Terra Nota Privacy Policy

Last updated 16 October 2026

Terra Nota is made by Charted Position Ltd. It lets you put map images on your phone, match them to real locations, see where you are on them and drop pins. We don't run any servers for the app, we don't have accounts, and we can't see your maps, pins or location.

What stays with you

• Your maps, calibration points, pins and lists are stored on your device. If you're signed in to iCloud, they sync through your own private iCloud database so they're on your other devices too. Apple stores that data under your Apple Account; we have no access to it.
• Your location is used on your device to show where you are on a map and to measure distances to pins. It's only saved when you choose to, for example by marking a calibration point or dropping a pin where you're standing, and then only into your own data as above. We never receive it.
• Photos and files you choose to use as map images are copied into the app's own storage. The app only sees the items you pick.

Services the app talks to

Some features fetch information from other organisations. Like any web request, these reveal your device's IP address and what was asked for to that service, under its own privacy policy:

• Apple Maps shows the reference map used for calibrating and finding places. Place names you search for are sent to Apple.
• The National Library of Scotland (maps.nls.uk), when you use “Map from a Library”. Searching sends the point under the crosshair to the library's map search, and viewing a library map loads its image from the library.
• Allmaps (allmaps.org), when you use “Libraries Worldwide”. Searching sends the point under the crosshair to Allmaps to find maps that people have georeferenced there, and Allmaps supplies their control points. It's also asked whether a National Library of Scotland map has been georeferenced.
• GitHub hosts this website and the list of georeferenced maps that “Libraries Worldwide” searches, which the app downloads about once a day while you use it.
• The libraries and archives that hold those maps (for example the David Rumsey Map Collection, the Bibliothèque nationale de France or Digital Commonwealth). Looking at or adding one of their maps loads its catalogue record, licence and image from that library.

Nothing else is sent anywhere. There's no advertising, analytics or tracking, and no data is sold or shared.

Testing with TestFlight

If you test a pre-release version through Apple's TestFlight, Apple may share crash reports, device details and any feedback or screenshots you choose to send with us, to help fix problems. See Apple's TestFlight terms for details.

Exporting and deleting

You can export any map, with its calibration and pins, as a file from within the app. Deleting a map, pin or list in the app removes it from your device and your iCloud. Deleting the app removes its local data; data in iCloud can be removed in your device's iCloud settings.

Children

The app isn't aimed at children and collects no personal information from anyone.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, the new version will be posted here with a new date. Questions: colin@burn-murdoch.com.