Privacy & cookie policy
Last updated 2026-10-28
Short version: no sign-up, no email, no password, no ads, no analytics, no tracking cookies. We keep only what the features you use need.
Who is responsible
Data controller: Fatih Karabulut, who runs thepubmap.com as a private, independent project. Contact: fatih@thepubmap.com.
Just browsing
- Approximate location. When you open the site, our server (api.thepubmap.com) looks up your approximate country and area (rounded to about 10 km) from your connection, using Cloudflare, to choose a start city and language. It is not stored on our side; your browser keeps it for the current session.
- Precise location is only used if you allow it in your browser. “Find a pub near me” and other nearby features run in your browser and nothing is sent to us.
- Error reports. If the app breaks, it sends us the error message (with keys, coordinates, links’ query parts and emails removed), the app version, language, city, browser and system type (e.g. “chrome”, “android”), screen size class and page path. No IP address and no profile are attached. Kept 30 days.
Profile, check-ins and drinks (optional)
A profile is created when you open Profile, check in or send pub feedback. It has a random name (like “HoppyOtter42”) and a secret key that lives in your browser; we store only a hash of the key. Your recovery link contains the key, so keep it private.
- Check-in: your browser sends your position so we can confirm you’re within about 150 m of the pub. The position is used for that check only and never stored. We store the pub, city, country, time, and whether it was during happy hour, a quiz night or at a craft beer bar (for badges).
- Drinks: beer name, size, price, currency and time. Prices are shown publicly per pub as monthly medians, without names.
- Badges you earn.
- Menu photos you upload after a check-in: stored privately, seen only by the site owner to read prices, and deleted after 180 days. Please don’t photograph people.
- Pub feedback (👍/👎, problem type, an optional note up to 500 characters) with the time and your profile.
Suggestions
The suggestion form creates a private GitHub issue that only the site owner can see, containing what you enter: pub name, country, city, type of change, its details, an optional source link and notes. No name, profile or IP address is added. Up to 3 photos can be attached; they are stored privately (owner only) and deleted after 180 days.
If you leave your email in the “Suggest a city” form, we keep it in a private GitHub issue so we can follow up on your suggestion. We don’t use it for anything else. To have it deleted, write to us via the Contact page.
Abuse limits
To stop spam, your IP address is held briefly (up to 1 hour) in Cloudflare’s cache to count requests. It is not saved in our database.
Why we process data (legal basis)
- Features you choose to use (profile, check-ins, drinks, photos, feedback, suggestions): to provide them to you (GDPR Art. 6(1)(b); KVKK Art. 5(2)(c)).
- Precise location: your permission in the browser (GDPR Art. 6(1)(a); KVKK Art. 5(1)).
- Approximate location, error reports and abuse limits: our legitimate interest in a working, secure site (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f); KVKK Art. 5(2)(f)).
How long we keep it
| Data | Kept |
|---|---|
Check-ins, drinks, badges, profile | Until you delete your data |
Pub feedback (👍/👎, note) | No fixed limit; deleted with your profile data |
Menu photos | Deleted automatically after 180 days; unreviewed ones at once if you delete your data |
Photos sent with a suggestion | Deleted automatically after 180 days |
Suggestions (GitHub issues) | Private, kept until removed |
Error reports | 30 days |
IP address for abuse limits | At most 1 hour, not saved in a database |
Precise location | Not stored |
Who else receives data
- Cloudflare Pages hosts the website and receives your IP address and browser details when pages load (Cloudflare privacy policy). Suggestions are stored as private GitHub issues that only the site owner can see (GitHub privacy statement).
- Cloudflare runs api.thepubmap.com and stores our database and photos (Cloudflare privacy policy).
- OpenStreetMap map tiles load from tile.openstreetmap.org, which receives your IP address and browser details (OSMF privacy policy).
- Fonts are served from our own site; no Google Fonts.
- Google Maps, Tripadvisor and pubs’ websites are only contacted when you click a link to them; their own policies apply.
GitHub and Cloudflare are US companies, so data may be processed outside the EU/EEA and Türkiye.
Cookies and browser storage
thepubmap.com sets no cookies. It uses your browser’s storage only to remember settings and features you use:
| Key | Purpose |
|---|---|
bv-lang | Your language |
bv-theme | Light/dark setting |
bv-loc | Last city you looked at |
bv-favs | Your favourite pubs (never sent to us) |
bv-user | Your profile’s random name and secret key, if you have a profile |
bv-crawl-seen | Whether you’ve seen the pub-crawl tip |
bv-keys | Keyboard-shortcut setting |
bv-geo, bv-geoj (session) | Approximate country/area for the start city and language |
bv-unk, bv-geo-denied, bv-errn (session) | A filter setting, that you declined location, and a counter that limits error reports |
None of this is used for tracking or advertising, and there are no analytics, so we don’t show a cookie banner. You can clear it any time in your browser settings. (A login cookie exists only on the owner’s admin pages; visitors never get it.)
Your rights
You can ask for access to, correction or deletion of your data, restriction of or objection to its use, and a copy of it. Under KVKK you also have the rights in Article 11.
- Delete: Profile → Privacy → Delete my data removes your profile, check-ins, drinks, badges, feedback, menu-photo records and photos not yet reviewed.
- See: your Profile shows your check-ins, drinks and badges.
- Anything else: email fatih@thepubmap.com. Feedback sent without a profile and error reports can’t be linked to you.
You can also complain to a data protection authority: in Türkiye the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK), in the EU/EEA the authority of your country.
Changes
We’ll update this page if anything changes.