Fieldnotes privacy policy

Effective October 27, 2026 · Applies to version 0.4.0

Fieldnotes is a browser extension for saving photography locations, recording visits, and annotating maps and Street View compositions. This version stores its notebook in your browser profile. The extension does not send your notebook to the developer or operate a remote notebook service.

Information processed

On supported Google Maps pages, Fieldnotes reads the page’s URL and title to identify the location or Street View panorama. It uses the displayed map or panorama’s dimensions and local pointer, zoom, and navigation events to place and reposition annotations. The current page information is held in memory while the tab is open. It is saved to the notebook when you save a spot or composition, or edit an annotation.

The local notebook can contain the names, reasons, notes, areas, tags, reference links, coordinates, camera positions, progress statuses, and visit dates you save. Saved Street View compositions contain their Google Maps URLs, panorama identifiers, viewing angles, field of view, and annotation text, colors and angular positions. Independent map annotations contain label text, arrow or area geometry, colors, latitude/longitude points and a Google Maps reference link. They do not require an address or a saved spot. Fieldnotes also stores timestamps, internal record identifiers, pending Street View annotation drafts, and your sidebar preference.

You can select reference or visit photos from your device. Newly attached JPEG, PNG and WebP images are decoded locally, resized to a maximum of 2,400 pixels on their longest edge, and stored as JPEG reference images. This conversion does not copy the source file’s EXIF metadata. Imported backups restore the stored JPEG image data included in the backup. Fieldnotes does not extract photo GPS metadata or request your device’s live location.

The extension does not sign in to your Google account or directly read saved lists from your account. It processes the export files you explicitly choose. It does not read passwords, cookies, payment details, or browsing history outside the supported Maps pages. It does not capture screenshots or copy Street View imagery. It has no AI service, advertising SDK, analytics, or telemetry.

Google Takeout imports

You can choose Google Takeout ZIP, CSV, JSON or GeoJSON files from your device. They are read and decompressed locally. A preview shows the Maps places found, collection membership, notes, duplicates and missing positions. Only selected places are added when you confirm. Unrelated saved web links are skipped. The extension does not retain the original archive as a notebook attachment.

Imported records can contain original place names, notes, tags, addresses, Maps links, collection names and saved dates, as available in your export. Existing notebook notes and confirmed positions are kept when a matching place is imported again. A place without reliable coordinates is stored without a position; it is not assigned placeholder coordinates.

If you choose Find positions, Fieldnotes opens a visible Google Maps tab and visits the imported Maps links in sequence. Google receives those links as ordinary browser navigations. Fieldnotes reads the current page URL to identify the place and its coordinates. A position is saved automatically only when the place identifier matches the imported record and Google exposes explicit place coordinates; you can also confirm a position manually, skip a place or stop. Notebook notes, photos and annotations are not added to those navigation URLs. The temporary queue is held in browser session storage and removed when the helper tab closes or you stop.

Purpose and permissions

Information is processed to display your notebook, save and search places and visits, reopen compositions, draw and edit annotations, display chosen photos, and export or restore backups. Fieldnotes’ use of user data complies with the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements. Notebook data is not sold, used for advertising, or used to train models.

The storage permission is used for local preferences and recovery of annotation drafts from earlier extension versions. The current spot, composition and map-annotation selection for each Maps tab is held in browser session storage so it can survive layer changes and reloads; this selection is removed when that tab closes or the browser session ends, and may also be cleared by an extension reload or update. Notebook records and image data are stored in IndexedDB under the extension’s own origin. Content scripts run only on Google Maps paths on the supported google.com and google.co.uk hosts. No additional server host permissions are requested.

Network activity and sharing

The extension’s code does not make background network requests, upload notebook data or photos, load remote executable code, or synchronize data to a server or cloud drive. All extension scripts, styles and icons are bundled with the extension.

Google Maps itself continues to load maps and imagery from Google under Google’s policies. Choosing to open a saved location or Street View composition navigates your browser to its Google Maps URL, which gives Google the location or panorama and viewing parameters in that URL. Your browser and the extension store may also communicate with their own services to install or update extensions; Fieldnotes does not add notebook contents to those communications.

Export creates a JSON file on your device containing your notebook, included photo images, and annotation drafts. Fieldnotes does not encrypt that file or send it anywhere. If you share it, upload it to cloud storage, or include your browser profile in a separate backup service, that action is controlled by you and that service’s policies.

Retention and deletion

Local records remain until you delete them, clear the notebook, remove the extension or browser profile, or the browser removes the extension’s storage. Local data is not automatically transferred between devices or browser profiles. Browser storage limits and device failure can affect availability, so keep exported backups if you need a separate copy.

Use the notebook settings to view and export records, import a backup, delete individual spots, imported records, photos or map annotations, or delete all local notebook data. Deleting a spot also deletes its related visits, Street View compositions, Street View annotations and photos. Independent map annotations are kept until you delete them separately or clear the notebook. “Delete all local data” also removes saved drafts. It does not delete JSON files you previously downloaded, copies you shared, or information in a separate service used with an earlier extension version.

When updating an earlier unpacked version, Fieldnotes removes its unused connection credential locally without contacting any service. Older annotation drafts are retained locally for backup or import until you delete all local data. This version does not automatically retrieve records previously stored elsewhere; you can import a Fieldnotes backup you already have.

Local security

Notebook data is kept in extension-owned browser storage. Fieldnotes does not add a password or application-level encryption to this storage or exported backups. Someone with access to your browser profile, device backups or exported files may be able to access that information.

Public policy website

The public copy of this policy is hosted on GitHub Pages. When you visit that website, GitHub logs your IP address for security purposes under the GitHub Privacy Statement. The policy website contains no added analytics, forms or tracking scripts. Viewing the bundled policy inside the extension does not contact GitHub.

Contact

For privacy questions or support, email danielatticus@gmail.com. If you contact support, your email address and the information you choose to send will be received through Gmail. The extension does not send support messages or attach notebook data automatically.

Changes

This policy describes version 0.4.0. A release that adds cloud storage, account access, or other data handling must explain those changes and request any required permissions before enabling them.