Draft, as of November 2026. Please have it checked legally before the public launch. The German version is the authoritative text.
Kevin Finkler (KeeForm), email: kontakt@wildpulsemap.com. See also the legal notice.
The map shows animal sightings from public sources (iNaturalist, GBIF) and sightings that users enter here. Submitted sightings are publicly visible, with species, exact location, observation date and note. They do not show who submitted them.
When you open the site, our server processes your IP address and browser details (access log) as technically necessary to deliver the page and to prevent abuse. The data is not merged or used for advertising.
The map tiles and names come from OpenFreeMap, the satellite images (only if you switch on “Satellite”) from Esri. The respective provider learns your IP address.
The search for places goes through our server to the Photon service (Komoot, OpenStreetMap data). Only the search text is sent, not your IP address. If you open the Wikipedia article of a species in our window, your browser loads the page directly from Wikipedia (Wikimedia Foundation), which then learns your IP address. Nothing is loaded from there beforehand. When you open a sighting we show a freely licensed example photo of the species, if one exists. It is loaded directly from Wikimedia Commons, which then also learns your IP address.
When you submit as a guest, we store the sighting and a random device code (as a hash) so that the number of submissions per device can be limited and you can later assign the sightings to an account. A cookie ww_geraet (1 year) remembers this code. To protect against abuse a captcha (Cloudflare Turnstile) may be used, in which case your IP address is sent to Cloudflare. Guest sightings cannot be changed or deleted; write to us if one should be removed.
You only need an account to be able to delete your own sightings later. There are no passwords. You sign in with a link we send you by email. We store your email address and your sightings. You set a display name yourself in your profile only: it is shown publicly with your sightings and can be changed or removed at any time. Without a display name you appear as “Wildpulse user”. In your profile you may enter your first and last name; both are optional, never public, and can be changed or removed at any time. After sign-in a session cookie ww_sitzung (30 days) remembers you in the browser. Both cookies are technically necessary; there are no advertising or analytics cookies.
Sign-in emails are sent by the service Brevo (Sendinblue SAS, France). It receives your email address and the content of the email for this.
Deleting: With “Delete account” in your profile you remove your account, email address, first and last name, sign-in links and sessions immediately and irrevocably. Your display name disappears. Your previous sightings stay on the map but are detached from you and can no longer be linked to you. If you want to remove them first, delete them one by one in the sighting.
If you upload your own photos with “Import many photos”, we store each photo resized and without capture data (location and device data are read first and then removed). We keep location, capture time and the animal recognition suggestions until you confirm the photo and it becomes a sighting, or you discard it. Photos you do not confirm are deleted automatically after 14 days. Until then only your account can see them. Animal recognition runs on our own server; the photos go to no third party.
If you wish, you can set your home on the map during import. We store this point only in your account, show it nowhere and use it solely to add photos within 300 m only to about 1 km accuracy. You can remove it at any time; it is deleted with your account.
For a wildlife guide we store with your account the place (name, location, area), the logo, photos and texts you upload, and the subscription status. The page is public. We count page views without cookies or IP addresses, only as a daily number.
Payment is handled by Stripe (Stripe Payments Europe Ltd., Ireland). Stripe receives your email address, payment and billing details and also processes them as its own controller (Stripe privacy policy). We do not store card or bank details, only the Stripe customer and subscription IDs. We keep invoice data as long as commercial and tax law require (up to 10 years). Legal basis: performance of contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and legal retention duties (Art. 6(1)(c)).
Sightings you submit also appear in wildlife guides (pages of lodges, clubs and nature reserves), with species, place, time, photo and display name. Free text is not shown there. This is the default and is set out in the terms of use. You can switch it off at any time in your profile under "Show in wildlife guides"; this applies to all sightings you submit afterwards. On request by email we remove earlier sightings from the wildlife guides. We store your choice in your account, or without an account only on your device (the browser's local storage).
Operating the site and preventing abuse: legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). Account and sightings: performance of a contract or your consent (Art. 6(1)(b), (a)). Showing sightings in wildlife guides: terms of use (b) and legitimate interest (f); you can switch it off at any time. Accounts and sightings are kept until you delete them. Expired sign-in links and sessions are removed automatically.
You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, data portability and objection, and the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. Write to us at the address in the legal notice.