Privacy policy

Effective October 18, 2026. Contact: privacy@railspotting.com

RailSpotting (railspotting.com) shows estimated train activity at rail crossings, worked out from railroad radio traffic heard by receivers that its supporting members host. This policy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it and what you can do about it. It covers railspotting.com, admin.railspotting.com and api.railspotting.com.

The short version

You can use the map, history and trains pages without an account. We set no tracking or advertising cookies and use no outside analytics services.
If you sign in with Google, we keep your name, email address and Google account ID.
We never download or copy your videos or photos. A train note keeps a link only.
The map's Here button uses your device's location only in your browser, after your browser asks you. It is never sent to us or stored.
We don't sell your information or share it for advertising.

What we collect

Everyone

Web server logs. Like most websites, our server records each request's IP address, time, page and browser type. We use them to keep the site running and to stop abuse. They are deleted after 14 days.
Visit counts. To see how the site is used, we count visits without cookies. Each day your IP address and browser type are combined with a random value into a code. The random value is kept only in our server's memory, never saved, and replaced when the day ends (Eastern time), so the code can never be worked out again or matched to another day's. With the code we keep the pages you open, how long the live map stays open, which site linked to us (its name only), whether you were signed in, whether you use a phone or the map inside one of our apps, and whether you signed in that day. These are deleted after 30 days and are not kept in backups; only daily totals stay.
Rate limiting. To stop abuse we count requests per IP address in memory. These counts are never written to disk.
Map search. Text you type into the map's search box is sent from our server to the Photon place-search service to find addresses. Your IP address is not passed on.
Settings in your browser. Your theme, browser alert choices and where you last left the map are kept in your own browser's storage and are never sent to us.

If you sign in

Your Google account. Signing in with Google gives us your name, email address, the address of your Google profile photo and your Google account ID (the scopes openid, email and profile). We use them to identify your account and to fill in your profile. We keep only the photo's address, never a copy of the photo, and update it each time you sign in. Until you save your profile, only your first name is shown publicly, on notes you add. Your email address is shown only if you choose to show it on your profile.
Sessions. A cookie keeps you signed in for up to 12 hours. Its value is stored on our server only as a one-way hash.
Activity records. Sign-ins and changes you make, such as adding a receiver or a note, are recorded with your account and IP address so we can investigate problems and abuse. These records are deleted after 365 days.

If you fill in your profile

Your profile is optional. It can hold a display name, a description, a location, a link to your YouTube channel and your Instagram, X, TikTok and Bluesky handles. Your profile page is public once you save it or add a note, and shows your display name, description, links and notes. You choose whether it also shows your Google photo (shown unless you hide it), your location (shown once you enter one, unless you hide it) and your email address (hidden unless you choose to show it). Your display name replaces your first name on all your notes, including older ones. We keep handles and links only and never contact those sites for you. Change or clear any of it at any time on your profile page.

If you add a business profile

Your profile can also show a business: its name, category, description, address, phone number, email address, website, logo and opening hours. Every part is optional, and what you enter is public on your profile. The phone number and email address here are shown as the business's, separately from your account's own email. We keep only what you type, never a copy of your logo or any other content from your site.

If a business profile has a website, its banner shows that site's own icon or logo, which visitors' browsers load directly from the business's site. That site then sees the visitor's IP address, as it would for any visit; we send it no referrer, so it does not learn which page they were on.

If you add a receiver

Its location. You set where your receiver is. We keep the exact position so we can tell which crossings it can hear. The public site never shows the exact position: it shows an area of at least 100 meters across, and you choose how large. Past locations are kept so the history stays correct.
What it reports. Your receiver sends which railroad radio channels were active and when, railroad data signals it decoded (such as end-of-train device reports), and its own health. We do not receive or store audio. Radio events are kept for 45 days, reports for 180 days and health data for 30 days. Trains, train alerts and defect detector reports built from them are public and kept for 45 days.
Wayside Indicator Units, only if you turn them on. A receiver that decodes the railroad's wayside indicators (signal radio) uploads nothing from it until you turn uploading on, on its page. Then it sends signal state changes and the base stations it hears. These are never public: signed-in users see signals placed on the line with their current state, you see your receiver's records, and administrators see them merged with other receivers'. They are kept for 45 days.
Device details. Its name, software version, public key and the address it connects from.

If you use the Android app as a receiver

Your phone's location. While the app is running it sends your phone's GPS position, its accuracy and the time, so we can tell which crossings it can hear. Its exact position is never shown on the public site. Unless you turn it off on your receiver's page, the public map shows the phone only while the app is online and sharing, and only once it has heard an end-of-train device or you have sent a train report from it: as a shaded area at least about 400 meters across (you choose how large) around where the phone was then, with the receiver's name (a new phone is called "Phone receiver" and a code until you rename it). The area is fixed for each place, so the same place always shows the same area and repeated visits reveal nothing more. It does not follow the phone as it moves, and it disappears when the app goes offline. Past trains, alerts and the map's rewind never name a phone or show its area: they say "a phone receiver" and show only the crossings the train lit. Turned off, the phone's position, name and area are seen only by you and our administrators. Past positions are deleted after 45 days, with the radio events heard there.
Phone details. The phone model, Android version, app version, battery level and whether it is charging, listening or sharing, kept as health data for 30 days.
Sharing. With sharing on, what the phone hears can mark crossings on the public map (naming the phone only if it is shown on the map). With it off, what it hears is seen only by you and administrators.
Signing in with Google in the app is the same sign-in as on the website: we keep your name, email address and Google account ID, and nothing else from Google.

If you add a train note

Notes are public. A note keeps what you typed (locomotive numbers, car count and text), the crossing, the time, your display name (your first name until you save a profile) and, if you add one, a single link to a YouTube video, a TikTok video, an Instagram post or a shared Google Photos photo or album, which you paste. We store the link only, never the video or photos, and we never contact those sites for you. A YouTube video plays on the note in YouTube's own player. TikTok, Instagram and Google Photos links open on their own sites. You or an administrator can delete a note at any time.

Google user data

RailSpotting asks Google only for sign-in: your name, email address, profile photo and Google account ID (the openid, email and profile scopes). It asks for no access to your YouTube, Google Photos or any other Google data. You can remove RailSpotting's sign-in at any time at myaccount.google.com/permissions.

RailSpotting's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use Google user data only to provide the features described here. We do not transfer it to anyone, use it for advertising, sell it, or let people read it except where needed for security or the law, or with your permission.

Other services your browser contacts

OpenStreetMap serves the map tiles (its privacy policy).
OpenRailwayMap serves the railway detail layer, only if you turn it on with the map's railway button (openrailwaymap.org).
YouTube serves the player on notes that link to a video, from youtube-nocookie.com, its privacy-enhanced mode. YouTube's own policies apply once you play a video (Google's privacy policy). Our pages load nothing from YouTube for the live streams described below; you watch those on YouTube itself.
Google handles sign-in, and serves profile photos from googleusercontent.com wherever a photo is shown.

Sharing

We don't sell or rent personal information. Apart from the services above, we share it only if the law requires it, or to protect the site, its users or the public from harm. The site is run on our own server in the United States.

Live video streams on YouTube

Some regions' live maps are also published as live video streams on RailSpotting's YouTube channel, @railspotting. A stream is a public broadcast of the same information the public map already shows for that region.

What a stream shows. Crossings by status, defect detectors, fixed receivers' public areas and names, recent trains with their names (made from each trip code), a clock, the map key, a "not for safety" notice and the OpenStreetMap credit.
What a stream never shows. Phones (Android receivers), even ones shown on the map. The exact location of any receiver. Account names, email addresses, profiles or who wrote a note. A stream has no sound: its audio track is silent and never carries railroad radio.
Watching. You watch a stream on YouTube, and Google collects data about viewers there under Google's privacy policy. That includes any recording of the stream, live chat and comments, which YouTube keeps according to its own settings. We do not control how long YouTube keeps them.
No YouTube data. Streaming uses no YouTube or Google API and no Google sign-in scope. We read and store no YouTube or Google data about anyone for it. The only thing we keep is the stream key for each of our own channel's streams, stored encrypted and seen only by administrators.
Supporting members' receivers. A fixed receiver shown on the public map can appear in a stream as its public area and name, with the trains it heard. Phones never appear in a stream. You can also keep a phone off the public map altogether on its receiver page. You can rename a fixed receiver on its page, or ask us to change its name.
Asking for removal. To ask for something to be removed from a stream, email privacy@railspotting.com with the region and what you want removed.

Security

All traffic is encrypted (HTTPS). Session cookies are stored only as hashes, and receivers sign every request with their own key. Database backups are kept on the same server, readable only by administrators, and deleted after 30 days.

Your choices

Delete your notes and receivers yourself from their pages.
To get a copy of your information, correct it, or delete your account, email privacy@railspotting.com from the address on your account. We will reply within 30 days. Deleting your account removes your name and email; notes you wrote can be deleted with it or left without your name, as you choose. Backups holding it expire within 30 days.

Children

RailSpotting is not meant for children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect information from them. If you think a child has signed in, email us and we will delete the account.

Changes

If we change this policy, we will update it here and change the date at the top. If a change affects how we use information we already hold, we will say so on the site before it takes effect.