We collect as little data as possible. This page explains which data we still need and why.
The essentials
PIXELS & TRAVELS is the travel and photography blog of Annina & Nicolas, with a small shop. This policy describes which personal data we process when you visit the website, comment, write to us, subscribe to the newsletter or buy something. It follows the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) and, where it applies to you, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
- We set only one cookie ourselves, and only when you switch the language. Everything else we keep in your browser sits in local storage or in your browser's cache and stays on your device.
- Google Analytics and map tiles only load once you agree in the cookie banner.
- Ads from Google AdSense appear only on blog, destination and photo spot pages. Google asks you about them in its own window.
- Fonts and our own scripts come from our own server. Only Google Analytics, once you agree, and AdSense on the pages with ads load from Google. We do not use Google Fonts.
- We never see your payment details. Payment happens entirely at Stripe.
Controller
The controllers are Annina & Nicolas, PIXELS & TRAVELS, Basel, Switzerland. The details of the operator are also given in the legal notice.
For any question about data protection and to exercise your rights, write to us at hello@pixelsandtravels.com.
Hosting and server logs
The website runs on a Node server at Hostinger (Hostinger International Ltd., Cyprus). With every request the server processes technically necessary details: Your IP address, date and time, the page requested and your browser type. Hostinger records these details in server logs.
We need the logs to keep the website secure and stable and to spot errors and attacks. We do not use them for statistics and do not combine them with other data. How long the logs are kept is decided by Hostinger.
When something goes wrong, our own software writes technical messages to the log. Contact messages, comments, newsletter addresses and the details of orders such as name, delivery address, email address and phone number are not part of them. For orders, the messages contain at most the reference or number of the order, the error code, the number of items and the country of delivery.
When you open the home page pixelsandtravels.com without having chosen a language before, the server uses your IP address to check whether you are in Switzerland, Germany, Austria or Liechtenstein. Then it shows the German home page, otherwise the English one. For this it compares the address with a list of address ranges kept on our server (IP Geolocation by DB-IP, CC BY 4.0). The address is not passed on to anyone for this and is not stored. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in showing you the site in your language (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
So that nobody misuses our forms and interfaces, the server counts how many requests come from one connection for comments, the newsletter, the contact form, checkout, order status and downloads. For this it keeps the IP address in memory, depending on the feature for a period between one minute and one hour after the last request. Our software does not write it to disk or to the log for this. Once the period has passed, the server deletes the address on its own.
Under the GDPR, the legal basis is our legitimate interest in running the site securely (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).
Cookies and local storage
Our website sets only one cookie of its own. pt-lang remembers the language for a year when you switch it at the top or in the footer, so the home page greets you in that language. It holds nothing but «de» or «en». A few more details are kept in your browser's local storage. They stay on your device and are not sent to us or to anyone else by themselves.
So that the website still shows something without an internet connection, a service worker, a small script of our website, keeps files in your browser's cache: The offline page with its photo and fonts, the style, script and font files of the pages you open, and the last three blog posts you read, with title, date and preview image. While you are online, every page comes fresh from our server. Your browser only shows the saved posts when the connection is gone. The service worker never keeps the admin area, the thank-you page after a purchase, downloads or anything you type into a form. The cache, too, stays on your device.
You can delete these entries and the cache at any time in your browser settings, for example through the site data of pixelsandtravels.com. The cookie banner will then ask again, the cart will be empty, and you can only have your own comments deleted by asking us.
Cookies are only set by Google Analytics, once you have agreed to statistics, and by Google AdSense on pages with ads, controlled through Google's consent window. More on both below. Local storage and, only for the length of the session, session storage hold:
- pt-consent: Your choice in the cookie banner and when you made it. After 13 months we ask again.
- pt-cart: Which products you have put in the cart. No names or addresses.
- ptCommentTokens: A secret key for each comment you wrote in this browser, so you can delete it yourself later.
- pt-ar-wall (session only): That you are just coming back from the AR view, so the page opens the 3D view again. After ten minutes the entry is no longer valid.
Cookie banner and consent
On your first visit our cookie banner asks you. “Accept all” switches on statistics as well as maps & external media. Under “Customise” you choose one by one, and nothing is preselected there.
We keep your choice in your browser for 13 months, then we ask again. You can change or withdraw it at any time via “Cookie settings” at the foot of every page. A withdrawal applies from that moment. It does not affect what happened before with your consent.
The admin area, the thank-you page after a purchase, the error pages and the page for an invalid newsletter link show no banner. There we load neither Google Analytics nor ads. The categories in the banner are:
- Necessary: The cart and your choice in the banner. Always on, because the website does not work without them.
- Statistics: Google Analytics, see below.
- Maps & external media: Map tiles for the route map and the photo spot maps, and embedded videos. We currently embed no videos from other platforms.
- Advertising: Google AdSense. Google asks you about it in its own window, the banner only shows a note.
Statistics with Google Analytics
If you agree to statistics, we use Google Analytics 4, a service of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. It shows us which posts and photo spots are read and how visitors find us. It records, for example, the pages viewed, the time spent, where the visit came from, device type, browser and your approximate location at country or city level.
In the process Google necessarily receives your IP address. According to Google it is used only to derive your approximate location and is not stored. We have switched off Google Signals and the use of the data for personalised advertising. If the address of a page contains a reference to your order, we remove it before the address goes to Google.
Without your consent we do not load Google Analytics at all, and nothing is sent to Google. Only with your consent does Google set the cookies _ga and _ga_*. They expire at the latest two years after your last visit. How long Google Analytics keeps the data on individual visits is set by us in the Google Analytics settings. It is 14 months at most.
If you withdraw your consent via “Cookie settings”, measurement stops at once and the website deletes the cookies _ga and _ga_*. In desktop browsers you can also block the collection with Google's browser add-on.
The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). Data may go to Google LLC in the USA. Google LLC is certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Swiss-US Data Privacy Framework.
Maps
We draw our maps with the Leaflet library, which comes from our own server. The map tiles in the background only load once you have agreed to “Maps & external media”. Without consent the maps show only routes, outlines and points.
On the destination and photo spot maps you can also allow the tiles right there with one click. That click counts as consent to “Maps & external media” for the whole website, including the route map on the home page. Like every choice in the banner, we keep it for 13 months. You can take it back at any time via “Cookie settings”.
On smaller screens such as phones and tablets, the photo spot map has a “My location” button. Your browser only asks for permission once you tap it. We then use your location only in your browser: The map shows it as a dot, frames it together with the nearest spot and sorts the spots by distance. It is not sent to us, and we do not store it. If you have agreed to “Maps & external media”, the map loads the tiles for your surroundings from OpenStreetMap.
The same applies to the full-screen map of a hike: If you tap “My location” there, the page works out in your browser at which kilometre of the route you are and how far you are from it. Your location stays in your browser, we neither receive nor store it.
When the tiles load, the provider receives your IP address, the address of our website and details about your browser. This is technically necessary for the tiles to reach you. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). The tiles come from two providers:
- The route map on the home page loads tiles from Esri (ArcGIS Online, Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., USA).
- The maps on the destination and photo spot pages load tiles from OpenStreetMap, run by the OpenStreetMap Foundation in the United Kingdom.
Advertising with Google AdSense
We cover part of the cost of this website with ads from Google AdSense, a service of Google Ireland Limited. Ads appear only on the blog overview, in blog posts, on the destination pages and on the photo spot pages. The home page, gallery, shop, about, contact and the legal pages are ad free, and there we do not load AdSense at all.
On pages with ads, the AdSense script loads together with Google's consent window, a consent management platform certified by Google. For that window to appear, the script loads as soon as the page opens, that is before you have decided. According to Google, cookies for advertising and personalisation are only set once you agree.
AdSense may use cookies and similar techniques to serve ads, measure how they perform and detect abuse. In the process, data such as your IP address and details about your device may go to Google, including Google LLC in the USA. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). Google explains how it uses such data on the page How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
You change your choice on the pages with ads, via “Change with Google” in the cookie settings or via “Privacy settings” at the foot of the page. Pages without ads, this one included, do not load Google's window, so both buttons are missing there.
Contact form and email
If you write to us via the contact form, we process the topic you chose, your name, your email address, your message and the language of the page. Our server sends the message through Hostinger's mail server to our mailbox, and sends you an acknowledgement with a copy of your message. None of it ends up in a database on the website.
Our server writes no names, addresses or messages to its log. Against spam we use a hidden field, a minimum time to fill in the form and a limit per connection. For this the IP address stays in the server's memory until one hour after the last message, see Hosting and server logs.
We keep the emails for as long as we need them for your request and any follow-up questions. The same applies if you write to us directly at hello@pixelsandtravels.com. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in answering your request, or preparing a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) and (f) GDPR).
Comments
You can write a comment under every blog post. For this we store the name you give, your text, the time and the post. The name does not have to be your real one. We do not ask for an email address, and we do not store your IP address with the comment.
Comments appear immediately and are visible to everyone who reads the post. They are kept as files on our server at Hostinger. We can delete comments at any time, for example if they break the law or are advertising, and we can pause comments altogether or for single posts.
So that you can delete your comment yourself, your browser keeps a secret key in local storage. Without that key, for example on another device, we delete the comment when you ask us to. Otherwise comments stay until you or we delete them.
Against spam we limit the number of comments per connection. For this the IP address stays in the server's memory until ten minutes after the last comment, see Hosting and server logs. The legal basis is your consent, which you give by sending the comment, and our legitimate interest in comments without spam (Art. 6(1)(a) and (f) GDPR).
Orders and payment
Payment in the shop runs through Stripe Checkout, a payment page of Stripe Payments Europe Ltd., Ireland. There you enter your email address, your name and your payment details, and for printed products also your delivery address and phone number. Which payment methods appear, for example card or TWINT, is decided by Stripe for your order.
We never see card or account details. From Stripe we receive your name, your email address, for printed products your delivery address and phone number, the products ordered, the amount, the payment method and whether the payment went through. Stripe sends you the payment confirmation by email. We use your email address only for messages about your order, never for advertising.
When you reach our thank-you page after paying, we send you from there an order confirmation with the products ordered, the amounts and, for printed products, the delivery address, and an email with the download link for each preset pack. For printed products a shipping notice with the tracking number follows as soon as Gelato has sent the parcel. These emails go through Hostinger's mail server to the address you gave at Stripe. So that each one is sent only once, we note at the payment in Stripe when it was sent.
Stripe also processes some data under its own responsibility, for example to prevent fraud and to meet legal duties. In the process data may go to Stripe, Inc. in the USA. More in Stripe's privacy policy.
After you buy a digital product, Stripe takes you to our thank-you page. The download link there contains the reference of your order at Stripe. Our server asks Stripe whether the order is paid and releases the file for 30 days. The thank-you page loads neither Google Analytics nor ads, and it does not pass its address on to other sites.
If a download link has expired, you can ask for a new one on the page Download expired. You enter the email address of your order there. Our server asks Stripe for paid orders with downloads for that address. If it finds any, it sends a new link for each of at most three of them through Hostinger's mail server to the address stored with the order at Stripe. The page does not show whether an order exists for an address.
So that nobody misuses this feature, the server accepts at most three requests a day per email address. For this it keeps the email address in memory until 24 hours after the last request, and the IP address until one hour after it. It writes neither of them to the log or to disk. They are deleted as described under Hosting and server logs.
The legal basis is the performance of the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). We keep order and accounting records for as long as the law requires, which in Switzerland is ten years.
Printing and shipping via Gelato
Wall calendars and fine art prints are printed and shipped for us by Gelato, a print service based in Norway. After a paid order we pass Gelato your name, your delivery address, your email address, your phone number if you gave one, and the products ordered. Gelato passes the necessary details on to the print shop and the carrier that carry out your order.
Without these details the parcel cannot be printed and delivered. We ask Gelato for the status of your shipment, show it to you on the thank-you page and email you the tracking number once the parcel is on its way. The legal basis is the performance of the contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).
Fonts, search and sharing
We serve all fonts from our own server. We do not use Google Fonts or any other font service. Search runs in your browser with an index from our server. It does not send your search terms to our server. The AR view of the prints (“Your wall”) and the 3D view also build the 3D model in your browser. Your device processes the camera image itself, with AR Quick Look on iPhone and iPad or with WebXR in the browser on Android. Nothing is sent to us. On Android the camera view runs on Google Play Services for AR (ARCore). According to Google, it collects identifiers of your device or Google account, diagnostic data and data on how ARCore is used, and sends them to Google. Google's privacy policy applies to this.
The share buttons under the posts are plain links to WhatsApp and Pinterest. Only when you click one does that service open and receive the address of the post. The same goes for “Plan route” at the photo spots, which opens Google Maps, and for other links to outside websites such as OpenStreetMap. From then on that service is responsible for what it does with the data.
Transfers abroad
Some of the providers named here process data outside Switzerland: Hostinger in the EU, Google Ireland and Stripe Payments Europe in Ireland, Gelato in Norway, the OpenStreetMap Foundation in the United Kingdom, and Google LLC, Stripe, Inc., Kit and Esri in the USA.
Data only goes to countries without an adequate level of data protection if the recipient is certified under the Swiss-US or EU-US Data Privacy Framework, or if the transfer is covered by the European Commission's standard contractual clauses, which the FDPIC also recognises. When map tiles load, the transfer rests on your consent.
How long we keep data
We keep personal data only for as long as we need it for its purpose or the law requires it. In detail:
- Choice in the cookie banner: 13 months in your browser.
- Google Analytics: Data on individual visits according to our setting there, at most 14 months. Cookies at most two years after your last visit.
- Comments: Until you or we delete them.
- Contact requests: For as long as we need them for the request and follow-up questions.
- Newsletter: Until you unsubscribe.
- Orders: Ten years, as Swiss law requires for business records.
Your rights
You can ask at any time which data we process about you. You can have incorrect data corrected and data deleted, object to the processing and ask for your data in a common format. You can withdraw a consent at any time with effect for the future. If the GDPR applies to you, you have these rights under Art. 15 to 21 GDPR, plus the right to have the processing restricted.
An email to hello@pixelsandtravels.com is enough. So that we do not hand data to the wrong person, we may check that the request really comes from you. Legal retention duties can stand in the way of deletion, in which case we block the data.
You can lodge a complaint with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC, Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern). If you live in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you can also turn to the data protection authority in your country.
Changes
We update this policy when the website, our services or the law change. The version on this page applies. The date next to “As of” shows when we last changed it.
Any questions? Write to us at hello@pixelsandtravels.com or use the contact form.