Privacy
What we measure, and what we don't.
Google Analytics shows us which pages and Atlas datasets people use, so we can improve them. No ads, and never what you view on the map.
- Page path
- Linking page
- Approximate location
- Device, browser and operating system
- Language and screen size
- Three Atlas actions
- IP address stored
- Ads
- Google signals
- Names
- Places you view
Your browser reaches Google Analytics 4 only through your choice, which the cookie settings below control. It is on, so the gate is open: Google Analytics 4 receives the page path, the linking page, an approximate location, the device, browser, operating system, language and screen size, and three Atlas actions.It is off, so the gate is closed and nothing is sent.You have not chosen yet, so the gate stays closed and nothing is sent until you choose Accept. The maintainers see only aggregate reports. IP addresses are never stored, and no ads, Google signals, names or places you view are ever sent. Map imagery loads from its providers on a separate path, whatever your choice.
The disclosures
- Cookies
- Google Analytics 4 sets two first-party cookies, _ga and _ga_<container>, which tell one visit from the next. Each lasts up to two years unless you turn analytics off.
- Who is asked first
- European Economic Area, UK, Switzerland, Quebec and Turkey: opt-in. This includes the EU’s overseas regions, Åland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar. Devices set to Eastern Time in Canada, which covers Ontario as well as most of Quebec, are asked too. Until you choose Accept, the site doesn’t load Google Analytics, so nothing is sent to Google. Visitors in these time zones see a short Accept or Decline prompt on their first visit.
- Cookieless pings
- If Google places you in these regions but your device is set to a time zone elsewhere, Google Analytics loads without setting cookies and sends cookieless pings, which Google uses only to estimate totals, until you choose.
- Everywhere else
- Everywhere else: opt-out. The cookies are set by default unless you turn them off, or your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, which we honour as an opt-out.
- Where your choice lives
- Your choice is kept in your browser’s local storage, not in a cookie, on every page until you change it. While analytics is off, pages don’t load Google Analytics, and turning it off removes its cookies.
- Collected
- Only what the figure shows. Paths and linking pages lose their query, and your approximate location (city, region, country) comes from your IP address; Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses.
- Atlas actions
- Three, by public name only: which dataset is opened (only once you have chosen Accept or turned analytics on yourself, wherever you are, because a dataset can hint at a health interest); switches between globe, map and perspective views; and which inspector is opened. Never the places you look at or click.
- How long
- Google Analytics keeps this visit-level data for two months, then deletes it; only aggregate reports are kept.
- Not collected
- No advertising or ad personalisation. Google signals are off, so visits are not linked to Google accounts or across devices. No names or accounts.
- Map imagery
- Map imagery and the Atlas’s optional data lookups load straight from their providers, such as OpenStreetMap and Cesium ion, under their own policies.
- Change your choice at any time
Every page has a small cookie icon in a bottom corner. In the Atlas it sits under the map controls on a wide screen, and at the end of the data credits on a phone. It opens your cookie settings, with a switch for analytics cookies. The footer’s Cookie settings link opens the same panel. Blocking Google Analytics in your browser or content blocker also stops it; the site works the same without it.
- Who runs it
- Google runs the service, and the genomeOS maintainers see only its aggregate reports. Google’s privacy policy and its page on how Google uses information from sites that use its services apply to it.