Ver-o-Guia Belém: privacy and terms of use

Ver-o-Guia Belém (shown as "Ver-o-Guia" on your phone) is a tourist guide to Belém do Pará: places, food, trips, ready-made day plans, the city's yearly festivals and a map. The guide's content comes inside the app. Your favourites, the stops you mark as visited, the places you opened recently and your settings stay on your phone. What leaves it is usage statistics, crash reports, what Google's ad network needs to show the two banners, the map tiles the app downloads from OpenStreetMap and, if you choose to write to me, your email. This page says what each of those is.

I, Tiago Danin, am the developer and the controller of this data under the LGPD (Lei 13.709/2018). If you are in the EU, the GDPR gives you the same rights and I answer them the same way. Write to TiagoDanin@outlook.com about any of it.

What you do in the app

Favourites, plans and searches

The places you save as favourites, the itinerary stops you mark as visited, your last searches, the places you opened recently (shown in Profile under "Keep exploring", where you can clear them), whether you have already seen the welcome screen, the appearance you choose (light, dark or the system's) and the language of the app are kept in the app's own storage on your phone. None of it is uploaded to me or to any server.

Your location

The app asks for your approximate location only when you tap "See what's nearby" on the home screen or the locate button on the map. It uses it on the phone to sort places by distance and to show where you are on the map. The location is not stored and is not sent to me, to Google's analytics or to the ad network by the app. If you refuse, the guide works the same, without the distance.

Directions, links and sharing

"Directions" opens Google Maps (the app or the website) on the place's coordinates, or on its name in Belém when the guide has no coordinates for it; your own position is not part of that link. Source links open in your browser. When you share a place or a trip, its name, summary and a link to its official page or source go through Android's share sheet to the app you choose. From there, that app's or that site's own privacy policy applies.

Reporting wrong information

"Report wrong information", in Profile, opens your email app with a message addressed to me and the app version in the subject. Nothing is sent unless you send it. If you do, I receive your email address and what you wrote, and I use them only to answer you and to fix the guide. You can ask me to delete that message at any time.

What the app collects on its own

Usage statistics

Google Analytics for Firebase records events such as opening a screen, opening a place, a trip or an itinerary, adding or removing a favourite, sharing a place, opening directions, choosing a filter, searching, asking for your location and changing the language. These events carry only the ids of the guide's own places, trips and itineraries, the filter or language chosen, the number of search results in a range (0, 1 to 5, 6 or more) and whether location access was granted. The text you type in the search and your coordinates are never sent. The app does not create an account or send a user ID, so these events are tied to an app installation, not to a name. Analytics also sees your device model, operating system, app version and approximate location, and it may read the device's advertising ID.

Crash reports

Firebase Crashlytics receives a report when the app crashes or an error is caught: the error, the device model, the Android version and the state of the app at that moment.

Ads

Ver-o-Guia Belém is free and shows ads in two places only: one banner in the middle of the home screen and one at the end of each place's page. Google AdMob serves them. To pick and measure ads, AdMob uses the advertising ID, your IP address, the device model and how you interact with the ad, and it may show ads based on your interests. AdMob can infer an approximate location from your IP address; the app does not give it the location from your phone.

Where the law asks for consent, such as in the EU and the UK, the app shows Google's consent form before any ad loads, and you can change your answer later in Profile, "Ad privacy options". You can also reset or delete the advertising ID in Android settings, under Privacy, Ads (on some phones, Google, Ads). Deleting it stops personalised ads on the whole device.

There are no in-app purchases.

Map tiles

The map images come from the OpenStreetMap Foundation's tile servers. When the map is open, your phone downloads the tiles of the area on screen, and those servers receive your IP address, the app's name and which tiles were asked for, as with any website.

What stays on your phone

Your favourites, the stops you marked as visited, your recent searches, the places you opened recently, and your appearance and language settings. Uninstalling the app removes all of it.

Who else receives it

The app has no server of its own. What it sends goes to:

• Google AdMob, what it needs to show the two banners and to record your consent choice, as described above.
• Google Analytics for Firebase and Firebase Crashlytics, the statistics and crash reports.
• The OpenStreetMap Foundation, the map tile requests.

An email you send me through "Report wrong information" goes through your email provider and reaches my inbox at Microsoft Outlook.

Their terms: Firebase privacy, How Google uses information from apps that use its services, Google Privacy Policy and OpenStreetMap Foundation Privacy Policy.

I do not sell your data or hand it to a data broker. I would only disclose it if a Brazilian court or authority legally required it.

Why it is used

The two banners pay for the app. They rely on your consent where the law requires it, and otherwise on my legitimate interest and on the choices you make in Android's ad settings. The statistics and crash reports are used to find bugs and to see which places, trips and screens people use, on the basis of my legitimate interest in keeping the guide working and up to date. Your location is used only to answer your request to see what is near you, and an email you send me only to answer it.

Where it is stored

Google and the OpenStreetMap Foundation store this data on their servers, which may be outside Brazil, including in the United States and the United Kingdom. Google applies the safeguards described in its data processing terms to those transfers.

How long it is kept

Analytics statistics and crash reports are kept for the retention period configured in Firebase, then Google deletes them. AdMob and the OpenStreetMap Foundation keep their data under their own policies.

Your rights

Because there is no account, nothing on my side links data to you by name. You can still ask me what exists, ask for deletion, or object to processing at TiagoDanin@outlook.com, and I answer within 15 days, the period the LGPD sets. Resetting the advertising ID and uninstalling the app cut the link between new data and your device. You can also turn off location access for the app in Android settings at any time. You may also complain to the ANPD, Brazil's data protection authority.

Security

Traffic to Google's services and to the map servers is encrypted. No system is completely secure, but your favourites and plans are never on a server to begin with.

Children

Ver-o-Guia Belém is not directed at children, and I do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13. If you believe a child's data reached the app, write to me.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. For a change that affects what is collected or who receives it, the app shows a notice before the change takes effect.

Contact

Tiago Danin, TiagoDanin@outlook.com.

These terms apply to anyone who installs or uses Ver-o-Guia Belém. By using the app you accept them. If you do not, uninstall it; nothing else is needed.

Who provides the app

Tiago Danin, a private individual in Brazil, who develops and publishes Ver-o-Guia Belém on Google Play. "I" and "me" below mean him. "You" means the person using the app.

What Ver-o-Guia Belém is

A tourist guide to Belém do Pará. It describes sights, markets, museums, parks and islands, the regional food, trips, ready-made plans for one to three days, and the festivals that happen every year, such as the Círio de Nazaré. It has a map, favourites and a list of the stops you have visited. It is an independent guide: it is not run by the city, the state, the places it describes or any tour operator, and it sells nothing and takes no bookings.

Price

Ver-o-Guia Belém is free. It shows ads in two places, the middle of the home screen and the end of each place's page. There are no in-app purchases.

The information in the guide

Descriptions, opening hours, prices and dates come from public sources: official pages, newspapers, Wikipedia and travel guides. Each practical detail shows its source and the date it was checked. Places change their hours and prices, close for works or holidays, and festivals move. Confirm before you go, especially for boat trips and anything that depends on the weather or the tide. When the guide has no current source, it says so. If you find something wrong, "Report wrong information" in Profile opens an email to me.

Distances and directions come from your phone and from Google Maps. The guide does not plan routes and does not say how long it takes to get from one place to another.

Photos come from Wikimedia Commons, under the licence shown with each one. The map is © OpenStreetMap contributors.

What you agree not to do

Do not copy, resell or redistribute the app or its content as your own, or get around its ads or security. Do not use the app for anything that breaks the law.

What you may do with it

I give you a personal, free, non-exclusive and revocable licence to use Ver-o-Guia Belém on your devices. The name, the icon, the texts written for the guide and the design remain mine. The photos and map data stay under their own licences.

Availability

I work on Ver-o-Guia Belém in my own time. Places, trips and features may change, be removed or stop working, and the app may be discontinued.

Liability

Ver-o-Guia Belém is provided as it is. To the extent Brazilian law allows, I am not liable for a place being closed, a price being different or an event changing date, for losses on trips you plan with the guide, for what happens on third-party services you reach from it (maps, boats, restaurants, websites), or for losing favourites kept only on a phone that was reset or replaced. Nothing here removes a right that the law gives you and that a contract cannot take away, such as those in the Código de Defesa do Consumidor.

Privacy

What the app collects is described in the privacy policy on this same page.

Changes

I may update these terms. The date at the top changes when I do, and a change that affects you is announced in the app before it takes effect. Continuing to use Ver-o-Guia Belém after that means you accept the new version.

Law

Brazilian law governs these terms. Anything an email cannot settle goes to the courts of Belém, Pará, without prejudice to your right as a consumer to sue where you live.

Contact

Tiago Danin, TiagoDanin@outlook.com.