Privacy Policy

A History of Nations · Chrome extension & web app

Short version: nothing personal ever leaves your browser. A History of Nations collects no data, requires no sign-in, and has no accounts, analytics or trackers. The only network requests it ever makes are optional lookups you trigger yourself: a Wikipedia summary when you open a historical place, and an OpenStreetMap place search when you use “Drop a pin” (see below).

What we collect

Nothing. The app does not collect, store, transmit, or sell any personal information, usage data, location, browsing history, or content. There are no analytics or advertising SDKs.

Permissions

The Chrome extension requests no permissions and no host access. Clicking the toolbar icon simply opens the visualization in a new tab. All code and map data are bundled with the app; nothing is downloaded or executed from a remote server.

Local storage

The only things stored on your device are small entries in your browser's localStorage: a flag recording that you've seen the one-time welcome (hon_seen_v1), your optional "been / want to go" country tags (hon_mine_v1), and any places you pin (hon_pins_v1). These never leave your device and can be cleared at any time from the menu or by clearing your browser data.

Wikipedia summaries

When you click a historical place, the app fetches a short summary of that place from Wikipedia / Wikidata (operated by the Wikimedia Foundation) to show in the detail card. The request contains only the place's public identifier (its Wikidata ID or name) — never any personal information — and is sent directly from your browser to Wikimedia. If you never open a place, no such request is made. Wikimedia's handling of requests is governed by the Wikimedia privacy policy. Summaries are reused from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA.

Place search (“Drop a pin”)

When you search for a town or village in the “Drop a pin” box, the text you type is sent to an OpenStreetMap-based geocoding service to find its coordinates — Nominatim (openstreetmap.org), with Photon (komoot.io) as a fallback if the first is unreachable. Only your search text is sent — no personal information — and only while you are actively searching. The pins you save are stored locally in your browser (hon_pins_v1) and never uploaded. Place data is © OpenStreetMap contributors; see the OSM Foundation privacy policy.

Third parties

Aside from the optional Wikipedia summaries and OpenStreetMap place search described above, none. The visualization is rendered entirely on your device using bundled, open-source libraries (globe.gl / three.js and topojson-client). No data is shared with anyone, and there are no analytics or advertising SDKs.

Data sources

Historical borders are derived from the Cliopatria dataset (Seshat Global History Databank, CC BY 4.0); present-day borders are from Natural Earth (public domain). These are bundled with the app and loaded locally.

Children

The app is suitable for all ages and collects no data from anyone, including children.

Changes

If this policy ever changes, the updated version will be posted on this page.

Contact

Questions? Reach out via the 42 Apps project pages.

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