Privacy Policy
World Explorer uses account, multiplayer, contribution, support-plan, and location-linked service data to run the platform. This page explains what is collected, how it is used, and where open data providers may be involved.
Data We Store
- Firebase Authentication identity (UID, email, provider metadata).
- Account and support-plan state in Firestore, including plan tier, entitlement flags, and related account settings.
- Stripe customer and subscription identifiers when recurring support is enabled.
- Multiplayer and social data such as room membership, friends, invites, recent players, presence windows, and room chat content.
- Contribution/editor submissions, moderation status, and related review notes for staged world edits.
- Optional user-created world content such as memories, shared room state, or similar saved exploration data where those systems are active.
- Basic service and abuse-prevention signals needed to keep the platform reliable and safe.
Optional Product Analytics
Page visits are measured across the website before the 3D world loads, alongside Play clicks and loading milestones. Page addresses exclude query strings and fragments, and referring addresses are reduced to their site origin. You can also change standard or limited analytics using the control at the bottom of website pages.
World Explorer uses Google Analytics for Firebase to measure aggregated product use such as world-session starts and duration, onboarding steps, mission and leaderboard outcomes, room create/join/leave outcomes, travel-mode changes, and discovery actions. The product analytics event contract excludes exact GPS coordinates, room codes, player names, email addresses, chat messages, artifact text, and other free-form text.
Standard product analytics is on by default and uses first-party analytics storage so visits, returning sessions, and game use can be counted reliably. Choosing Use limited analytics removes World Explorer's first-party analytics cookies and changes Firebase to limited cookieless measurement. A World Explorer account identifier is added only after a signed-in player explicitly chooses Keep standard analytics. Advertising storage, advertising user data, and ad personalization remain denied. You can change this choice from Data & Licenses → Analytics preference in the game.
Billing Data
Payments and recurring support are processed by Stripe. Card details are handled by Stripe and are not stored by World Explorer servers.
Location and Live Earth Requests
When you search places, use Live Earth layers, or load local weather and environmental context, your browser may request data from open providers such as OpenStreetMap/Nominatim, MET Norway, PacIOOS, HYCOM/FNMOC, USGS, and CelesTrak. Weather, ocean-model, and place-search requests pass through our server cache; those upstream providers receive the selected coordinates and server request metadata, not your browser IP address. Providers contacted directly, such as USGS and CelesTrak, may receive your browser IP address and standard request metadata under their own terms. World Explorer uses those results to render the place you chose; it does not treat that as background location tracking of your real-world device position unless you intentionally use a locate feature.
How We Use Data
- Authenticate users and keep sessions active.
- Provide optional recurring support and billing portal access.
- Operate multiplayer rooms, shared social features, and contributor moderation workflows.
- Render location-aware weather, local-world context, and Live Earth experiences for the places you choose.
- Operate and improve service reliability.
- Measure aggregated engagement and retention with standard first-party analytics unless the player chooses limited cookieless analytics.
- Moderate abuse and enforce safety policies across chat, contributions, and shared platform features.
Data Sharing
Data is shared only with the service providers needed to operate World Explorer, such as Firebase, Stripe, and the open data services requested by the features you use, or where legally required.
Data Retention
Account and support-plan records are retained while your account remains active. Multiplayer data uses automatic expiration for short-lived records such as presence and invite windows. Contribution submissions and moderation records may be retained longer so review decisions and approved public world changes remain understandable. You may request account deletion or privacy review by contacting support.
Children's Privacy and Safety
Where required by law, child users should access the service only with parent or guardian permission. We apply safety controls to multiplayer chat, including anti-spam and contact-sharing restrictions, to reduce risk in child-accessible environments.
Contact
For privacy requests, email mail@worldexplorer3d.io.