if you withdraw your consent, some cookies might not be blocked. Content that other account holders place on our websites (e.g., on their cache pages) in some cases includes links that trigger advertising cookies from third-party sites. Because of the volume of this content, we are not able to identify all of these cookies. Please consider browser-based blocking instead.
Google Services
We use the services, described below, of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Pkwy Mountain View, California 94043, U.S. (“Google”). Your information is processed by Google in the U.S. Basic information concerning your personal information, as processed by Google, can be found here: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.
Google also provides you with the following settings options:
- You can deactivate personalized Google advertising: https://adssettings.google.com/anonymous?hl=en
- You can deactivate device-based personalized advertising: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/1660762?hl=en and https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922?hl=en
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics (including Google Analytics for Firebase), an analytics service. Google Analytics uses cookies and collects information from you concerning your use of our services, including your truncated IP address. The information generated by the cookies regarding your use our services (including your truncated IP address) are transferred to, and stored on, Google servers. Additionally, we enable Google Analytics’ User-ID feature to better understand how users interact with our services over an extended period of time, from different devices and multiple sessions, so we can continue to improve our services and provide the best experience for our users. User ID helps identify unique users across multiple devices and browsers. When you log-in to use our services, your User ID is sent to Google. We use Google Analytics to collect both predefined events, such as the page you came from, and custom events, such as whether you clicked on a particular link/button, to understand how you use our websites and mobile applications. Google will use this information to help us evaluate your use of our services, to compile activity reports for us, and to generate further analyses and evaluations in connection with your internet use and use of our services. Google can also link this information with other information such as your search history, your personal account, the usage information of other devices, and additional information that Google has stored regarding you. Where applicable, Google will also transfer this information to third parties to the extent required by law (such as by government authorities) or to the extent that third parties process such data on behalf of Google.
The information logged with Google Analytics is stored for two years. Once this time period has lapsed, only aggregated statistics will be retained by Google Analytics.
You can deactivate Google Analytics on our websites through an opt-out browser add-on.
Google Firebase
We use Google Firebase, a cloud-based platform that provides certain backend services for mobile applications, such as in-app messaging, notifications, analytics, performance monitoring, A/B testing, dynamic links (links that take you to a particular location in our applications), crash reporting, remote configuration (allows customization of our applications), and predictions (applies machine learning to analytics information to help us predict the behavior of users in our app). Our use of Firebase requires us to share certain information with Google for purposes of providing the Firebase services above. This information includes installation IDs and UUIDs, mobile ad IDs, Apple and Android IDs, analytics app instance IDs, mobile ad IDs, IP addresses, device specifications, and crash data, including crash traces and breakpad minidump formatted data.
The information obtained using Firebase is stored for up to 14 months.
Google Marketing Platform
We use the Google Marketing Platform (formerly “Google DoubleClick”). This cookie platform enables Google and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to our websites and/or other sites on the internet. Google receives the information that you have called up the corresponding part of our website or clicked on an ad from us. If you have a Google account, Google may assign the visit to your Google account. Even if you do not have a Google account or have not logged in to your Google account, Google may connect this information to your IP address.
Additionally, the Google Marketing Platform enables us to understand whether you perform certain actions on our websites after you have called up one of our ads on Google or on another platform or clicked on it (conversion tracking).
For more information on the Google Marketing Platform, please visit https://marketingplatform.google.com/. Please visit Google and use “Ads Settings” to set your preferences. The website http://optout.aboutads.info/ offers a single place to turn off targeted ad serving from any of its members.
Facebook pixel
Facebook may use information collected through Facebook pixel to customize ads on Facebook and other sites. You can learn more by visiting Facebook’s Data Policy and can control the information shared about you by changing your Facebook ad preferences.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We may amend this privacy policy from time to time. When we post changes to this privacy policy, we will revise the “last updated” date at the top of this page. Please review this privacy policy periodically to be informed of how we use and protect your information. If we have your email address, we may also email you with information on those changes.
PRIVACY SHIELD POLICY
This Privacy Shield Policy (“Policy”) applies to all personal data transferred to XploreGEO, Inc. (“XploreGEO”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) from the European Economic Area (EEA) (which includes the member states of the European Union (EU) plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and Switzerland. This Policy sets out our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that personal data.
Privacy Shield is no longer a legal mechanism for transfers outside of the EEA. As a result, we rely on one of the other legal mechanisms for transfer identified above in “Transfers of Your Personal Information.” We maintain our Privacy Shield certification for the purpose of providing you with a means to enforce your rights through the US government in addition to whatever means you may have through your local supervisory authority. Continuing to certify to Privacy Shield also provides you with clarity about the standards we uphold.
Definitions
For purposes of this Policy, the following definitions apply:
“Agent” means any third party that collects or uses personal data under the instructions of, and solely for, XploreGEO or to which XploreGEO discloses personal data for use on XploreGEO’s behalf.
“XploreGEO” means XploreGEO, Inc., which does business as XploreGEO and XploreGEO HQ, and any predecessors and successors in the United States.
“Personal data” means any data or set of data that identifies or could be used by or on behalf of XploreGEO to identify (together with other data) a living individual. Personal data does not include data that is anonymized or aggregated.
“Sensitive data” means any personal data that reveals race, ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data that concerns health or sex life, or data about criminal or administrative proceedings and sanctions.
EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield
XploreGEO complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the EU/Switzerland to the U.S., respectively. We also comply with the Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield frameworks (collectively, “Frameworks”).
XploreGEO has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles of Notice; Choice; Accountability for Onward Transfer; Security; Data Integrity and Purpose Limitation; Access; and Recourse, Enforcement and Liability (“the Privacy Shield Principles”) which are the basis for the principles of this Policy. If there is any conflict between the terms in this Policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/.
Principles
Notice
XploreGEO receives personal data about individuals in the EU and Switzerland collected by XploreGEO and partners who promote XploreGEO and/or use XploreGEO to promote their products or locations in those countries. XploreGEO uses this personal data to provide services enabling individuals to participate in location-based play and customer support, information updates and purchases related to such services and in XploreGEO-related promotions. This data also facilitates our partners’ participation in XploreGEO-related marketing and promotions and enables partners to develop other XploreGEO services.
Choice
XploreGEO will offer individuals the opportunity to choose (opt-out) whether their data is to be used for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized by the individual. An individual may opt-out of such uses of their personal data by contacting us in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form.
XploreGEO will not use sensitive personal data for a purpose other than the purpose for which it was originally collected, or subsequently authorized by the individual, without first receiving the individual’s affirmative and explicit consent (opt-in). XploreGEO will treat as sensitive any personal data received from a third party where the third party identifies and treats it as sensitive.
Accountability for Onward Transfer
XploreGEO may employ third parties to manage its IT infrastructure, provide credit card processing and customer support, perform analytics, and manage its email service. These entities may have access to personal information if needed to perform their functions for XploreGEO.
XploreGEO may also disclose personal data – such as profile information, geocaches and Adventure Labs and associated logs – to non-agent third parties by licensing its application program interface (API) to partners who use it to develop other XploreGEO-related applications and services. If you wish to opt-out of transfers to such non-agent third parties, please contact us in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form or change your authorizations in account Settings to stop such sharing of data.
XploreGEO may be required to disclose an individual’s personal information in response to a lawful request by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
For data received under one of the Frameworks, XploreGEO will obtain appropriate assurances from its agents that they will safeguard personal data consistent with this Policy. Examples of appropriate assurances that may be provided by agents include the following: a contract obligating the agent to provide at least the same level of protection as is required by the Privacy Shield, its own Privacy Shield certification, or another European Commission adequacy finding.
XploreGEO’s accountability for personal data that it receives under the Privacy Shield and subsequently transfers to a third party is described in the Privacy Shield Principles. In particular, XploreGEO remains responsible and liable under the Privacy Shield Principles if third-party agents that it engages to process the personal data on its behalf do so in a manner inconsistent with the Principles, unless XploreGEO proves that it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage.
Security
XploreGEO will take reasonable and appropriate precautions to protect personal data in its possession from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, and destruction.
Data Integrity and Purpose Limitation
XploreGEO will use personal data only in ways that are compatible with the purposes for which it was collected or subsequently authorized by the individual. XploreGEO will take reasonable steps to ensure that personal data is relevant to its intended use, accurate, complete, and current.
Access
Upon request, XploreGEO will grant individuals reasonable access to personal data that it holds about them. XploreGEO will take reasonable steps to permit individuals to correct, amend, or delete personal data that is demonstrated to be inaccurate or incomplete. An individual may request access to their data, or otherwise correct, amend, or delete their personal data by contacting us in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form or by making changes to their Account Settings.
Recourse, Enforcement, and Liability
In compliance with the applicable Framework, XploreGEO commits to resolve complaints about privacy and personal data collection or use. EU or Swiss individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding this Policy should first contact us in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form. XploreGEO will investigate and attempt to resolve such complaints by reference to the principles contained in this Policy.
XploreGEO has further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the Privacy Shield Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, the BBB EU PRIVACY SHIELD, operated by BBB National Programs. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed, please visit https://bbbprograms.org/privacy-shield-complaints/ for more information and to file a complaint. This service is provided free of charge to you.
Please note that if your complaint is not resolved through these channels, under limited circumstances, a binding arbitration option may be available before a Privacy Shield Panel.
XploreGEO is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
XploreGEO will conduct compliance audits of its relevant privacy practices to verify adherence to this Policy. Any employee that XploreGEO determines is in violation of this policy may be subject to disciplinary action.
Limitations
XploreGEO may also be required to disclose an individual’s personal data in response to a lawful request by public authorities or in connection with a legal obligation. Adherence by XploreGEO to these Privacy Shield Principles may also be limited to the extent necessary to meet national security, public interest or law enforcement obligations, and to the extent expressly permitted by an applicable law, rule or regulation.
CALIFORNIA PRIVACY NOTICE
The California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) provides California residents with rights to receive certain disclosures regarding the collection, use, and sharing of “Personal Information,” as well as rights to access and control Personal Information. The CCPA defines “Personal Information” to mean “information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.” Certain information we collect may be exempt from the CCPA because it is considered public information (i.e., it is made available by a government entity) or covered by a federal privacy law, such as the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
To the extent that we collect Personal Information that is subject to the CCPA, that information, our practices, and your rights are described below.
Right to Access Information
You have the right to request access to Personal Information collected about you and information regarding the source of that information, the purposes for which we collect it, and the third parties and service providers with whom we share it. To protect our customers’ Personal Information, we are required to verify your identity before we can act on your request.
Right to Request Deletion of Information
You have the right to request in certain circumstances that we delete any Personal Information that we have collected directly from you. To protect our customers’ Personal Information, we are required to verify your identity before we can act on your request. We may have a reason under the law why we do not have to comply with your request, or why we may comply with it in a more limited way than you anticipated. If we do, we will explain that to you in our response.
Right to Opt Out of Sale of Personal Information to Third Parties
You have the right to opt out of any sale of your personal information by XploreGEO to third parties. If you are a California resident, to exercise this right, please visit our “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” page on the XploreGEO.com website or in our mobile application settings. Please note that your right to opt out does not apply to our sharing of personal information with service providers, who are parties we engage to perform a function on our behalf and are contractually obligated to use the personal information only for that function.
Your California Privacy Rights
Residents of the State of California also have the right to request information regarding third parties to whom we have disclosed certain categories of Personal Information during the preceding year for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.
How to Submit a Request
To make a request to opt out of such disclosure, please contact us at the address in the “How to Contact Us” section or by using our web form.
You must include the applicable services as the subject line, and your full name, the email address associated with your XploreGEO account, if applicable, and postal address in your message.
Data We Collect
The following is a description of our data collection practices, including the personal information we collect, the sources of that information, the purposes for which we collect information, and whether we disclose that information to external parties. We may use any and all of the information for any of the purposes described in the Privacy Policy, unless limitations are listed. The categories we use to describe the information are those enumerated in the CCPA.
- Personal Identifiers:
- We collect your name, phone number, email address, and contact address when you complete a transaction on our Shop.XploreGEO.com site.
- If you choose to create an account, we will collect your email address. You will also be asked to create a username, and we will assign one or more unique identifiers to your profile.
- You provide our payment processing service providers or the applicable app store with payment information, which may be your credit card number or a bank account, when you complete a transaction or sign up for a premium membership. With the payment processor or app store, you have the option to store this information in connection with your account or set up a recurring transaction.
- We do not collect your Social Security number, driver’s license number, or passport number.
- We do not collect any medical information or health information about you.
- We collect your IP address automatically when you use our services.
- We collect your device ID automatically when you use our services.
- Protected Classifications: We may collect your age in order to comply with laws that restrict collection and disclosure of personal information belonging to minors. We do not collect your gender, racial or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.
- Commercial Information: When you engage in transactions with us, we create records of goods or services purchased or considered, as well as purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies.
- Biometric Information: We do not collect information about your physiological, biological, or behavioral characteristics.
- Internet or Other Electronic Network Activity Information: We collect information about your browsing history, search history, and information regarding your interaction with websites, applications, or advertisements automatically when you use our services.
- Geolocation Data: As described above, we collect your IP address automatically when you use our services. We may be able to determine your general location based on the IP address. When you use the services for the first time, we ask for your permission to collect your precise geolocation (e.g., your GPS coordinates). If you allow your device to provide us with this information, we use it to provide you with the services and to make improvements to our products and services. Additionally, you have the option to add a Home Location in your private profile information for purposes of seeing events and caches near you. We also store the location of your most recent search to help provide services that are relevant to your location.
- Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information: If you contact us via phone, we may record the call. We will notify you if a call is being recorded at the beginning of the call. We do not collect your image or any thermal, olfactory, or similar information.
- Professional or employment-related information: We do not collect employment-related information from our users except to the extent that they are applying for an open position with us.
- Education information: We do not collect any information about the institutions you have attended or the level of education you have attained.
- Inferences drawn to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences or characteristics: We may analyze your actual or likely preferences through a series of computer processes. On some occasions, we may add our observations to your internal profile.
Data Sharing
We may share any of the above-listed information with service providers, which are external parties that we engage for business purposes. Service providers are prohibited from using Personal Information for any purpose that is not related to our engagement. The categories of service providers with whom we share information and the services they provide are described in the section above called “Sharing of Personal Information”. On certain occasions, our sharing of information with third parties may be considered a “sale”, as the term is defined under California law. Such sharing may be considered a sale because the purpose of sharing is not an enumerated business purpose under California law or because our contract does not prohibit them from using Personal Information for other purposes. To “sell” information means to disclose it to an external party for monetary or other benefit. We sell the following information:
Personal Identifiers. We provide your IP address and Device ID to our advertising partners. We also provide certain XploreGEO information to our Authorized Developers, as provided in our privacy policy, for the purpose of creating XploreGEO applications and websites. This information includes your username, your avatar pictures, images, geocache and trackable logs. You can opt out of sharing your information with Authorized Developers in your account Settings.
Inferences drawn to create a profile about a consumer reflecting the consumer’s preferences or characteristics. Cookies dropped on your browser may collect observations about you that are shared to our advertising partners. You can opt out of advertising cookies using the tools on our site or by visiting Google and using “Ads Settings” to set your preferences. The website http://optout.aboutads.info/ offers a single place to turn off targeted ads serving from any of its members.
NEVADA PRIVACY NOTICE
If you reside in Nevada, our use of your information is governed by Nevada law. This section applies only to Nevada residents.
Personal Information Collected and Purposes of Use
We collect certain personal information of Nevada consumers as identified in the section above called: “Categories of Personal Information”. We collect this personal information for the purposes identified in the section above called “Use of Personal Information”.
Facebook Disclaimer
This website is not part of the Facebook website or Facebook Inc. Additionally, this site is not endorsed by Facebook in any way. Facebook is a trademark of Facebook, Inc.
Google Disclaimer
We use Google re-marketing pixels/cookies on this site to re-communicate with people who visit our site and ensure that we are able to reach them in the future with relevant messages and information. Google shows our ads across third party sites across the internet to help communicate our message and reach the right people who have shown interest in our information in the past.
Your Privacy Rights
You have the right to access and correct your personal information or opt-out of the sale of personal information. If you would like to review, correct, or update your personal information, you or your authorized representative may submit your request via email. We will respond to your verified request as soon as reasonably practicable, but no later than sixty (60) days after receipt.
If circumstances cause any delay in our response, you will be promptly notified and provided a date for our response.
We generally do not disclose or share personal information for profit. Under Nevada law, you have the right to direct us to not sell or license your personal information to third parties. To exercise this right, if applicable, you or your authorized representative may submit a request via email. We will respond to your verified request as soon as reasonably practicable, but no later than sixty (60) days after receipt. If circumstances cause any delay in our response, you will be promptly notified and provided a date for our response.
HOW TO CONTACT US
If you have any privacy questions, the best and fastest way to contact us is through our Help Center form. You may also contact us by any of the means provided on our contact page, including writing to us at: XploreGEO HQ, 1838 Dressage Ct, Wellington FL 33414. For specific requests to remove or change your profile information on Shop XploreGEO (shop.XploreGEO.com), please email Shop XploreGEO directly.
We will to respond to all legitimate requests within one month and will contact you if we need additional information from you in order to honor your request, e.g. we may request you to provide us with information necessary to confirm your identity.
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XploreGEO Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
