Data Management and Privacy Policy

We are NatureMapr (naturemapr.org and #PROJECTURL#). Use of this web site is subject to the following Privacy Policy. We reserve the right to regularly modify this Privacy Policy and we ask that you read and review it in full.

Intellectual property licence

NatureMapr administers intellectual property in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence and any successors, subject to the following provisions.

Ownership of user-submitted records

The original contributor is the owner of all records submitted. Subject to the following provisions, the contributor agrees that the factual data they submit to NatureMapr will be treated as being in the public domain and will be made available to all users of NatureMapr in accordance with the prevailing Creative Commons Licence.

Copyright and ownership of uploaded images

All images or sound recordings uploaded to NatureMapr remain the intellectual property of the original author. NatureMapr will act as custodian of that material, ensuring its integrity and security and managing any further distribution in accordance with this Policy, but does not inherit ownership of such material. NatureMapr will not modify or distribute your material further without your permission, except as specified below.

All images uploaded to NatureMapr may be provided to State and/or Federal Government as well as the CSIRO Atlas of Living Australia (ALA). They will remain credited to the original author.

Disclosure of location information

Designated sensitive species

NatureMapr is committed to fully suppressing location data for designated sensitive species and will NOT display the detailed location of any records you report using our service to the general public unless they are deemed as a non sensitive species.

We will display the supplied images of your sightings and which particular Nature Park your sighting was reported within, E.g. Mount Majura, however we will not make the specific Latitude/Longitude location data publicly available. This is to protect sensitive species locations from potential poachers, theft and/or damage.

Other species

NatureMapr will display full location information of all species other than designated sensitive species.

Suppression of location information on private property

NatureMapr allows you to choose to suppress the location of any of your own records, including non sensitive species if the record was recorded on private property or a location that you do not wish to disclose to the public.

EXIF GPS location information

Modern cameras as well as smart phones contain GPS sensors which automatically embed EXIF location information of any photographs that the device records. We rely on this information being present in any images you upload to our service, however after we have processed your reported sighting and securely extracted the location information, we deliberately remove all EXIF GPS location information from all images that we display on our web site service.

Disclosure to government

We may periodically provide a secure feed of all sighting information to State and/or Federal Government under a data usage agreement.

This will include any records that you report using this service. Government may use this information to assist with biological surveys, retain important species records, ensure critically endangered specimens are adequately protected and to help inform important development decisions which may potentially threaten particular species of flora or fauna.

Data is currently or may be disclosed to:

  • CSIRO Atlas of Living Australia
  • Commonwealth Biodiversity Data Repository
  • ACT Government Wildlife Atlas
  • NSW BioNet
  • QLD WildNet
  • Multiple Local Government / Councils

Disclosure to approved ecological consultants

We may periodically provide a secure feed of all sighting information to approved ecological consultants under a data usage agreeent.

This will include any records that you report using this service. Approved ecological consultants may use this information to assist with biological surveys, retain important species records, ensure critically endangered specimens are adequately protected and to help inform important development decisions which may potentially threaten particular species of flora or fauna.

Training of AI / machine learning model(s)

NatureMapr utilises machine learning ("AI") for the purposes of automated identification of upload records. Images and/or meta data that you upload to NatureMapr may be used by NatureMapr as input to help train NatureMapr's machine learning model(s).

You can rest assured that NatureMapr will not provide access to its machine learning models to third parties or external organisations.


Privacy and responsible use of information

NatureMapr is committed to ensuring the privacy of your information. We understand the importance placed on privacy of personal information. The following addresses relevant privacy issues for the use of this web-site including how we use, manage and protect your personal information.

Unless otherwise advised, you acknowledge and consent to the use or disclosure of any personal information you provide to us, in circumstances that are:

  • Set out in this Privacy Policy;
  • Clearly explained at the time when the information is collected from you;
  • Permitted under the Australian privacy legislation.

Collection of Information

We will collect personal information from you when you knowingly provide it to us. For example, when you register on our website to report a sighting, or subscribe to our email alerts, or participate in a discussion, we will request personal information from you such as your name and address and your e-mail address.

When you provide information

Use of Personal Information

The personal information that we collect from you may be used for reasonable purposes in that we may store and process the information to provide you with the service you have requested, to enable us to develop and customise our service to better meet your needs and preferences, and to offer you a better overall experience from using our service.

Your information may also be used for the following purposes:

  • Promotional and marketing purposes, including to inform you of sightings that you've "followed" or subscribed to, events and notices, unless otherwise advised by you. It will always be your decision as to whether you wish us to provide this service to you;
  • Statistical purposes, including general analysis of sighting and sign up data;
  • Any other user account support purposes that we need to administer your account.

For any of the above, we may contact you by electronic or other means.

You can choose not to provide certain personal information, but then you may be precluded from taking advantage of our services or receiving special alerts.

Your contact information such as Name and Email address may be provided to the State and/or Federal Government and/or the CSIRO.

Disclosure to third parties

We may release information about you where there is a duty to the public to disclose that information, or where we are required by law. However, we will not sell or disclose your information to any individual or entity outside NatureMapr.

Email address

It is our policy to only email users who give us permission to do so. If we send you an email for any purpose, we will give you the option of not receiving further communications of this nature.

If you have registered your personal email address with us, we may use your e-mail address to advise you of any upgrades or changes to the web-site and to email you information about our services including any special events, notices or alerts.

You can instantly unsubscribe from any future email alerts at any time by clicking the "Unsubscribe" link at the bottom of our notification emails.

Access to your information

You can access and request correction of any personal information concerning you at any time. You may also request that we delete your personal information at any time. Any such requests should be made by contacting us at the details set out below.

Clickstream data

Each time you visit our website our server collects some anonymous information, known as click-stream data, including the type of browser and system you are using; the address of the site you have come from and move to after your visit; the date and time of your visit; and your server's IP address.

We may collect this information for statistical purposes to find out how our website is used and navigated, including the number of hits, the frequency and duration of visits, most popular session times. We may use this information to evaluate and improve our web site performance.

Cookies

A Cookie is a piece of information that our web server may send to your machine when you visit our website. The Cookie is stored on your machine, but does not identify you or give us any information about your computer.

A Cookie helps us to recognise you when you re-visit our website and to co-ordinate your access to different pages on the website. With most Internet Browsers, you can erase Cookies from your computer hard drive, block all Cookies, or receive a warning before a Cookie is stored.

Contact us

It you wish to discuss any privacy issues or do not wish to receive any future communications from us, please contact us at the details below:

CONTACT:
Aaron Clausen

ADDRESS:
490 Northbourve Avenue
WOTSO Building
Suite 4, Level 4
Dickson ACT 2602

Telephone: 0413 125 719
Web: www.naturemapr.org

1,899,157 sightings of 21,121 species in 9,325 locations from 12,963 contributors
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