Privacy Policy

Last Updated: May 2026

This document states the privacy policy for websites, apps, platforms, services, and related activities operated and provided by Good Ways Network CIC. In particular these include: 

the slowways.org website and associated services and APIs, Good Ways websites, apps, and digital services, related community, membership, support, event, and communication services operated by us.

It describes what personal information we may gather from you, who can see this information, and what options you have for controlling this. We value your privacy and strive to achieve a balance between the legitimate interests of the Good Ways initiative and your interests and rights.

This document is mainly intended for contributors and users of Good Ways websites, apps, platforms, and related services. If you are using services provided by Good Ways Network CIC without contributing, the section “Data we receive automatically” will likely be the most relevant for you.

Good Ways communities, discussions, and projects may also exist on third-party platforms and services such as social media, event platforms, messaging services, or community forums. The privacy practices of such services are outside of Good Ways Network CIC’s control and may be subject to different privacy laws and data protection standards. Data you share on these platforms is therefore not covered by this policy. Please refer to the privacy policies of those third-party services.

Why do we store and process personal data?

The purpose of the Good Ways initiative is to provide open geographic data, such as street maps, to anyone.

To fulfill the goal of distributing data that is truly open, untethered by rights of third parties and of high quality, we do not support anonymous contributions and retain additional, non-geographic, data on a legitimate interest basis (see GDPR article 6.1f ), to enable:

• identifying all the contributions made by an account,
• contacting the contributor in the case of questions in respect to the nature and source of the contributions,
• detection, removal and correction of spam accounts, vandalism and violations of the rights of third parties,
• facilitating the communication between Good Ways contributors.
• research and analysis of aggregate contributions to improve or prioritise Good Ways Network CIC services, such as evaluating mapping effectiveness, map completeness, determining if locations or mappers are disproportionately represented.

What data do we store and process?

Data from contributions and use of Good Ways

Besides the geographic data contributed (points lines, and areas with associated attributes and GPS trace data), and communications related data (diary posts and comments, the user page, changeset comments, messages) we store:

• editing session meta-data. For example comments added by the user, any version and similar information added by the editing application, which editing application and which aerial imagery layers were used.
• user id and login name of the author of every change to an object and a timestamp when that change occurred.
• the e-mail address associated with your account,
• and any membership or account preferences linked to your account, 
• any blocks the user has received and associated messages.
• network access data (for example IP addresses) for the systems and services operated by Good Ways Network CIC.

Conference and Event Registration Data

Some events organized by Good Ways Network CIC require prior registration to be able to participate. This data may be used to verify payment of entry fees, plan venues, organise catering, manage accessibility requirements, communicate event information, and schedule talks or presentations. Access to this data is limited to those organising or supporting the event. The processing of this data is necessary for the performance of a contract (see GDPR article 6.1b).

Who has access to the data

We do not share email addresses associated with accounts with any third party and they are only accessible to our staff, contractors, volunteers, and authorised personnel that have signed confidentiality agreements. User to user messages are visible to the sender and recipient, other access is limited to our operations staff and only if required for operational reasons, to enforce our acceptable use policies, to fulfil any legal obligations and most notably to prevent spam.

Similarly, network access data is only used for internal purposes and access is limited to operating personnel for operational and vandalism and spam protection purposes.

The other data is made available, depending on the use case, via the website, via the editing API and from our data dumps, to users with accounts and to the general public. Some of the non-geographic data may be available only by some methods; however this is subject to change.

Some data contributed to Good Ways may be publicly visible or shared through our websites, APIs, exports, or other services where necessary to operate the platform, support community collaboration, research, or open data initiatives. 

Where do we store the data

The website, API servers, databases and the servers for auxiliary services are primarily located in the United Kingdom.

Our map tiles are provided by a global network of cache servers, “provided or managed by third-party providers including ESRI, OpenStreetMap, and Ordnance Survey.

How can you control the processing of your data and reduce privacy-related issues

While not required by law, we provide the following mechanism to reduce the exposure of potentially privacy related information for you:

• you can select a non-identifying login name and change it at any time you want,
• you are not required to include personal data in diary posts, comments, mailing lists, or other Good Ways communications methods, and you may delete diary posts at any time through your account,
• you can delete your own account or request it to be deleted (subject to the restrictions described below) and this will be conveyed to registered entities that are using our full data. Any user submitted reviews, surveys or photos submitted will remain on the site, but any personal account data including usernames and emails will be deleted.

You can further reduce exposure by not adding personal information to the map data (personal names and similar). Such information is in general not considered to be a useful addition to our data and you should refrain from adding it.

Right to Object

You have a right to object against processing based on legitimate interests of the data controller.

Detailed Information

GPS Trace Data

The uploading of GPS data is entirely optional and not a prerequisite for contributions to Good Ways. If you do submit GPS data, it is uploaded in the form of individual GPX files. These are kept as raw files, as well as imported into the database. GPX files can be marked “public” by the uploader; this is completely unrelated to the option of making edits “public”.

When GPS data for an area is downloaded via the API, no indication is provided of which user uploaded a point, or of the timestamp that was associated with the point. Points are however returned in timestamp order. GPS data downloaded in this way will include points from traces which were not marked as public.

If a GPS trace is marked as public when it is uploaded then the raw trace may be downloaded from the website or using an API call. In this case the user’s display name is shown (regardless of whether the user has made their edits public) and the timestamps in the GPX file will be included. Also, any additional information placed in the GPX file will still be present, e.g. waypoints with their names and/or notes entered, associated symbols, elevation data, etc. You should remove any such information from the data and trim enough information from beginning and end of the trace to obscure start and destination before uploading it if you have privacy concerns.

GPS traces and uploaded route information may contain sensitive location information. You should take care not to upload information that could unintentionally reveal your home address, workplace, routine movements, or other sensitive personal information. 

Email Addresses

The registered email address for a Good Ways user account will not intentionally be published on the internet anywhere, shared with third party organisations (other than service providers), or revealed directly to other users. Email addresses will be used by the server to notify the user if another user has sent a message through the website, and for other system generated notifications.

Only System Administrators will have direct access to email address data associated with the Good Ways account. It may be used by these people to contact users directly about their edits or other Good Ways related issues.

Email addresses associated with the forum and help site accounts are stored separately from the Good Ways user account data in the respective systems. These addresses are used for notifications and user to user communication (if enabled). These addresses are not publicly visible or shared with third parties, but may be visible to the administrators of the systems.

Polls

Good Ways Network CIC may from time to time conduct polls in order to determine the opinions of volunteers, staff, users, the Good Ways community, and others, and better to serve the members and the community, a legitimate purpose of Good Ways Network CIC. Distributing polls and processing their results may require the use of personal data such as names and email addresses. Personal data gathered or used in connection with surveys will be processed in accordance with applicable data privacy laws and will be retained only as long as reasonably necessary.

Email addresses of members of Good Ways Network CIC may be used to invite users to participate in polls.

If poll data are made publicly available (for instance, for analysis by the Good Ways- or research communities at large) the data will be anonymised. If the anonymised data are organised in such a fashion that individuals might be reasonably identifiable (for instance, a group with few individuals that is identifiable with a specific geography or function) the grouping will be merged to deter identification. Further, Good Ways Network CIC reserves the right to exclude from public release any variables that might permit deanonymisation of the data.

Anonymised poll data, which may be useful to the Good Ways Network CIC in the future for comparison purposes, may be retained indefinitely in accordance with applicable data privacy laws.

Data we receive automatically

Good Ways Network CIC operates a number of services for the Good Ways community, examples are the slowways.org website, and the (future) Good Ways API.

When you visit a Good Ways Network CIC website, access any of the services via a browser or via applications that use the provided APIs, records of that use are produced. We collect information about your browser or application and your interaction with our website, including (a) IP address, (b) browser and device type, (c) operating system, (d) referring web page, (e) the date and time of page visits, and (f) the pages accessed on our websites.

Further we may operate user interaction tracking software that will generate additional records of user activity, for example Matomo .

Services that use Geo-DNS or similar mechanisms to distribute load to geographically distributed servers will potentially generate a record of your location at a large scale.

These records are used or can be used in the following ways:

• in support of the operation of the services from a technical, security and planning point of view.
• as anonymised, summarised data for research and other purposes. Such data may be offered publicly via our (future) API or other channels and used by third parties.
• to improve the Good Ways dataset. For example by analysing searches for missing addresses and postcodes and providing such data to the Good Ways community.

The data collected on the systems will be accessible by the system administrators and the appropriate Good Ways Network CIC authorised personnel. No personal information or information that is linked to an individual will be released to third parties, except as required by law.

The above mentioned data is processed on a legitimate interest basis (see GDPR article 6.1f ).

Third party provided services and data

Third party services providing content linked to via or third party JavaScript files utilised by Good Ways Network CIC provided sites are not covered by this policy and you will need to refer to the respective service providers for more information. Using these services will typically transmit at least your IP address and browser information to the operators.

“Examples of such third-party providers include: Google, Brevo, Paid Memberships Pro, Mailchimp, Eventbrite, Zoom, ESRI, Ordnance Survey, Inkscape, PayPal, Stripe and UpViral (for managing referral campaigns and prize draws).These providers may process data outside the United Kingdom.

We also may use Hotjar to help us better understand user behaviour and improve the usability of our websites through session replays and heatmaps.

These providers may process data outside the United Kingdom.

Communication via Good Ways Network CIC-provided Systems

The Good Ways community uses a number of channels for public and inter-personal communication. Some of the systems are operated and controlled by third parties and can be located in countries other than the UK. You will need to refer to the respective service providers for more information.

Examples of these third party operated systems are:

• Mailboxes for Good Ways Network CIC e-mail addresses are provided by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA
• Mailchimp, Brevo, Eventbrite, Zoom, X, Instagram, Bluesky, Threads, LinkedIn and Facebook
• Good Ways Organisation and source code repositories on private GitHub
• Website code and systems hosted on Amazon AWS 

By using systems provided by Good Ways Network CIC, for example messaging systems on goodways.org, you acknowledge that communications may be accessed by authorised personnel when reasonably necessary to address operational issues, enforce acceptable use policies, prevent spam or abuse, or comply with legal obligations. 

You should be aware of the above when communicating sensitive information and you should employ encryption to protect your communications content.

Account Removal

You can delete your own account or request your account to be removed and we will honour such requests as far as possible.

If you have not actively contributed to the initiative, we will aim to remove associated records, user pages, diary posts, and similar content where reasonably possible. 

If you have contributed, your account will be renamed to user_USERID and contributions and changeset comments will be retained with this name, diary entries and your user page will be removed. Where contributions must remain attributable for operational, legal, anti-spam, or data integrity reasons, certain limited records may be retained. 

You can unsubscribe yourself from any mailing lists, however you should be aware that personal copies held by recipients of emails you sent to mailing lists and public mailing list archives cannot be removed.

In your request for account removal you need to identify all accounts that are affected as we do not have information on which accounts belong to which Good Ways user id.

Cookies

Numerous Good Ways Network CIC operated services use cookies to store information on your login and site navigation state. We also use cookies and similar technologies to recognise and improve your use of our websites. You may delete cookies from your computer, and most browsers provide the option to block them. If you block cookies placed by us (first party cookies), you will not be able to access parts of Good Ways Network CIC websites and services that require a login. However, your access to our websites will not be affected if you disable cookies placed by third parties. You can view our cookie policy for more information.

Other Relevant Policies

As well as privacy issues, users and contributors must also be aware of the Good Ways Terms and Conditions. This includes disclaimers. We also have an Acceptable Use Policy covering various types of server usage.

Contact

If you have questions or concerns with respect to this policy, please contact Good Ways Network CIC via our contact channels.

If you believe that we hold information that would allow us to correct, amend, or delete inaccurate information about you or if you believe that information about you has been processed in violation of this privacy policy please email us at [email protected]. Note that you may change your username, email associated with your account, and ‘home’ location through your account without contacting Good Ways Network CIC.