Privacy and terms
The short version
MapDraft has no accounts and no ads, and it uses only simple, anonymous visit statistics. Your maps stay in your browser. A few outside services are contacted so that search and map pictures work, and they are listed below.
What stays on your device
- Your maps. Shapes, pins, names and settings are saved in your browser's local storage. They are not uploaded to MapDraft. If you clear your browser data or switch browsers or devices, they are gone.
- Your preferences, such as units, map style and whether tips are shown, are saved the same way.
- Your location. If you press the location button, your browser asks for permission. The position is used on your device to move the map and show a dot. MapDraft does not store it or send it anywhere. Map pictures for that area are then requested from the map providers below, as they would be for any other area.
What is sent to other services
- Place search. The text you type and the current map position are sent to the Photon geocoding service run by Komoot (photon.komoot.io) to find matching places. Imported CSV address lists are sent there too, one address at a time.
- Map pictures. Your browser requests map tiles from OpenFreeMap (street and light maps), Esri (satellite, terrain and dark-grey maps), OpenTopoMap (topographic maps), CyclOSM (cycling maps) and OpenStreetMap (standard map), depending on the map style you pick. These services can see your IP address and which area you are viewing.
- Elevation and terrain. If you use Elevation profile or Terrain shading, your browser downloads public terrain images from Amazon S3 (elevation-tiles-prod). These requests show the area you are viewing but not your drawings.
- Route planner. If you use the route tool, the coordinates of the points you click are sent to the free routing service run by OpenStreetMap Germany (routing.openstreetmap.de) to work out a route along roads or paths. Only the route points are sent, never your other drawings.
- Feedback form. If you send feedback, the message and the optional email address you type are sent through the FormSubmit service (formsubmit.co) to MapDraft's inbox at hello@mapdraft.app, together with the page address and your browser type. Your map is not included.
- AI helper links. If you press "Open in ChatGPT", "Open in Claude" or "Copy for Gemini", a prompt describing your area is copied or sent to that service, and their own terms and privacy policies apply. This only happens when you press the button.
- Visit statistics. MapDraft uses Umami Cloud (cloud.umami.is), a privacy-focused analytics service, to count visits and see which pages are used. It does not use cookies and does not track you across other sites. It receives the page address (without anything after the # sign, so the contents of share links are not sent), the referring site, and basic details such as browser, operating system, device type, screen size and approximate country. Your drawings, searches and location are not sent to it.
- Hosting. The company that hosts mapdraft.app can see ordinary web server logs, such as IP addresses and the pages requested.
Share links
When you share a map, the whole map is packed into the link itself. It is not stored on a MapDraft server, and the part of the link after the # is not sent to the web server when someone opens it. Anyone who has the link can see everything in the map and can make their own copy. Treat a share link like a file you have emailed: do not share maps that contain information you want to keep private. Apps where you paste a link, such as chat or email, may read it.
Cookies
MapDraft does not set cookies, and its visit statistics service works without them.
Terms of use
- MapDraft is a free beta, provided as it is, without promises about availability or that it will be free in future. Features may change or be removed.
- Your maps live in your browser and can be lost. Export important maps (Settings, Export) to keep a copy.
- Areas, lengths and distances are estimates for planning and discussion. They are not survey-grade. Do not rely on them for legal boundaries, construction, navigation or safety decisions.
- Map data is © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence. Street and light maps are provided by OpenFreeMap and OpenMapTiles. Satellite, terrain and dark-grey maps are provided by Esri and its data providers; topographic maps by OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA); cycling maps by CyclOSM. Place search is provided by Photon (Komoot). Please keep the attribution shown on the map.
- Please do not use MapDraft to break the law, to overload it or the services it uses, or to collect data from it in bulk.
- To the extent the law allows, MapDraft is not liable for losses caused by using or being unable to use the beta.
Contact
Questions, bug reports or requests: hello@mapdraft.app.