This is a translation of the French original. In case of discrepancy, the French version prevails.
This policy explains what personal data we process when you use the Animal Odyssey application and the animal-odyssey.com website, why, and what your rights are.
1. Data controller
Pierre Polard, publisher of Animal Odyssey, on a non-professional basis.
Contact: contact.animalodyssey@gmail.com
2. Data collected
Account
- E-mail address, username, password. The password is encrypted by Firebase Authentication and we never have access to it.
- Profile and cover photo, if you add them.
- Date of acceptance and version of the Terms, acknowledgement of the safety message.
Observations
- Animal photographs, date and identified species.
- Exact location at the time of the observation.
- An approximate position, derived from the exact location.
- The technical metadata contained in the photo file may be retained with it.
Social activity and progression
- Comments, friendships.
- Points, levels, badges.
- Reports made or received, messages sent via “Report a bug or an idea”.
E-mail exchanges
- Content of the messages you send us.
Website
- Anonymous, cookieless audience measurement (Cloudflare Web Analytics).
We do not collect any postal address, telephone number or banking data. We do not use any advertising or tracking tools in the application.
3. Purposes and legal bases
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Creating and managing your account, recording your observations, displaying the collection, the feed, the profiles, the species pages and the map | Performance of the contract (Terms) |
| Identifying the species from your photo | Performance of the contract |
| Displaying an approximate position of your observations to other users | Performance of the contract |
| Compiling aggregated and anonymous species distribution statistics | Legitimate interest (improvement of the Service) |
| Moderating content, handling reports, preventing abuse and fraud | Legitimate interest and legal obligations (DSA) |
| Using your animal photos in our communications (Art. 9.2 of the Terms) | Legitimate interest, with a right to object at any time |
| Responding to your requests | Legitimate interest |
| Keeping proof of your acceptance of the Terms | Legitimate interest (proof of the contract) |
4. Visibility of your data
- Other users see your username, your profile picture and your animal photos. The photos appear on the Species Pages and on the map whatever the visibility setting of your profile.
- Your exact location is visible only to you. Other users see a position randomly offset within a radius of about one kilometre.
- Your e-mail address is never displayed.
5. Recipients and processors
Your data is neither sold nor rented. It is accessible to the publisher and to the following service providers, solely for the purposes of the Service:
| Service provider | Role | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ireland Ltd (Firebase) | Authentication, database, photo storage | Database in the European Union (Belgium, Netherlands); photo storage: region to be specified; some technical processing possibly outside the EU |
| OpenAI | Analysis of the photo to suggest an identification | United States |
| Xano, Inc. | Application server and species database | Region to be specified |
| Mapbox | Display of base maps (receives your IP address and the area viewed) | United States |
| Cloudflare, Inc. | Website hosting, cookieless audience measurement | Global network |
| Google (Gmail) | Receipt of your contact e-mails | — |
Photos sent to OpenAI are used solely for identification. They are not used to train its models, in accordance with the terms of its API service.
We may also disclose data to judicial or administrative authorities where required by law.
6. Transfers outside the European Union
Some service providers are located in the United States. These transfers are governed, depending on the provider, by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or by the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.
7. Retention periods
| Data | Period |
|---|---|
| Account, observations, photos, comments, progression | Until your account is deleted |
| Data after account deletion | Immediate and permanent erasure. Only the anonymous aggregated statistics remain. |
| Content hidden or removed in moderation | For the duration of the review and challenge period (6 months), unless a legal obligation applies |
| Contact e-mails | For the time needed to handle your request, then 3 years at most |
| Website audience measurement | Anonymous data, no applicable period |
We do not have any backup of the database. Deleted data therefore cannot be recovered.
8. Your rights
You have the following rights:
- access to your data;
- rectification;
- erasure: deletion of the account from Profile > Settings > Data and security, or from the Delete your account page;
- portability;
- restriction;
- objection, in particular to the use of your photos in our communications;
- to set guidelines on what happens to your data after your death.
To exercise these rights: contact.animalodyssey@gmail.com. We respond within one month. Proof of identity may be requested in case of doubt.
You may lodge a complaint with the CNIL (French data protection authority) (www.cnil.fr) or with the supervisory authority of your country of residence.
9. Application permissions
| Permission | Use |
|---|---|
| Camera | Photographing an animal |
| Photo library | Importing an existing photo |
| Location | Locating the observation at the time you record it |
You can refuse or withdraw these permissions in your phone’s settings. Some features will then no longer be available.
10. Minimum age
The Service is reserved for persons aged 16 and over. If we learn that an account belongs to a younger person, it is deleted.
11. Security
The data is hosted by service providers that apply recognised security measures, including encryption. Access to the database is restricted by security rules. As no system is infallible, we will inform you in the event of a data breach likely to expose you to a high risk.
12. Changes
Any significant change will be notified to you in the application before it comes into force.