Privacy, terms, cookies and credits
1. Privacy policy
WayMark is a walking log for the hills of Britain and Ireland. This policy explains what information it handles, where that information goes, and what you can do about it. The short version: everything lives on your own device unless you sign in; there are no adverts, no analytics and no tracking; and the only people who ever see your log are the friends you choose.
1.1 Who is responsible
Joe Sullivan, an individual in the UK, is the data controller for information processed through WayMark. The app is free; the WayMark shop is run by Joe Sullivan as a sole trader.
Buying from the shop: when you place an order, your name, email and delivery address go to Stripe (payment) and Inkthreadable (printing and delivery). The shop terms explain this in full, along with delivery, returns and refunds.
1.2 Using WayMark without signing in
Nothing you enter leaves your device. Your marked hills, dates, notes, photos, journal entries and routes are stored in your browser's local storage on the device you are using. Nobody, including Joe, can see them. If you clear your browser data they are gone, which is why Settings offers a text backup.
1.3 If you sign in with Google
Signing in is optional. It lets your log follow you between devices and lets you share with friends. When you sign in:
- Google tells WayMark your Google account's user ID, display name and profile picture. Google's own privacy policy governs the sign-in itself.
- Your log (hills, dates, notes, photos, journal, routes, settings) is copied to a database run by Google (Firebase / Cloud Firestore) under a record only your account can read. Google may store and process it on servers outside the UK; Google commits to the UK and EU standard contractual clauses for those transfers.
- A public card with your chosen display name, picture, handle and total number of hills is created so friends can find you. Nothing else is public.
1.4 What friends and leaderboards can see
- Friends see your name, picture, handle and totals, and any journal entry you deliberately post to them, including its photos.
- Leaderboards show your name, picture and number of hills to the other members of that board. If you switch on "Share my dates, notes and photos" for a board, members of that board can also open those. You can switch this off at any time. The "WayMark board" is open to everyone using the app; only join it if you are happy for any WayMark user to see what you have chosen to share.
- Photos of other people: only share pictures of people who are happy to be shared.
1.5 Requests the app makes to other services
To draw maps, find places and forecast weather, WayMark asks other services for data. Each request necessarily carries your IP address and the part of the map you are looking at (or the hill or place you searched for). None of these services receive your name, your log or your account details.
| Service | Used for | Provider |
|---|---|---|
| OS Vector Tile API | Ordnance Survey map tiles and map fonts | Ordnance Survey (UK) |
| OpenTopoMap | Map tiles when OS is unavailable or outside Great Britain | OpenTopoMap (Germany) |
| Overpass API | Car parks, pubs, toilets and other places near the map | OpenStreetMap community servers (Germany) |
| Photon | Searching for places; naming the area a forecast is for | komoot (Germany) |
| Open-Meteo | Weather forecasts for the map area | Open-Meteo (Switzerland) |
| BRouter | Snapping a plotted route to paths | BRouter (community, Germany) |
| Wikipedia | A summary and photograph of a hill | Wikimedia Foundation (USA) |
| Google Fonts, gstatic | The interface typeface; the Firebase library | Google (USA) |
| Firebase | Sign-in and cloud storage, only if you sign in | Google (USA) |
| Strava | Bringing your own Strava walks into your journal, only if you connect it | Strava (USA) |
Strava. Connecting Strava is optional and off unless you turn it on. You sign in on Strava’s own page, so WayMark never sees your Strava password; you are asked there for permission to read your activities, including private ones, and you can refuse or change your mind at any time. Bringing in a walk copies that walk’s name, distance, time, climb and route into your own journal, on your device and in your own cloud record. It stays private: a walk from Strava is yours alone, and only the summits you choose to mark, your own words and your own photographs can ever go to the feed. Disconnecting is in Settings. WayMark is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Strava.
1.6 Location
WayMark only asks for your location when you tap "I am here — verify with GPS" on a hill. It uses the fix once, to check you are near the summit, and records the time, the distance from the summit and the accuracy of the fix. It does not record or store your coordinates and never reads your location in the background.
1.7 What WayMark does not do
No analytics, no advertising, no tracking pixels, no third-party cookies set by WayMark, no selling of data, no sharing beyond what an order you place needs, no profiling, no email marketing.
1.8 How long data is kept
On your device: until you delete it or clear your browser. In the cloud: until you delete it. A walk brought in from Strava stays in your journal until you delete that entry, disconnect Strava in Settings, or delete your account. Settings → Account has a "Delete my account and cloud data" button which removes your log, your public card, your friendships, your leaderboard rows, your posts and your sign-in from Google's servers. Copies of photos attached to posts you shared, and reactions or comments other people left on them, may take a little longer to disappear.
1.9 Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask to see the personal data held about you, have it corrected or deleted, object to or restrict its processing, and receive a copy in a portable form (Settings → Backup gives you this instantly). You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
1.10 Legal basis
Storing and syncing your log is necessary to provide the service you asked for (performance of a contract). Sharing with friends and leaderboards happens only with your consent, which you can withdraw in the app. The requests to map and weather services are made in the legitimate interest of drawing the map you asked to see.
1.11 Children
WayMark is not intended for children under 13, and Google does not allow under-13s to hold their own accounts. If you are under 18, ask a parent or guardian before signing in or sharing with friends.
1.12 Changes
If this policy changes in a way that matters, the date at the top will change and the app will say so.
2. Terms of use
By using WayMark you agree to these terms. They are written in plain English on purpose.
2.1 What WayMark is
A free, personal, non-commercial project for logging hills, planning walks and sharing with friends. It is offered as it is, may change or stop at any time, and comes with no guarantee of availability or accuracy.
2.2 The hills are dangerous; you are responsible
WayMark is not a safety tool. Weather shown in the app comes from a computer model and the figure for "wind at the top" is an estimate for a pressure level, not a measurement on the summit. Routes are drawn over OpenStreetMap data and may follow paths that do not exist on the ground, are unsafe in the conditions, or are not public rights of way. Places such as car parks and pubs are community-contributed and may be wrong or out of date.
You are responsible for your own safety and for checking access rights. Carry a map and compass and know how to use them, check a hill forecast (for example the Met Office or MWIS) before you set off, and turn back when conditions say so. Nothing in WayMark replaces your own judgement.
2.3 Your content
Everything you put into WayMark (marks, notes, photos, journal entries, routes) stays yours. By sharing something with friends or a leaderboard you give WayMark permission to store it and show it to the people you chose, and nothing more. Only share photos of people who are happy to be shared, and only upload content you have the right to upload.
2.4 Acceptable use
Do not use WayMark to harass anyone, to post anything unlawful, or to try to see data that is not yours. Joe may remove content or close an account that breaks these terms. If something posted to you is upsetting, block or unfriend the person.
2.5 Accounts
Sign-in is through Google and subject to Google's terms. You can delete your account and all cloud data yourself at any time in Settings.
2.6 Liability
WayMark is provided free of charge and without warranty. To the fullest extent the law allows, Joe is not liable for any loss or damage arising from your use of WayMark or from reliance on anything shown in it, including but not limited to weather, routes, paths, places and heights. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited, and nothing affects your statutory rights as a consumer.
2.7 Third-party data
Maps and data from Ordnance Survey, OpenStreetMap, Open-Meteo, Wikipedia and others are used under their own licences, listed under Credits below. Your use of that data is subject to those licences.
2.8 Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales and any dispute is for the courts of England and Wales, without affecting the rights of consumers resident elsewhere in the UK.
3. Reporting, moderation and how to contact us
WayMark lets people post, comment, message each other and share photographs, so it is a user-to-user service under the UK's Online Safety Act 2023. This section says what we do about illegal and harmful content, and how to reach a person about it.
3.1 Reporting something
Every post, comment, group post and profile in WayMark has a Report button. Open the … menu on the thing you want to report and choose Report. You can say what is wrong with it — spam, abuse, a photograph, a fake account, something unsafe, or anything else — and add a note in your own words.
Reports come straight to Joe. Nobody else can read them, and the person you reported is not told who reported them.
You can also block anybody, from their profile or from anything they have posted. Blocking is immediate and does not need anybody's permission.
3.2 What happens to a report
Reports are read by Joe, usually within a couple of days. Content that is illegal, or that breaks the acceptable use rules in section 2.4, is removed. An account may be closed for a serious or repeated breach.
Content that appears to be illegal is taken down as soon as we are aware of it and have had a look at it. Where the law requires it, it is reported to the appropriate authority.
If you think something of yours was removed wrongly, email the address in 3.4 and say so. There is no formal appeals machinery on a service this size; there is a person who will read what you write.
3.3 Groups
Whoever creates a group runs it, and can remove a post or a member, or delete the group entirely. They may also make somebody else an owner, who can remove posts and members but cannot delete the group. WayMark sits behind them: anything the people running a group miss can be reported to WayMark by anybody who can see it.
3.4 Who is responsible, and how to reach them
WayMark is run by one person. Joe Sullivan is the provider of the service and the person responsible for its compliance with the Online Safety Act, including for anything Ofcom needs to raise.
Email: contact@waymark.it.com
That address is read by Joe. Use it to report something you cannot report in the app, to complain about a decision, or to raise anything else about safety on WayMark.
3.5 Our assessments
WayMark has carried out the assessments the Act requires of it: an illegal content risk assessment and a children's access assessment. Both are written down, kept, and reviewed at least once a year. WayMark is a small service and both found its risks to be low. Ask at the address above if you want to know more.
3.6 Children
WayMark is not for under-13s — see 1.11. It is not designed for or aimed at children, is never promoted to them, and has no video, no livestreaming and no adult content of any kind.
4. Cookies and storage on your device
WayMark sets no cookies. It keeps your log and settings in your browser's local storage and IndexedDB, which is what makes it work offline and without an account. This storage is strictly necessary for the service you asked for, so no consent banner is required under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, and none is shown.
| What | Where | Why | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your log, journal, routes, lists | localStorage | So the app works offline and without an account | Until you delete it |
| Theme, units, map style, dismissed notices | localStorage | Your preferences | Until you change them |
| Recent forecasts and area names | localStorage | So the weather panel opens instantly and works offline | A few hours |
| Sign-in session (if you sign in) | IndexedDB, set by Firebase | To keep you signed in | Until you sign out |
| The app itself, for offline use | Cache storage (service worker) | So it opens with no signal | Until a new version replaces it |
If you sign in, Google's own sign-in pages may set Google cookies under Google's policy. WayMark has no analytics and no advertising of any kind.
5. Credits, data sources and licences
- Ordnance Survey mapping via the OS Data Hub. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database rights 2026.
- OpenTopoMap tiles, CC BY-SA 3.0, from OpenStreetMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database Licence (ODbL), with SRTM elevation.
- Overpass API and Photon (by komoot): places and search results are OpenStreetMap data, ODbL.
- BRouter: path routing over OpenStreetMap data.
- Open-Meteo: weather data, CC BY 4.0, open-meteo.com.
- Wikipedia: hill summaries are from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. Photographs shown with a summary come from Wikimedia Commons; each photograph has its own author and licence, credited on the image's page, reached through the article link the app shows.
- Hill data: summit names, heights, grid references and list memberships are from the Database of British and Irish Hills, © the DoBIH editors, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The data has been adapted: hills are grouped into WayMark’s own lists and regions, some display names differ from the database’s, and a small number of summits the database does not hold have been added. Short quotations from A. Wainwright's Pictorial Guides appear with their author, volume and year, as fair-dealing quotation.
- Terrain heights: the 3D view is shaped by elevation tiles from the Tilezen Joerd project. Europe terrain data produced using Copernicus data and information funded by the European Union — EU-DEM layers; United Kingdom terrain data © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2015. All rights reserved; SRTM terrain data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
- MapLibre GL JS map library, BSD 3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors. OS Vector Tile API stylesheets © Ordnance Survey, used under the Open Government Licence.
- Typefaces: Source Sans 3 and Source Code Pro (SIL Open Font Licence) via Google Fonts; Wildkins display face.
- Patch artwork: original designs created for WayMark with AI image tools.
- Interface icons: Tabler Icons, © Tabler, used under the MIT licence; and Lucide, © 2026 Lucide Icons and Contributors, used under the ISC licence (the Share icon is from Feather, © 2013-present Cole Bemis, MIT licence).
- Firebase (Google) for sign-in and cloud storage.
- Strava: walks you bring in yourself are powered by Strava. WayMark is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Strava.
If you own the rights to something shown in WayMark and believe it is being used without permission, it will be removed or credited promptly on request.