Last updated: September 6, 2026
TL;DR: For not logged in visitors, we do not use cookies and we do not collect any personal data. If you decide to log in, we store the bare minimum and do not share it with third party companies or services.
In this policy, we lay out what data we collect and why, how your data is handled and your rights to your data.
All of the data that we collect is kept fully secured and hosted in Germany. The server is owned by Hetzner, a European company. This ensures that all of the site data is being covered by the European Union’s strict laws on data privacy. Your site data never leaves the EU.
When you are browsing maps, the background maps get loaded from external providers, such as opentopomap.org, stadiamaps.com, arcgisonline.com, openstreetmap.org, openfreemap.org, versatiles.org, basemap.de, cyclosm.org, mapterhorn.com, protomaps.com and indoorequal.org. Those providers have their own policies which can get accessed via the info link in the lower right corner of the map.
Some features of the map send a request from your browser to another service. Your browser then tells that service your IP address and what you asked for. This happens only when you use the feature:
At your first visit, the server centers the map on your region. To find the region, the server looks up your IP address in a local copy of the MaxMind GeoLite2 database. The lookup happens on our server. Mapforge does not send your IP address to MaxMind, and does not store it. When you create a map, Mapforge stores the region on that map, rounded to about 11 kilometers. The preview image of the map uses that region. As soon as the map has content, the preview uses the content instead.
Mapforge can be run with Umami for anonymous page statistics. Umami sets no cookie and collects no personal data. The operator of the site decides whether to enable it.
We only collect what we need and will solely process this information to provide you with the Mapforge service.
Here’s what that means in practice. When you log in via one of the supported login providers (Github, Google, OpenStreetMap), we store:
A persistent first-party cookie is stored to remember you’re logged in.
The geojson and image data you upload or create on Mapforge is not available to other users by default. You can decide to share your map by link, or to publish it on mapforge.org to make it available to others.
Users are responsible for any data they share through Mapforge and confirm that they have the permission to share it.
You can export all your map data in GeoJSON format.
We will retain your information as long as your account is active.
You can choose to delete your Mapforge account at any time by sending a mail to mapforge@mapforge.org. All your data will be permanently deleted within 7 days when you decide to delete your account.
Please see the privacy policies and terms of service of used services here:
If you log in, the privacy policy of your login provider applies to that step:
See our Terms of Service for the license and the terms of each of these services.