Privacy Policy & Ethics Statement

Zero Identity Logging

No accounts, student IDs, login credentials, emails, phone numbers, or social media links are requested or stored.

Spatial Aggregation

Observations are aggregated into 25m–100m grid cells with minimum sample thresholds (≥5 contributions) before public display to prevent identifying isolated points.

Non-Clinical Boundary

Strictly measures perceived environmental affordances (trees, noise, lighting), explicitly rejecting clinical psychiatric evaluation.

1. What We Collect and Why

Every submission produces a standalone anonymous observation record containing:

• A randomly generated UUID string (e.g., obs-4f9a-xyz)
• Selected latitude and longitude coordinates strictly clipped inside the official campus boundary
• Selected mood rating on a 5-point scale (1: Relaxed to 5: Very Stressful)
• Selected physical environmental factors (e.g., Tree Canopy, Shade, Traffic, Noise)
• Broad time-of-day category (Morning, Midday, Afternoon, Evening)
• Optional sanitized text commentary (maximum 300 characters, screened for crisis prevention)

2. What We Explicitly Exclude

3. Crisis-Sensitive Handling & Privacy Thresholds

To protect vulnerable students, the platform automatically scans comments for crisis keywords (such as self-harm or acute distress). If detected, immediate resources for the National Center for Mental Health (1553) and University Health Services are presented to the user, and the observation is withheld from public maps until certified by authorized moderators.

Furthermore, public heatmaps require a minimum of 5 contributions per grid cell before display, preventing re-identification in low-traffic or sensitive campus zones.

4. Open Data and Research Stewardship

Aggregated geospatial datasets are synthesized solely for academic research, planning committee briefs, and university facilities improvements. Data is never sold, monetized, or shared with commercial advertising entities.