Legal — Landscape Guessr

Privacy Policy

Landscape Guessr is a student project built for CS-397 at Northwestern University. We take your privacy seriously and want to be transparent about what data we collect and how it is used.

What we collect

Account information: your username and email address when you register.
Game data: your guesses, scores, and game history so you can review your progress.
Session data: your IP address and browser user agent when you sign in, used to manage your login session.
Uploaded images: if you upload photos to a custom image set, those files are stored on Amazon S3.

What we do not do

We do not sell or share your personal data with third parties.
We do not use your data for advertising.
We do not track you across other websites.

Data retention

Your data is retained for as long as your account exists. To request deletion of your account and associated data, contact the team via the GitHub repository linked in the footer. We will process your request within 30 days.

Third-party services

We use the following third-party services which may process data in connection with your use of the app:

MapTiler — provides map tiles. Your map interactions may be subject to MapTiler's privacy policy.
Amazon S3 — stores uploaded images. Subject to AWS's privacy policy.
Heroku — hosts the application. Subject to Heroku's privacy policy.
Google Gemini — optional AI visual hints in practice mode. When the feature is enabled and you request a visual hint (or when administrators pre-generate hints), the landscape photo may be sent to Google’s Gemini API for analysis. Subject to Google's privacy policy and terms of service.

Terms of Service

By using Landscape Guessr you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

Use of the service

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account.
You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials.
You may not use the service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of any applicable laws.
You may not attempt to disrupt, overload, or gain unauthorized access to the service or its infrastructure.
You may not upload content that is illegal, offensive, or infringes the intellectual property rights of others.

User-generated content

By uploading images to Landscape Guessr you confirm that you have the right to share that content and grant us a non-exclusive license to store and display it within the application.

Account termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms, at our sole discretion and without notice.

Disclaimer of warranties

Landscape Guessr is provided “as is” without warranties of any kind. We do not guarantee uninterrupted access, accuracy of content, or fitness for any particular purpose. Use the service at your own risk.

Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Landscape Guessr team shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the service.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Continued use of the service after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised terms.

Cookie Notice

Landscape Guessr uses a single session cookie (session_id) to keep you logged in between page visits. This cookie is:

Essential — the service cannot function without it while you are signed in.
HttpOnly — it cannot be read by JavaScript, reducing the risk of theft.
SameSite: Lax — it is not sent on cross-site requests, reducing CSRF risk.
Not used for tracking or advertising — it exists solely to identify your session.

Signing out clears this cookie immediately. If you do not sign in, no cookie is set.

Content Attribution

Landscape photographs used in the default image set are sourced from Wikimedia Commons under public domain or Creative Commons licenses. Map tiles are © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.