All
information submitted by visitors is voluntary.
Thanks for visiting the geodata.gov Web site and reviewing our privacy policy. Our privacy policy is plain and simple: we collect NO personal information, such as names or addresses when you visit our Web site. If you choose to provide your personal information to us, it is only used to fulfill your request for information. If you choose to submit your metadata records to us or register for harvesting by geodata.gov, then the metadata records are viewable to the public and may include personal data. Except as might be required by law, we do not share any information we receive with outside parties.
We do collect some technical information when you visit our site to make your experience seamless. The sections below explain how we handle and collect technical information when you visit our Web site. You can start by clicking the quick links below.
Information Collected and Stored Automatically
If You Send Us Personal Information
If You Register Your Metadata
If You Publish Data, Join a Community, Customize the Portal or Save
Information We May Place Automatically on Your Computer's Hard Drive
Site Security
Forums, Chat Rooms and Bulletin Boards Privacy and Security Policy
Links to Other Sites
If you do nothing during your visit but browse through the Web site, read pages, or search for information, we will gather and store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not identify you personally. We automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:
We use this information to help us make the site more useful to visitors by learning about the number of visitors on our site and the types of technology our visitors use.
If you choose to provide us with personal information by filling out a form with your personal information and submitting it to us through the Web site, we use the information to respond to your message, to help us get you the information you have requested, and to notify visitors about updates to our Web site. We do not create individual profiles with the information you provide and geodata.gov does not collect information for commercial marketing.
If you choose to register your metadata directly on geodata.gov or if you register for harvesting by geodata.gov, then all of the metadata fields including personal data such as: contact/distributor name, address, phone number, and e-mail address contained in the metadata records, are viewable to the public through the display of the metadata record on geodata.gov. If you do not wish for this information to be displayed, then do not register your metadata or sign up to for harvesting on geodata.gov.
If you choose to do any of the following geodata.gov activities, you will be asked to register on geodata.gov:
To register, you will fill out a form with your personal information and submit it to us through the Web site. We use that information to create a user account on geodata.gov to allow you to manage your metadata records, publish account information, save maps and searches, and to interact with community members through forums and e-mail. We may use this information to contact you when there are problems with your metadata records, account, or map services that are displayed or used on geodata.gov. If you use the subscription service, we may send you an e-mail notification. We do not use the information to create individual profiles with the information you provide and geodata.gov does not collect information for commercial marketing.
geodata.gov stores some information on your computer in the form of a session "cookie." This is used to store information you provide to prevent you from having to enter the same information repeatedly. We use a session cookie to store a username and password. This allows us to retrieve the correct datasets you submitted from the database and their registration information. The session cookie is removed when you leave geodata.gov.
We also use a session cookie that contains a Map Parameter ID that resides on your computer. The cookie is set when you use the nested Map Viewer feature on geodata.gov. The nested map viewer feature allows you to search anywhere in the United States (U.S.) by using a graphical selection tool displayed on a map of the U.S. This graphical selection, redrawing, and searching feature requires the use of a session cookie to give you adequate performance and display capabilities. The session cookie is removed when you leave geodata.gov.
For more information on cookies visit the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
For site security purposes and to ensure that this Web site remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this Web site are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. Information may also be used for authorized law enforcement investigations. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.
geodata.gov is committed to protecting your personal privacy; therefore, your participation in the geodata.gov chat room and any other communication with geodata.gov is governed by the following guidelines to protect your privacy and security.
Disclosure of any information by you, whether in the text of a geodata.gov chat room session, or any personal data contained in an e-mail message, including an e-mail address, is strictly voluntary.
Please remember that any information that you reveal in a public forum (such as a bulletin board, mail list, or chat room) is not subject to this Privacy Policy and will be seen by other persons in addition to the geodata.gov representatives, and may be used by them for some other purpose. Therefore, you are cautioned not to offer any information of a personal or sensitive nature. We will do our best to identify and ban other participants in the chat room(s) that may be collecting information on, or from, any individual for any purpose other than what's intended, but we cannot guarantee that it will not happen.
geodata.gov reserves the right to record all activity in any chat room which it sponsors and maintains. The raw information gathered in these sessions may be analyzed as part of geodata.gov's continuing effort to provide the best information services to the public. Raw data logs are used for no other purpose and are scheduled for regular destruction.
This Web site offers links to hundreds of GIS-related Web sites. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site. The Federal government assumes no responsibility for the information practices of these sites, and these links do not imply affiliation or endorsement of the linked sites. The Federal government does not control and cannot guarantee the relevance, timeliness, or accuracy of the outside materials.