1. Who we are
Patrimonia 360 is an independent Android application developed by ESM & MLP Independent Studio (the "developer", "we", "us"). The application is provided free of charge and is designed to help users discover cultural, historical and natural heritage sites around them.
For any matter related to this Privacy Policy or to the application, you can contact us at:
Email: patrimonia360app@gmail.com
2. Our approach to privacy
Patrimonia 360 is built around a simple principle: we do not want your personal data. The application has no user accounts, no login, no advertising, no behavioural tracking, no hidden analytics and no servers of our own. We do not store any personal information about you, anywhere.
The only personal data the app processes is your device location, and only at the moment you actively use the search feature. This Privacy Policy explains exactly how that works.
The app does, however, contain affiliate links to third-party activity providers. We don't book anything on your behalf and we don't see what you book; we only send a click-through with an identifier so the partner can attribute it to us. Full details in section 5.
3. What data we process
3.1. Approximate and precise location
If you grant the location permission, the app reads the current geographic coordinates of your device using Android's standard location services. These coordinates are used only at the moment of your search, in order to query third-party services for nearby heritage sites.
Location data is processed in memory only. We do not store it on your device beyond the duration of the current request, and it is never sent to any server controlled by us — we operate no servers.
You can deny the location permission at any time. The app will continue to work, allowing you to manually pick a city or a point on the map to explore.
3.2. Local preferences
The app stores a small amount of non-personal configuration data on your device, in private application storage that only Patrimonia 360 can read. This includes:
- The selected language (if you have changed it from the system default).
- A flag indicating whether you have already seen the welcome tutorial.
- A timestamp used to schedule the optional donation reminder (no personal information is stored, only when the prompt was last shown).
This data never leaves your device and is automatically deleted when you uninstall the application or clear its storage from the system settings.
3.3. What we do NOT collect
- No name, email, phone number or any personal identifier.
- No account or registration data (there are no accounts).
- No advertising identifier (AAID, IDFA).
- No contacts, calendar, photos, files or messages from your device.
- No usage analytics, crash reports or behavioural metrics.
- No payment information — when you book through an activity partner, the transaction happens entirely on their site, not in our app.
4. Third-party services we use
To provide its features, Patrimonia 360 connects directly from your device to the following third-party services. We do not act as an intermediary: requests go from your device to the provider, and responses come back to your device. We never see, log or store any of those requests.
Each provider has its own privacy policy that governs how they handle the data they receive. We recommend you review them.
4.1. Wikimedia Foundation
We query Wikidata, Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons to retrieve information, photos and descriptions of heritage sites near your location. These are the primary data sources of the app.
Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy: https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy
4.2. Google Maps SDK and Google Play Services (Google LLC)
Patrimonia 360 uses the Google Maps SDK for Android to render two maps inside the app: the manual location picker and the UNESCO World Heritage map. These map screens send your approximate location to Google to render the appropriate tiles.
The app also uses the standard Android Geocoder (provided by Google Play Services on most devices) to convert coordinates into a human-readable city name when you accept the GPS location, and to look up coordinates when you search for a city by name in the location picker.
Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
4.3. UNESCO World Heritage dataset
The UNESCO World Heritage map is built on top of the official dataset published by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre at whc.unesco.org. The dataset is bundled with the application and refreshed periodically. No personal data is sent to UNESCO when you browse the map.
4.4. Device text-to-speech engine
The audio guide feature uses the text-to-speech engine installed on your device (typically Google Speech Services or the manufacturer's equivalent). The text of the article is read aloud locally on your device. We do not send any text to external servers for synthesis.
4.5. Activity providers (affiliate partners)
From the side tab of the app you can browse activities, tours and free walks from third-party partners. The partners we currently integrate with are:
- Civitatis — civitatis.com/en/privacy
- GetYourGuide — getyourguide.com/privacy_policy
- Viator (part of Tripadvisor) — viator.com/privacy
When you tap a partner button, the app queries that partner's public autocomplete endpoint with the city name (and only the city name, never your coordinates) and shows you the suggestions inside the panel. Picking a suggestion — or pressing the button when no suggestions are returned — opens the partner's website or app in your browser, with our affiliate identifier appended to the URL (see section 5).
We do not process any booking, payment or personal data of yours. Everything that happens after the redirect is between you and the partner, under their own terms and privacy policy.
4.6. PayPal (only if you choose to donate)
Patrimonia 360 includes an optional donation button that opens a PayPal.me link in your browser or PayPal app. The application itself does not process any payment data. If you choose to donate, the transaction takes place entirely on PayPal's infrastructure and is governed by their own privacy policy.
PayPal Privacy Statement: https://www.paypal.com/legalhub/privacy-full
4.7. Email client (only if you choose to contact us)
The "Write to us" link in the About section opens your device's email client with our contact address pre-filled. Sending the email is your choice; if you do, the message is delivered through your email provider to our inbox at patrimonia360app@gmail.com, hosted by Google. Google's privacy policy applies to the transit and storage of that message.
5. Affiliate links and commercial relationships
Patrimonia 360 is free and has no advertising. The only way the project sustains itself is through affiliate commissions earned from a small set of activity partners (Civitatis, GetYourGuide, Viator). What that means in practice:
- When you tap a partner button and we redirect you to their website or app, we append a small set of identifiers to the URL (typically a partner ID, plus campaign/medium tags such as
pid,mcid,medium,partner_idoraiddepending on the partner). These identifiers do not contain any data about you — they identify us as the source of the click. - If you decide to book something during that session, the partner credits a small commission to us, at no extra cost to you. The price you see on the partner's site is the same with or without that identifier.
- We have no visibility of what you book, when, for how much, or whether you book at all. We typically see only aggregated, anonymised click and commission counts in each partner's affiliate dashboard.
- You are under no obligation to book through these links. You can absolutely use the heritage and audio guide features of Patrimonia 360 without ever touching the activities tab.
This disclosure is the affiliate relationship made explicit. If you'd rather not pass an affiliate identifier to a partner, you can search for them yourself from your browser instead of using the button inside the app.
6. Legal basis for processing
For users in the European Union, the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions where the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or equivalent legislation applies, the legal bases for the limited processing carried out by Patrimonia 360 are:
- Consent (Art. 6.1.a GDPR): for accessing your device location, requested explicitly through the Android permission system. You can revoke this consent at any time from your device settings.
- Performance of the service (Art. 6.1.b GDPR): for processing the location data once you have started a search, in order to provide the nearby heritage sites you requested; and for forwarding your search term to the activity partner you tapped, in order to retrieve their suggestions.
- Legitimate interest (Art. 6.1.f GDPR): for appending the affiliate identifier when you click through to a partner. The identifier is non-personal; it identifies the app, not you. We rely on this basis to keep the app free and sustainable.
7. International data transfers
Some of the third-party providers listed above (notably Google LLC, Wikimedia Foundation, Tripadvisor/Viator, GetYourGuide and Civitatis) operate from or with infrastructure in the United States or other jurisdictions outside the European Economic Area. When the app sends a request to those services, that request may be processed outside of the EEA. Each provider relies on its own legal mechanisms (Standard Contractual Clauses, adequacy decisions, etc.) to comply with international transfer requirements.
We do not transfer any data ourselves, since we do not collect or store any.
8. Data retention
We do not retain any personal data, because we do not collect any. Location data is processed in memory only and discarded as soon as the search is complete.
Local preferences stored on your device persist for as long as the application is installed. Uninstalling the app, or clearing its storage from the system settings, removes them completely.
Third-party providers, including the activity partners, retain data according to their own retention policies, which are linked above.
9. Your rights
Under GDPR and similar regulations, you have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability and objection regarding your personal data. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at patrimonia360app@gmail.com.
In practice, since Patrimonia 360 does not collect or store personal data on its own infrastructure, there is normally nothing for us to access, rectify or delete. To remove all data the app keeps on your device, you can:
- Uninstall the application, or
- Go to your device's Settings → Apps → Patrimonia 360 → Storage → Clear data.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your national data protection authority. For users in Spain, that is the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD).
10. Children's privacy
Patrimonia 360 is a general-audience application and is not specifically directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect any personal data from children. Since the app does not collect personal data from anyone, there is no targeted profiling of any age group. If a parent or guardian believes that their child has provided personal information through any indirect means, please contact us so we can address the situation.
11. Security
All network communications between the application and the third-party services listed above are encrypted in transit using HTTPS (TLS). Local preferences are stored in private application storage that is sandboxed by the Android operating system and only accessible to the application itself.
Because we do not store personal data, the surface for a data breach involving us is essentially nil. The security of data once it reaches a third-party provider depends on that provider.
12. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the application, in third-party services or in legal requirements. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the most recent revision was made.
Material changes that affect how your data is processed will be communicated through the application or its Google Play Store listing before they take effect.
13. Contact
For any question, concern or request regarding this Privacy Policy or the Patrimonia 360 application, please contact us at:
Email: patrimonia360app@gmail.com
Developer: ESM & MLP Independent Studio