Privacy

Visit counting

We count visits with our own first-party counter, without cookies, to understand page visits, which sections of a page are seen and how the map’s Add my location button is used. Each event records the page, a section or button identifier, the time, a random identifier for that page load, and a coarse browser category, such as “desktop Chrome”, that our server works out from the request. We do not keep raw user-agent strings, IP addresses, or screen, language or time-zone details. If you follow a link from another site, we keep only that site’s domain name, never the full address.

Approximate daily visitor counts use a keyed pseudonym made from your connection’s address and browser category. The key is held only in the server’s memory, and a new one is used for each Eastern-time day, so pseudonyms from different days cannot be matched. These counts are estimates, not identified people. Our server also guesses from the request which visits are likely automated; that guess is not exact.

If your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, the page sends nothing, and our server discards any event that arrives with either signal.

Minimal events are kept for 7 days and daily totals for 30 days. Then they are deleted.

Add my location

Add my location asks your browser for permission only after you click it, and only on a secure (https) connection. Your coordinates are used in your browser to place a pin on your own map. They are not sent to our counter or to any server, and ZDG does not store them. If the fix is very approximate, you can tap the map to set the point by hand; that point is kept only in your browser on this device. When you allow location once, this browser can remember the opt-in on this device and show the pin again on later visits without asking every time. Hide my location clears that memory and the pin. When counting is allowed, we record at most once a day that the button was used and whether finding your location succeeded, was refused, was unavailable or timed out, and whether the point came from the device or from a tap on the map. Giving location permission does not turn counting on.

What the map loads

The map loads everything from this site: map tiles, radar images, fonts and scripts. It contacts no other service.

Security logs

Separate security logging may process connection information to protect the service.