Privacy notice
Your information, plainly put
PublicArtMap collects very little personal information, and this page explains all of it — what we hold, why we hold it, and what you can ask us to do with it.
Who we are
PublicArtMap is run by Cultural Commons, a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland (SC837397), registered office 1 Hope Park Crescent, Edinburgh EH8 9NA. Cultural Commons is the data controller for any personal information handled through this site. You can reach us at joshua@cultural-commons.org.
If you're just browsing
You can explore the whole map without an account, and we don't ask you for anything to do so. The site sets no tracking or advertising cookies and shows no adverts. If we measure visits at all, we use cookieless, privacy-respecting analytics that record aggregate page views only — no personal data, no profiles, nothing that follows you to other sites.
If you use the locate button
Maps include a find-my-location control, and the home page offers a "near me now" view — both useful on foot. Your position is read only when you ask for it, is used only on your device to place the dot and sort works by distance, and is never sent to us or stored.
If you're a contributor
Contributing is currently by invitation. When we set up your account we hold your email address, which is used to sign you in by magic link (no passwords) and to contact you about your contributions. Signing in sets an essential session cookie — the kind needed simply to keep you signed in.
Your contributions — suggested edits, photo reviews and similar — are recorded against your account and may be shown with a display name you choose. Your email address is never published on the site.
If you email us
If you express interest in contributing, send feedback or request a correction, we'll hold your message and email address for as long as needed to deal with it and keep a record of the outcome. We won't add you to any mailing list you didn't ask for.
Where the data lives
The site is hosted with Netlify, and accounts and the artwork catalogue are held in Supabase — both established providers acting as our data processors under their own security and data-protection commitments. We don't sell personal information, and we don't share it with anyone except these providers, as needed to run the service.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email joshua@cultural-commons.org and we'll respond within a month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Changes to this notice
PublicArtMap is a project in progress and this notice will grow with it — for instance if open sign-up ever replaces the current invitation system. Significant changes will be flagged on this page. Last updated: July 2026.
PublicArtMap is a project of Cultural Commons CIC, supporting open cultural infrastructure.