Merestone - Privacy Policy

Effective 14 September 2026

Merestone collects no personal data. There are no accounts, no analytics, no advertising and no tracking of any kind.

Your location

If you allow location access, your position is used on your device to centre the map, show grid references, and (on Apple Watch) find the designations around you. It is never stored by Merestone or sent to me.

Map data requests

Merestone streams its layers directly from the official public services that publish them, and uses Apple Maps as the base map. Those services are, by country:

• United Kingdom - Natural England, Historic England, the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission, NatureScot, SEPA, Natural Resources Wales, Cadw, DAERA and planning.data.gov.uk.
• Ireland - the NPWS, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Geological Survey Ireland, the EPA, the National Monuments Service, the NIAH, Tailte Éireann, Teagasc and Sport Ireland.
• France - the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (INPN), IGN Géoplateforme, the Géoportail de l'urbanisme, Géorisques (BRGM), Sandre/OFB, the ONF and INAO.
• Spain - the Generalitat Valenciana (ICV), the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Junta de Andalucía (REDIAM) and the European Environment Agency.
• Portugal - the ICNF, the APA, the Direção-Geral do Território, the Açores regional government and the European Environment Agency.
• Netherlands - PDOK, the Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland, the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, the Kadaster, Rijkswaterstaat and the waterschappen via Het Waterschapshuis.
• Belgium - the Service public de Wallonie (WalOnMap), Bruxelles Environnement, urban.brussels, Digitaal Vlaanderen (Geopunt), the Agentschap Natuur en Bos, the Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij and the agentschap Onroerend Erfgoed.
• Species records - GBIF, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, for the live species record layers.

When the app requests data, the service being asked receives the same standard information any map app sends: your IP address and the area of the map being loaded. It only ever hears from you for layers you have switched on. Merestone adds nothing to identify you, and none of those requests pass through any server of mine. The app also downloads two small public files from Merestone's own pages on leonfigueira.github.io (the list of layer updates and service notices), which carry nothing about you.

What stays on your device

Notes, folders, saved presets, settings and offline downloads are stored on your device. Favourites are stored on your device and, if iCloud is on, copied between your own devices through your iCloud account; I cannot see them. CSV exports and PDFs go wherever you choose to share them. Shared links contain only the map coordinates, the name and grid reference of the feature being shared, and its layer.

Purchases

Purchases - a one-off country unlock, or the subscription that covers every country - are handled entirely by Apple. I receive no personal information about you from them.

Contact

Questions? Email leonfigueira@gmail.com.

Merestone is made by Leon Figueira. UK layers contain public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0; every other layer is used under its publisher's own licence, named in the app.