Privacy Policy

Last updated:

Map2Minecraft turns real places into Minecraft worlds. This page explains what information that involves, what we do with it, and what you can ask us to do. Many of our players are kids, so we’ve tried to write it so a parent can read it in a few minutes.

The short version
  • You can pick a place, build a world and preview it without giving us your name or email.
  • We only ask for an email when you want something sent to you: a free world, a saved world, or a purchase.
  • Payments go through Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
  • We don’t sell your information, and we don’t run advertising trackers.
  • You can ask us what we hold about you, or ask us to delete it, at any time through our contact page.

Who we are

Map2Minecraft (map2minecraft.com) is run by Brewer Family Interests LLC, a Kentucky (USA) limited liability company (“we”, “us”). We decide how the information described here is used, which makes us its “controller” under data-protection laws such as the GDPR. You can reach us through the contact form or by replying to any email we’ve sent you.

What we collect and why

When you browse, build and preview

The area you pick and your world settings
Why
To build your world: the map area, edition (Java or Bedrock) and size are sent to our generator, which looks up the map data for that area from public map services (listed below). The area might be your own neighbourhood. We never publish it or attach it to your name.
How long
A world built in your browser is deleted from our servers about 30 minutes after it’s built if it isn’t downloaded, 5 minutes after it is, and in any case within 2 hours, unless you unlock it as a free Tiny world (see below). Areas linked to an order are kept with that order.
A random session ID and site-usage events
Why
Your browser makes a random ID and keeps it in local storage (m2m_sid). It’s sent with our own usage events: which page you landed on, the site that sent you (and any campaign tags in the link), steps like “built a world” or “reached checkout”, the world’s job ID, your device type (phone, tablet or computer, worked out from your browser), and which version of a page you saw when we test two designs. This tells us where the site works and where people get stuck. If you later give us your email or buy something, that record is linked to the same session so we can match an order to the world it came from.
How long
We don’t delete these automatically yet. Ask us and we’ll delete records linked to your email.
Your IP address
Why
Every website receives it. We don’t store your raw IP address in our database. Where we need to stop abuse (free worlds, parent pay links and our forms), we store a one-way hash of it, which lets us count requests without keeping the address itself. Our hosting provider keeps standard server logs, which can include IP addresses, for security and troubleshooting.
How long
Hashes are kept with the record they protect. Server logs are kept for a limited period set by our host.
Google Analytics
Why
We use Google Analytics 4 to count visits and see which pages are useful. It sets cookies and receives your IP address and browser details from your device. Google Signals (cross-device and advertising features) is switched off.
How long
Google keeps detailed event data for 2 months and user-level data for up to 14 months.

When you give us your email

Free Tiny worlds
Why
Your email unlocks the download and we email you the link. While your world is waiting we may send up to two reminders before it’s deleted; each has a one-click “stop these emails” link, and they stop once you’ve downloaded the world. The “Send me occasional updates” box is optional and unticked. We only send updates if you tick it (or, if you’ve bought from us, occasional news about similar products), and every update has a one-click unsubscribe link.
How long
The world itself is kept for up to 72 hours. Your email stays in our records of free downloads, which we also use to apply daily limits, until you ask us to delete it.
Save for later
Why
If you ask us to save a world, we email you a link to come back to it.
How long
Until you ask us to delete it.
Purchases
Why
Stripe collects your email, payment details and billing country. We receive your email, country, what you bought and the amount, so we can deliver your world, email your download link, help if something goes wrong, and keep business records. We also keep the area and settings of the world you bought so we can rebuild it if your link expires, and we record when your world is downloaded so we can sort out delivery problems and refunds.
How long
As long as we need them for accounting, tax and legal reasons (usually several years). The world file itself is deleted from our servers soon after it’s built, or after about a week for XL, parent-paid and rebuilt worlds; after that, opening your link rebuilds it.
“Ask a parent” pay links
Why
When you make a link for a parent to pay, we store a picture of the world, its area and settings, the price, and the email the world should go to, if one was given (we ask for a grown-up’s, or your own if you’re 13 or older). Whoever opens the link can see a masked version of that email. After the parent pays, we email the download link to that address and a copy to the parent.
How long
If the link hasn’t been paid within 30 days, we delete the email from it. The rest is kept until you ask us to delete it. Paid orders are kept as business records.
Pro membership
Why
Stripe manages your subscription. We keep your email, Stripe customer ID, plan and renewal date in a signed cookie on your device (m2m_member) and in our membership cache, so you can download without paying again. We also record each world you generate or download with Pro, linked to your Stripe customer ID, so we can check renewal refund requests. Pro has no password: entering your subscription email in a browser turns Pro downloads on there. Seeing or changing your billing needs a sign-in link we email to that address. That link is also your restore link, so keep it private.
How long
The cookie lasts up to a year, and you can sign out any time on your account page. Our cache entry is removed a few days after your subscription ends. Records of Pro use are kept like the usage events above. Stripe keeps billing records as required by law.
Creator program applications
Why
Your name, email, channel link, audience size and what you’d make, so we can review your application and reply.
How long
Until you ask us to delete it.
Messages you send us
Why
Your name (optional), email, topic and message are emailed to us so we can reply. We don’t store the message on the website.
How long
In our email inbox (Gmail) for as long as we need it to help you. Ask us and we’ll delete it.

How we use it

We use personal information only to:

  • build and deliver the worlds you ask for, and send you the emails you ask for;
  • take payments, run Pro subscriptions and keep accounting and tax records;
  • answer your questions and fix problems with orders;
  • keep the service working and stop abuse (for example, daily limits on free worlds);
  • understand how the site is used so we can improve it;
  • send occasional updates if you said yes, and occasional news about similar products to people who have bought from us (every one has a one-click unsubscribe link).

If you’re in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, our legal bases are: performing our contract with you (building, delivering and supporting your world or subscription); legal obligations (tax and accounting records); our legitimate interests in running a secure, working service and understanding how it’s used (analytics and abuse prevention); and your consent (optional updates, which you can withdraw at any time).

We don’t sell personal information, we don’t share it for targeted advertising, and we don’t make automated decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Who helps us run the site

We use a small number of service providers. They handle information only to provide their service to us:

  • Stripe: payments, receipts, Pro subscriptions and the billing portal. Card details go straight to Stripe and never reach our servers.
  • Resend: sends our emails (download links, sign-in links, reminders and occasional news).
  • Railway: hosts our website, world generator, database (Postgres) and cache (Redis), on servers in the United States.
  • Google: Google Analytics, as described above, and Gmail, where messages you send us, your replies to our emails and our order notifications arrive.

Your browser also connects directly to a few other services while you use the map. These services receive your IP address and the request itself, and their own privacy policies apply:

  • Esri provides the satellite imagery and street labels in the map picker.
  • OpenStreetMap’s Nominatim service answers place searches and finds the name of the place you picked.
  • Stripe loads its checkout in your browser and sets its own cookies there to prevent fraud.

To build your world, our servers also request the map data inside your area from public OpenStreetMap services (Overpass servers, including ones run by FOSSGIS in Germany and VK/Mail.ru in Russia), elevation tiles from Amazon Web Services, and the place name from Nominatim. These requests come from our servers and contain only the area’s coordinates, never your IP address or email.

We may also disclose information if the law requires it, to protect our rights or someone’s safety, or to a buyer if the business is ever sold. A buyer would have to keep this policy’s promises for information collected under it.

Cookies and local storage

We keep this short list. There are no advertising cookies.

  • m2m_sid (local storage): the random session ID described above.
  • m2m_first_touch_v1 (local storage): the page you first landed on, the site that sent you and any campaign tags in that link. We use it to understand which links bring people here.
  • m2m_parent_link_… (local storage): remembers a parent pay link you made, so it’s still there if you reload.
  • m2m_member (cookie, Pro subscribers only): keeps you signed in to Pro on this device for up to a year.
  • _ga and _ga_… (cookies): Google Analytics. These cookies can last up to two years.
  • __stripe_mid and __stripe_sid (cookies, set by Stripe when checkout opens): fraud prevention. One lasts a year, the other 30 minutes.

You can clear or block cookies and local storage in your browser settings. The site still works, but Pro will need you to sign in again. To opt out of Google Analytics on every site, you can use Google’s opt-out browser add-on.

Children and parents

A lot of Map2Minecraft players are kids. The site is for a general audience, and we’ve built it to need as little information as possible from anyone:

  • Building and previewing a world needs no name, email, age, photo, phone number or home address.
  • If you’re under 13, ask a parent or guardian to use their email for a free or saved world, and to pay. The “Ask a parent” button makes a link a grown-up can open, look over and pay from. The grown-up decides whether to buy.
  • There’s no chat, no public profile and no way for players to contact each other on the site.
  • Our forms ask anyone under 13 to use a parent’s email. If a child gives us their own email anyway, for example on an “Ask a parent” link, we use it only for that world, and we delete it from links that haven’t been paid within 30 days. If we learn we hold other information from a child under 13 without a parent’s involvement, we delete it.

Parents and guardians: if you think your child gave us their email address or other information, contact us and choose “Privacy or data request”. We’ll tell you what we have and delete it. We may ask you to show that you control the email address involved, usually by replying from it.

Your rights

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

  • tell you what personal information we hold about you and give you a copy;
  • correct anything that’s wrong;
  • delete it. We may need to keep order records for tax and accounting, and if so we’ll tell you what we kept and why;
  • stop sending you emails. Every reminder has a one-click stop link, or you can just ask.

If you’re in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, you also have the right to restrict or object to how we use your information (including uses based on our legitimate interests), to receive it in a portable format, to withdraw consent at any time, and to complain to your local data protection authority. In the UK, that’s the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We’d appreciate the chance to sort it out with you first.

How to ask: use the contact form and choose “Privacy or data request”, or reply to any email we’ve sent you. We don’t have user accounts, so tell us the email address you used (and an order or world link if you have one) so we can find your information. Requests are free, and we’ll answer within one month.

Keeping it safe

The site runs over HTTPS. Card details are handled only by Stripe. We don’t keep IP addresses in our database, only one-way hashes, and we limit who can access our systems. Pro has no password, so anyone who types a subscriber’s email can turn on Pro downloads in their own browser, but billing details and changes are only reachable from a sign-in link we email to the subscriber. No system is perfectly secure, but if something goes wrong that affects your information, we’ll tell you as the law requires.

Where your information is processed

We’re based in the United States, and our servers are there too. If you use Map2Minecraft from another country, your information is transferred to and processed in the US, where data-protection law may differ from yours.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top. If a change is significant, we’ll also make it clear on the site, or email the people it affects.

Contact

Questions or requests about privacy go to Brewer Family Interests LLC through our contact form. A real person reads every message.