Last Updated: October 10, 2026
This Privacy Policy explains how ChalkMap (hereinafter referred to as the "App") collects, uses, stores, and protects personal information. This policy is designed to align with international privacy standards including GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), and general global best practices.
We may collect the following types of information:
Information is used to:
We process personal data based on user consent, performance of a contract (providing the App), compliance with legal obligations, and legitimate interests such as improving platform security. Sending your photos and text to an AI service for the Automatic content check (Section 15) is based only on your explicit consent, which you give in the App and can withdraw at any time.
We may share data with trusted third-party service providers including hosting providers, analytics services, payment processors, and email service providers. To keep the community safe and improve the App, we also send your photos and text to Ollama Inc., an AI service provider, to be checked against our content rules, but only if you give your consent (see Section 15). To translate text you write between English and Japanese, we send that text to DeepL SE, a translation service provider in Germany (see Section 16). We do not sell personal data.
Your data may be stored and processed in countries outside your country of residence. We take reasonable safeguards to protect data during international transfers. Content sent for the Automatic content check (Section 15) is processed by Ollama Inc. mainly in the United States, and may also be processed in Europe or Singapore. We send it only with your consent. Text sent for automatic translation (Section 16) is processed by DeepL SE in Germany. Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission has designated the European Union as having a personal data protection system equivalent to Japan's.
We retain personal data only as long as necessary to provide the App and fulfill legal obligations. Users may request deletion of their data.
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to:
We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures to protect personal data from unauthorized access, loss, or misuse.
The App is not intended for children under the age of 13 (or the minimum age required by local law). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Continued use of the App after updates indicates acceptance of the revised policy. Continued use is never treated as your consent to the Automatic content check in Section 15, which applies only if you agree in the App.
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights, please contact the App team through the official website or support email.
ChalkMap allows users to submit precise geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude) for climbing areas, boulders, and parking locations.
User-submitted public content, including geographic coordinates, may remain available within the App as part of the community-driven database even if the original contributor deletes their account. Personal identifiers may be removed or anonymized upon account deletion.
ChalkMap uses an AI model to check photos and text against our content rules, to keep the community safe and improve the App. In the App, this is called "Automatic content check". The check is run by Ollama Inc. (ollama.com), a third-party AI service. Your photos and text are sent to Ollama Inc. only after you agree in the App.
What is sent, and when:
The check looks for content that breaks our content rules, for example visible people or faces, readable vehicle number plates, sexual or graphically violent content, illegal content, route lines already drawn on a boulder photo, spam or advertising, and hateful text.
Photo metadata: before a photo is sent to the AI service, its metadata, including GPS location data, is removed on our server, so the AI service does not receive the location stored in the original file. The App also removes this metadata when it uploads a photo.
Result: the check returns pass or reject with a short reason, which we keep with your submission. If the check cannot be completed, the submission waits for a person to review it.
How Ollama handles your content: Ollama Inc. processes the content to return the result. Ollama's Privacy Policy (ollama.com/privacy) states that this content is not stored beyond the time required to fulfill the request, and that Ollama does not use inputs or outputs to train AI models. Processing takes place mainly in the United States and may also take place in Europe or Singapore.
Your consent: we ask for your consent once in the App, before anything is sent. By agreeing, you consent to your photos and text being sent to Ollama Inc. and processed in the countries named above. If you do not agree, nothing is sent to the AI service. You can still add and use private crags, boulders, problems, parking spots, and photos, but you cannot publish them from the current version of the App, and you cannot change your profile photo. If content is submitted for publishing without your agreement (for example, from an older version of the App), it is not sent to the AI service and may instead be reviewed by a person at ChalkMap. No AI is involved in that review. If you agree later, the Automatic content check runs.
Withdrawing your consent: you can withdraw at any time in the App. Open Profile, then Edit profile, then Privacy, and turn off "Automatic content check". After you turn it off, nothing new is sent to the AI service. Content that was already checked is not affected. Items that were still waiting for a check stay on hold until you agree again, although a person at ChalkMap may review them instead. We keep a record of when you agreed and when you withdrew. You can also contact us as described in Section 12.
ChalkMap automatically translates some of the text you write between English and Japanese, so that other climbers can read it in their own language. The translation is done by DeepL SE (deepl.com), a translation service provider in Cologne, Germany. The translated text is saved with your content.
What is sent, and when: after you save the following text, the App sends it to DeepL to get the translation into the other language. After a crag, boulder, or problem is approved, our server may also send its description to DeepL if the other language is still missing.
Only the text and its language are sent to DeepL, not your name, email address, or other account details.
How DeepL handles the text: we use DeepL's free API plan. Under DeepL's terms for that plan (deepl.com/en/pro-license), DeepL may store the text it receives. DeepL's Privacy Policy (deepl.com/en/privacy) explains how DeepL uses text submitted to its free services. Please do not enter personal information, such as names, phone numbers, or email addresses, in these fields.
Automatic translation is separate from the Automatic content check in Section 15. Turning off the Automatic content check does not stop automatic translation.