Privacy and corrections

Privacy

Your address

When you look up an address, it’s sent to official public map services to find your districts: LA County’s address locator (with the U.S. Census Bureau’s as a backup), then the City’s and County’s district maps. As you type, the letters you’ve typed go to the County’s locator to suggest matches. On civicatlasusa.com, requests to the County pass through our web host on the way. We don’t save addresses.

“Use my location”

Your browser asks you first. If you agree, your approximate location goes to the same official map services, in the same way, to find your districts. It isn’t saved.

What stays on your device

The site remembers your council and supervisor district numbers on this device, so the Atlas can mark “yours.” The couch pickup guide keeps your notes on this device (the address, the item and your SR number), so you can pick up where you left off. None of it is sent to us. Clearing this site’s data in your browser removes it.

Civic Crew

The field kit keeps everything you log on this phone: your finds, photos, notes, SR numbers, and optional follow-up plans. Plans can include a next action, a person or team, and a check-in date; they do not send reminders or assign tasks. To find a collection day, the kit sends your address to the County’s locator (as the Home search does), or your location if you choose, and then the map point to the City’s collection-day map. When you log a photo, the kit records where it was taken (your location at the shot, or the photo’s own location data) and sends that point to the County’s locator to find the nearest street address. The photo itself never leaves this phone unless you share it. To check an SR number, it asks the City’s public 311 records for that number. Nothing you log is sent to us. A full backup downloads notes, locations, and photos to a file you control. A spreadsheet or copied summary does not include the photo files. Review these exports before sharing them. “Share handoff” lets you choose whether to include locations and notes, SR details, or your follow-up plan, then review or edit the text before copying or sharing. Photos are not attached to that text. Restoring a backup adds missing observations in this browser; it does not synchronize devices or replace existing records. “Clear my notebook” removes the records and photos from this browser, but not files you already downloaded.

Batch photo organizer

The organizer stores original photos, including available GPS metadata, and your issue notes and confirmed locations in this browser. There is no automatic expiry. Remove a photo or use “Clear entire batch” to delete the corresponding saved data; clearing browser site data also removes it. Downloaded files are separate and are not deleted. Exports use reporting copies with embedded location metadata removed by default. Confirmed issue locations remain in the report text. Original files are included only if you select that option and may contain GPS and capture details. Review the file before sharing it. A location you deliberately save in a report is separate from an address lookup used to find representatives.

Report cards

Report cards are on Civic Crew. They read a photo’s location only from the photo file, on this device. A photo with no location data stays blank until you type an address or confirm one from notes you paste. The page does not ask for your name or email, and it does not store them. An SR number you paste is kept in this browser with the card record: the address, the answers, the note, and photo GPS when the file had it. You can download that list as text or as one JSON object per card. The photo file stays separate and is not uploaded and is not inside the record. The page does not file a MyLA311 request.

Shared links

“Send this to a neighbor” links carry district numbers and the Neighborhood Council, never your address.

Other services the pages load

Our web host, Netlify, keeps standard server records, as any website host does. The handwritten note on the Home page uses a Google font, and the council district map uses OpenStreetMap tiles; those services see a visit the way any website does. We don’t use analytics, advertising or tracking tools. Links to official sites follow those sites’ own privacy policies.

Community requests

If you submit a request for a new Civic Atlas edition, your city or town, state, email, and any note you add are sent to Netlify, our website host, and stored for Torobelly Labs to review and follow up. This form is separate from the Civic Crew notebook, which stays on your device. It does not submit a report to the City. To ask us to remove a community request, email build@torobelly.com.

If you email us

We see your email address and use it only to reply.

Corrections

Every fact on this site comes from an official source, with the date we checked it.

See something wrong or missing? Email build@torobelly.com. Tell us the page, what’s wrong, and a link to the official source if you have one.

We check it against the official source. If we got it wrong, we fix it and update the date we checked it. If something isn’t known yet, the site says so rather than guessing.

Not for emergencies. This inbox isn’t watched around the clock. If someone is in danger, call 911.