Last updated: 23 September 2026
Privacy & cookies
The Atlas uses no accounts, advertising or proprietary audience analytics. Merely opening the site does not set a voting cookie.
Language preference
Your language preference is saved for up to 180 days in a functional cookie. eea_language: This stores only de or en, not a visitor identifier. The Atlas uses it to display pages in your chosen language; it is not used for tracking. Language switches temporarily preserve your current view in session storage.
Hosting and technical connection data
The public beta is hosted on Railway. When the site is requested, the hosting infrastructure processes technically necessary connection data, particularly the IP address, time, requested address and technical status information, to deliver the site and secure its operation. Railway privacy policy.
Europa Overload
The optional Europa Overload mode is off by default. Its selection is stored exclusively in the browser under eea-europa-overload. Only after explicit activation does the browser load images directly from Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia receives the connection data technically required for these requests. Deactivation ends the image display and prevents further image requests by the Atlas.
Public image voting
Only when you cast your first vote does the Atlas set the session cookie used to associate that vote: eea_community. It is random, inaccessible to JavaScript, limited to the Atlas domain and additionally marked Secure over HTTPS. The server stores only its SHA-256 hash, not the cookie value, together with the image ID, vote direction and timestamps.
The Atlas does not store names, email addresses, browser fingerprints or user-agent histories for voting. Click the same direction again to remove an active vote, or the opposite direction to change it. Clearing browser data removes the local association; stored votes can no longer be linked to a visitor without that association.
Retention and recipients
Votes remain stored until they are removed or the community database is cleaned up as part of operations. Technical connection data is received by Railway and, only when Europa Overload is enabled, Wikimedia. The Atlas does not send analytics data to advertising or tracking services.
Contact
Privacy requests and notices can be submitted using the channels listed under Project & contact.