Privacy Policy

1. Basic Policy

Sidekick (“the Service”) respects users’ privacy and is committed to protecting personal information. This policy explains how the Service collects and uses information.

2. Information We Collect

The Service may collect the following information:

• Your name and email address when you contact us
• Information processed through our payment provider, Stripe, when you make a purchase (the Service does not retain your credit card information)
• Website access logs, including IP address, browser information, and pages viewed
• Shooting plans that you choose to publish to the Planner QR Map (including the latitude and longitude of the shooting location, the shooting date and time, and the subject; see 9-6)

3. How We Use Information

We use collected information only for the following purposes:

• Providing and supporting purchased products
• Responding to inquiries
• Analyzing website usage to improve the Service
• Sending important notices, such as service changes and issue notifications
• Listing plans on the Planner QR Map and operating it (including responding to inappropriate listings)

We do not use personal information for purposes other than those listed above.

4. Disclosure to Third Parties

Except where required by law, the Service does not provide collected personal information to third parties without the individual’s consent. The following services are used, and information is processed in accordance with their respective terms:

• Stripe: Payment processing (Stripe Privacy Policy)
• Google Drive: File delivery
• Vercel Inc.: hosting and operation of this website's servers (including processing of website access logs; Sidekick Planner usage records and communication for publishing to and viewing the Planner QR Map also reach this website through Vercel) (Vercel Privacy Notice)
• Google (Firebase / Cloud Firestore): sign-in authentication and usage management for AI Lab, records of download registrations, storage of Sidekick Planner usage records, and storage of shooting plans published to the Planner QR Map (in a project dedicated to the QR Map) (Firebase Privacy and Security)

5. Cookies

This website may use cookies for analytics. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, although doing so may affect some features of the Service.

6. Storage and Management of Personal Information

We take appropriate security measures to store collected personal information. Personal information that is no longer needed will be deleted promptly.

7. Requests for Disclosure, Correction, or Deletion

If an individual requests disclosure, correction, or deletion of their personal information, we will respond within a reasonable period. Please contact us using the details below.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may change this policy as necessary. Changes will be announced on this page.

9. Sidekick Planner (Beta)

For the terms of use of the Sidekick Planner Beta, see Sidekick Planner Beta — Terms of Use.

9-1. Runs on your own PC

Sidekick Planner is software that runs on your Windows PC. There is no account registration or login. Calculation results and settings are stored on your PC (in the output and data folders of the distribution folder) and can be deleted by you.

To determine the Beta's period of use (Section 3 of the Terms of Use), Sidekick Planner may store information about when it was used (the date and time it was last started) only on your PC (in the output folder of the distribution folder). This information is not sent anywhere and is not included in the usage records described in 9-3. It is not used to identify you.

9-2. External communication

Sidekick Planner communicates with the following external servers.

• Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (cyberjapandata.gsi.go.jp): base map and elevation tiles are fetched directly from your PC, only for the area needed for display and calculation. Because of how network communication works, ordinary connection information such as your device's IP address reaches the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan.
• This website (www.sidekick-lab.com): the "usage records" described in 9-3 are sent. In addition, only if you choose "Publish to QR Map", the shooting plan is sent as described in 9-6. Creating or displaying a QR code alone does not send the shooting plan.
• Google Maps: only when you press "Open in Google Maps", Google Maps opens with a URL containing the latitude and longitude of the shooting location. No communication with Google takes place until you press it.

No other external communication (analytics, advertising, or third-party measurement services) is built in.

9-3. Usage records

When you share a shooting plan by QR code, Sidekick Planner sends only anonymous count information — that "a QR code was generated" — to this website's server. Five items are sent: the type of event, the type of subject (mountain or structure), the sharing method (view on a phone or hand over to Planner), the time rounded to the hour, and a randomly generated identifier. These records do not include the latitude and longitude of the shooting location, the shooting date and time, the name of the subject, the contents of the QR code, or any information identifying you or your PC (for what is sent when you choose "Publish to QR Map", see 9-6). These records are used only to understand how much Sidekick Planner is used and to inform its development and improvement.

This recording is enabled by default. You can turn it off at any time from Sidekick Planner's "Usage records" setting. While it is off, nothing is recorded, and no usage from the off period is sent later. Records made before turning it off that have not yet been sent are kept on your PC and are sent again once you turn it back on. The records also remain in the output/activity folder on your PC and can be deleted.

Because of how network communication works, your device's IP address reaches the hosting provider of our server (Vercel Inc.), but this website does not store it. Received records are stored in Google's cloud database (Firebase / Cloud Firestore); individual records are deleted automatically after about 14 months. Only aggregated counts are retained and may be published in the future as Sidekick Planner usage statistics (never in a form that reveals individual records or users; small values are not shown).

9-4. The share page (/share)

The share page opened from a QR code carries the shooting plan in the part of the URL after "#", which, by the way browsers work, is not sent to this website's server. Displaying a shooting plan on the share page does not cause this website to store that plan (for the storage of plans published to the QR Map, see 9-6). The share page sends only the fact that the plan was displayed successfully (or the type of reason it failed) and one bit indicating whether it has been viewed on the same device before, using the same mechanism as 9-3. The contents of the shooting plan are not sent. To determine "viewed on this device before", a hash value of the viewed plan (from which the contents cannot be recovered) is stored only in your browser.

The map on the share page also fetches tiles from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan directly from the viewer's browser, as in 9-2. Access to the share page is covered by "website access logs" (Section 2) in the same way as other pages of this website.

9-5. QR codes and location information

The share QR code and share URL contain the exact latitude and longitude of the shooting location and the shooting date and time. They are read on the recipient's device without passing through this website. If a QR image or URL is passed on, the shooting location may reach people you did not intend. If you choose "Publish to QR Map", the same shooting plan is also sent to this website and listed on a map that anyone can see (9-6).

9-6. Planner QR Map

The "Planner QR Map" lists shooting plans that users choose to publish on a map that anyone can see.

Published only when you choose Creating or displaying a QR code does not send the shooting plan to this website. Only when you turn on "Publish to QR Map" in Sidekick Planner and, while it is on, save a share QR code or copy a share URL, is that shooting plan sent to this website and listed on the Planner QR Map. The first time you turn on "Publish to QR Map", you are asked to agree on a confirmation screen.

What is published The exact latitude and longitude of the shooting location, the shooting date and time, the subject and the other contents of the same shooting plan as in the QR code (a copy of the plan). Anyone will be able to see it on the map. No name, email address or account is needed to publish (plans are published anonymously).

Management key Each time you publish, a management key for removing that listing is created and stored only on your PC (in Sidekick Planner's output folder). This website stores only a value derived from the key that cannot be reversed (a hash); it neither stores nor publishes the key itself.

Guideline listing period When the details of a listing are opened on the map, we count that as a "view". A listing is shown for about 180 days after its last view as a guideline; a view may extend the period from that time. Displaying the map, showing pins or groups of pins, and loading the visible area are not counted as views.

Removing a listing and deletion You can remove a listing from Sidekick Planner on the PC that published it. Once removed, it is no longer shown on the map. Removed listings, and listings no longer shown after the guideline period, are deleted from this website's database about 30 days later. We cannot delete copies that viewers have already saved or recorded. If you lose the management key (for example, if your PC fails or the output folder is deleted), you cannot remove the listing from Sidekick Planner. If you would like the listing to be deleted, please contact us using the details below. After checking the listing and other details, we may be able to respond to your request.

Relationship with QR codes QR codes, share URLs and the share page do not use the Planner QR Map's server. After you remove a listing, or if the Planner QR Map is suspended or discontinued, QR codes and share URLs you have created still open on the share page as before.

Communication and storage Communication for publishing and viewing the map passes through Vercel Inc., and published shooting plans are stored in Google's cloud database (Firebase / Cloud Firestore, in a project dedicated to the QR Map). Because of how network communication works, your device's IP address reaches the hosting provider of our server (Vercel Inc.), but this website does not store IP addresses, or values derived from them, in the QR Map database.

The map page On the Planner QR Map page, base map tiles are fetched by the viewer's browser directly from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, and the listings in the visible area are loaded from this website. Access to the map page is covered by "website access logs" (Section 2) in the same way as other pages of this website.

Discontinuation The Planner QR Map may be changed, suspended or discontinued without notice, and we do not guarantee that listings will remain on the map (including when the Sidekick Planner Beta ends).

Contact To report an inappropriate listing or an infringement of rights, or to request removal of a listing, please contact us using the details below.