PRIVACY POLICY
GroundRove Privacy Policy
GroundRove is an offline-first Android field-map and research service. A GroundRove account is required to use the Android app. This policy explains how GroundRove and its service providers access, use, store, and share information when you create an account, start the GroundRove trial, purchase lifetime access, use the Android app, or contact GroundRove.
GPS locations, tracks, Saved Locations, Field Records, Prospecting Areas, notes, measurements, and attached-photo references remain local to your device unless you explicitly export or share them.
Developer and privacy contact
GroundRove is operated by Gaea Solutions LLC under the GroundRove trade name. For privacy questions, account-data requests, deletion requests, support, or other private inquiries, contact contact@groundrove.com.
GroundRove accounts
A GroundRove account is required to sign in to and use the GroundRove Android app. GroundRove collects and stores the account information needed to authenticate you and determine whether your account is in a trial period or has lifetime access.
GroundRove account records may include:
- your email address;
- an optional display name if you choose to provide one;
- a GroundRove user or account identifier;
- authentication and session information needed to keep you signed in and protect the account;
- account creation and relevant authentication timestamps;
- trial readiness, activation, beginning, end, and cancellation status;
- lifetime-access, payment-attempt, purchase, refund, dispute, and entitlement status; and
- Stripe customer, checkout, payment-method, payment, refund, or dispute identifiers needed to associate billing events with your GroundRove account.
GroundRove does not require a display name or postal address as part of your GroundRove account profile. GroundRove does not operate a cloud-sync service for your field research data.
7-day trial and $55 lifetime purchase
GroundRove is sold as a one-time lifetime purchase, not a recurring subscription. Completing payment-method setup on the GroundRove website makes the trial ready to activate; it does not start the trial clock. The 7-day trial begins when you first activate GroundRove in the Android app after setup. Unless you cancel the scheduled purchase before the trial ends, Stripe automatically charges $55 once for lifetime GroundRove access. Canceling the scheduled purchase does not end the trial early; trial access continues through the original trial end time. After a successful $55 purchase, GroundRove's refund policy allows 7 days to request a 100% refund of the original GroundRove purchase.
If the scheduled payment fails or no usable payment method is available, no lifetime purchase is completed and the trial may end without paid access. GroundRove uses trial, payment, cancellation, refund, dispute, and entitlement information to determine the server-side access state associated with your account. A successful refund or payment dispute can suspend, restore, or remove the corresponding server-side lifetime entitlement according to the current payment status.
Payment processing by Stripe
GroundRove uses Stripe to process the trial payment method and the one-time lifetime purchase. Payment-card numbers, CVCs, billing details, names, postal addresses, and other payment information requested during checkout are collected and processed by Stripe under Stripe's own terms and privacy practices.
GroundRove does not store your complete payment-card number or CVC. GroundRove also does not use your Stripe billing name or postal address as GroundRove profile information. GroundRove receives and retains only the information reasonably needed to associate the transaction with your GroundRove account and maintain the correct entitlement, such as transaction identifiers, Stripe customer identifiers, payment status, purchase date, refund status, dispute status, and related records.
Transactional account emails
GroundRove uses Brevo to deliver transactional account and billing emails. These messages may include trial activation, scheduled-purchase cancellation, lifetime-purchase confirmation, payment-failure, refund, and payment-dispute status. Brevo receives the email address needed for delivery together with the message content and delivery metadata. GroundRove currently does not send a separate pre-charge reminder immediately before the scheduled $55 lifetime purchase.
Signed offline access licenses
After GroundRove verifies an eligible trial or lifetime entitlement, the Android app can receive a signed, installation-specific access license. The app stores an installation identifier, the signed license, and account-session information in app-private storage; sensitive stored values are protected with the Android Keystore. A signed license includes the information needed to validate the product, account, installation, license type, issue time, and, for a trial, the trial end time.
A valid signed lifetime license has no expiration time and is designed to be verified locally on that installation without a network request on each launch. GroundRove excludes its local license store from Android cloud backup and device transfer. Signing out, clearing GroundRove app data, or uninstalling GroundRove removes or makes unavailable the locally stored license for that installation.
Location data
GroundRove can access approximate or precise device location when you invoke GPS features.
- Approximate location can be used to show your current position on the map.
- Precise location is used when you choose to center on GPS, save a field waypoint or Field Record, run location-based Research, or use other GPS-dependent Field features.
- If you explicitly start Track Recording, GroundRove runs a visible Android location foreground service so the track can continue while GroundRove is temporarily in the background. Android displays an ongoing track-recording notification until recording stops.
- GroundRove does not request Android
ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATIONpermission. - Your GPS position and recorded track points are stored locally for GroundRove's field functions and are not sent to GroundRove's account or entitlement servers.
Location access is optional for non-GPS functions. Denying location permission does not cause GroundRove to upload location through another method.
Local field and research data
Saved Locations, Field Records, recorded track points, saved Prospecting Areas, trip plans and stops, sample identifiers, notes, measurements, and related coordinates are stored locally in GroundRove's private app storage. This field and research data is separate from your GroundRove account and lifetime entitlement.
GroundRove does not automatically upload this local field data to GroundRove-operated account servers. Signing in to GroundRove does not cause your saved field data, GPS history, research areas, tracks, or notes to be synced to a GroundRove cloud account.
Photos, imported files, and exports
If you attach a photo to a Field Record, GroundRove stores the Android document URI you selected and retains read access when the selected provider permits it. The original photo remains managed by the storage/photo provider you selected; GroundRove does not automatically upload it to GroundRove's account servers.
When you explicitly export data, Android's system document picker lets you choose where to save the file. When you explicitly import a supported GPX, KML, GeoJSON, or RockMap file, GroundRove reads the selected file to add supported locations, tracks, or polygon areas to local app storage. GroundRove does not automatically upload imported or exported field content to GroundRove-operated servers.
If you choose a cloud-storage or sharing provider in Android's document/share UI, that provider receives or serves the selected file under its own terms and privacy practices.
Local safety acknowledgment token
Before GroundRove can be used, the current release requires acknowledgment of GroundRove's Safety & data limitations notice unless you previously chose not to show the current disclosure version again.
GroundRove stores a randomly generated local acknowledgment token together with the disclosure version, last acknowledgment time, acknowledgment count, and reminder preference. This token is stored only in GroundRove's private app preferences. It is separate from your GroundRove account identifier, is not an advertising or cross-app tracking identifier, and is not sent to GroundRove's account servers. The safety preferences are excluded from Android backup/device transfer. The token is not a server-verified, tamper-proof, or legal-signature record and can be removed by clearing GroundRove app data.
Android backup and device transfer
GroundRove allows Android's standard backup and device-transfer systems to include eligible local databases containing Saved Locations, trips, and field data. Depending on your device, Google account, and backup settings, this may cause eligible local data to be stored or transferred by the Android platform or backup provider.
Downloadable offline map files, downloaded Colorado and Arizona geology snapshots, reproducible Research-result files, and the local safety-acknowledgment preferences are excluded from Android backup/device transfer. GroundRove does not receive or control copies held by the Android backup provider.
Offline-data updates and network data
GroundRove is designed to work offline for many mapping and research functions, but account authentication, entitlement checks, and user-requested data-update checks require network access.
Account and entitlement requests may cause GroundRove's hosting, authentication, and network service providers to receive ordinary connection information such as IP address, request time, device/network request metadata, and information needed to authenticate the session and determine trial or lifetime-access status.
For release-managed GroundRove data, the app retrieves a small update manifest first. The manifest declares the resource filename, exact byte count, and SHA-256 checksum. GroundRove displays the relevant download size before you authorize the additional resource download. Downloaded files are not activated unless their byte counts and SHA-256 values match the manifest.
GroundRove currently supports separate offline data packages for Colorado and Arizona. Queryable Colorado geology is distributed as a versioned GroundRove SQLite snapshot built from the U.S. Geological Survey State Geologic Map Compilation (SGMC) Colorado polygons. Queryable Arizona geology is distributed as a versioned GroundRove SQLite snapshot derived from the U.S. Geological Survey Cooperative National Geologic Map (CNGM), Earth's surface geology, clipped and validated for Arizona. Arizona core data packages also contain offline reference data such as the Arizona basemap, USGS GNIS place-name data, USGS MRDS mineral-occurrence data, BLM MLRS mining-claim data, and BLM Arizona Surface Management Agency data where included by the installed package version.
After an installed state package or geology snapshot is activated, GroundRove map display, Find, Research, and spatial queries operate on local files. GPS positions, saved Prospecting Areas, Field Record coordinates, search terms, tracks, notes, photos, and other user-created field data are not sent to USGS, BLM, OpenStreetMap, Protomaps, CGS, CDOT, or other source agencies/projects merely because you view or query those installed offline datasets.
Update hosts and their infrastructure, including GitHub when GitHub-hosted releases are used, may receive ordinary network information such as IP address, request time, and standard HTTP request metadata under that provider's own privacy practices.
GroundRove does not include advertising SDKs or analytics SDKs in the current release.
Public map and research sources
GroundRove uses public or publicly distributed geographic and research datasets for Colorado and Arizona. Current source families include OpenStreetMap/Protomaps-derived basemap data; USGS GNIS geographic names; USGS MRDS mineral-occurrence information; BLM MLRS Mining Claims — Not Closed records; BLM Surface Management Agency data; Colorado Geological Survey and Colorado Department of Transportation sources used by Colorado packages; USGS SGMC for the Colorado geology snapshot; and USGS Cooperative National Geologic Map (CNGM), Earth's surface geology, DOI 10.5066/P146VGVM, for the Arizona geology snapshot. GroundRove's Data sources & licenses and Safety & data limitations notices identify the sources and limitations in more detail.
These datasets describe places and resources. Viewing or querying installed offline source data does not cause GroundRove to send your GPS position to those source agencies or projects.
Service providers and data sharing
GroundRove does not sell user data and does not use account or field data for third-party advertising.
GroundRove uses service providers where necessary to operate the service. These providers may process limited information for the following purposes:
- Stripe: payment-method collection, payment processing, fraud prevention, refunds, disputes, and transaction verification.
- Supabase and related account/hosting infrastructure: account creation, sign-in, session management, entitlement verification, security, database storage, and service delivery.
- Brevo: delivery of transactional GroundRove account and billing emails.
- Android backup or device-transfer providers: processing eligible local app data according to your device and account settings.
- Cloud-storage or sharing providers you choose: receiving or serving files that you explicitly import, export, attach, or share.
GroundRove does not share your locally stored GPS locations, tracks, Field Records, Prospecting Areas, notes, or measurements with Stripe merely because you create an account or make a purchase.
Data security
GroundRove stores local field data in Android app-private storage. Network connections used for GroundRove account access, entitlement checks, payment-status processing, and release-managed downloads are intended to use encrypted HTTPS/TLS connections. Cleartext traffic is disabled in the Android app. Release-managed downloaded data are checked against declared size and SHA-256 values before activation.
No storage, authentication, payment, or transmission system can be guaranteed completely secure.
Data retention
GroundRove retains account information while needed to operate your account, verify trial or lifetime access, deliver transactional account messages, provide support, process refunds and disputes, protect the service, and meet applicable legal, tax, accounting, fraud-prevention, or dispute-resolution obligations.
Transaction, refund, dispute, security, fraud-prevention, and email-delivery audit records that must be retained for legitimate legal, tax, accounting, security, fraud-prevention, refund, dispute, or delivery-integrity purposes may be kept after an account-deletion request for only as long as reasonably necessary for those purposes.
Saved Locations, Field Records, tracks, polygon areas, trips, notes, and other local field data remain on the device until you delete them in GroundRove, clear GroundRove app data, or uninstall the app. Exported files remain wherever you chose to save them and must be deleted from that location. Android backups are subject to the backup provider's own retention and deletion practices.
Account and data deletion
You may request deletion of your GroundRove account and associated server-side personal information through the GroundRove account deletion page or by contacting contact@groundrove.com. GroundRove will delete or de-identify account information that is not required to be retained for legitimate legal, tax, accounting, security, fraud-prevention, refund, dispute-resolution, or transaction-record purposes.
Deleting your GroundRove account removes the server-side account used to sign in and can permanently remove your ability to recover or obtain new GroundRove access for that account. Account deletion does not remotely erase field data, exported files, or an already-issued signed lifetime license stored on an offline installation. Those local items remain under your control; signing out, clearing GroundRove app data, or uninstalling the app removes the local GroundRove account/license state on that installation.
Children
GroundRove is a general-purpose field-map and research utility and is not designed specifically for children. GroundRove does not knowingly collect personal information from children in violation of applicable law. If GroundRove learns that an account contains personal information collected from a child contrary to applicable requirements, GroundRove will take appropriate steps to delete it.
Changes to this policy
This policy may be updated when GroundRove's account system, payment flow, app features, data handling, service providers, supported geographic coverage, or distribution requirements change. The current policy identifies its latest revision date.