Privacy policy

Lookups

When you search for a land description or a coordinate, the input is sent to our server, which computes the parcel position and returns it. Lookup inputs are processed in memory to produce the result; we do not keep a permanent log of what you searched. We are deliberately not claiming "we collect no data" — some data handling is described below — but the descriptions and coordinates you look up are not stored as a history tied to you.

The daily lookup limit

Anonymous visitors get a limited number of free lookups per day. To enforce that, the site sets a signed cookie that tracks an anonymous daily lookup count. It contains a counter and a date — not your searches, not an account, not an identifier shared with anyone else. There are no advertising SDKs on the site and no cross-site tracking of any kind.

Reverse geocoding

To label a result with a nearby place name, the server asks OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service to reverse-geocode the centre point of the parcel in the result. For example, looking up 12-52-24-W4 sends Nominatim the parcel centre 53.476038, -113.405612 — a point in southeast Edmonton defined by the survey grid, not by you. Your own location is never sent to Nominatim.

Map tiles

Result maps load base-map tiles from OpenFreeMap and imagery tiles from Esri. Like any web request, tile requests expose your IP address and the tile coordinates of your map viewport to those services. Those providers operate under their own privacy policies.

Server logs

Standard web-server logs exist for operations — keeping the site up, diagnosing errors and blocking abuse. They include the usual request metadata (IP address, user agent, requested path, timestamp) and are used only for running the service.

Your device location

The optional "distance from my location" feature runs entirely in your browser. If you grant location permission, your position is used locally to compute distance and bearing to the parcel — it never leaves your device and is never sent to our server or anyone else. Decline the permission and everything else still works.

What doesn't exist yet

There are currently no accounts, no sign-in and no payments on LandLookup.ca, so no email addresses, passwords or billing details are collected. If accounts or subscriptions launch, this policy will be updated first to describe exactly what changes.

The iPhone app

The Land Description Lookup iPhone app goes further: lookups are computed entirely on-device, so in the field your searches never touch a server at all. It's available on the App Store.

Contact

Questions about this policy: support@pocketknifeapps.com. See also how lookups are computed and support.