Cookie Policy

This policy explains which cookies and similar technologies gis-tools.com uses, what each one is for, and how to change or withdraw your choice. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which covers personal data more broadly.

What cookies are

Cookies are small files a website asks your browser to store, which the browser sends back on later visits. Related technologies do much the same job: local storage keeps data in your browser until it is cleared, and scripts loaded from other companies can set cookies of their own. Where this policy says "cookies", it covers all of these.

A session cookie disappears when you close the browser; a persistent one lasts until it expires or you delete it. A first-party cookie is set by this site; a third-party cookie is set by another company whose script runs on the page.

The categories

Necessary — always on

These make the consent mechanism itself work. Without them we could not remember that you had already answered, and you would be asked on every page.

These are first-party and are never used to track you across other websites.

Analytics — off until you allow it

Turning this on loads Google Tag Manager, which in turn loads Google Analytics 4. They tell us which parts of the tool people use, so we can improve them.

Google describes this in How Google uses information from sites that use its services. You can also install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on, which works regardless of what you choose here.

Personalised advertising — off until you allow it

Ads are what keep this tool free, so they are shown whether or not you turn this category on. What the setting controls is personalisation.

The Google AdSense tag is present in the page from the start — that is Google's required placement — but it begins with ad requests paused and personalisation disabled. Nothing is requested until you answer. Turn this on and AdSense may use cookies to personalise the ads you see and to measure results. Leave it off and you get non-personalised ads, which still use a limited set of cookies for frequency capping and fraud prevention.

Exact names and lifetimes are set by Google and can change. Non-personalised ads use fewer of these, but not none. You can manage Google ad personalisation independently at My Ad Center.

Functional — off until you allow it

Remembers preferences such as your light or dark theme so the site looks the way you left it. These are first-party and stay in your browser.

How your choice is applied

Every optional category starts denied. We use Google Consent Mode v2, and before you choose, analytics_storage, ad_storage, ad_user_data, ad_personalization, functionality_storage and personalization_storage are all set to denied.

For analytics we go further than signalling denial: the Google Tag Manager container is not loaded into the page at all until you allow analytics.

For advertising the AdSense tag is present from the start, because Google requires it in the page head, but it boots with pauseAdRequests set and personalisation disabled, so no ad request leaves your browser until you have answered — and if you decline, requests resume non-personalised.

If you are in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland you will see Google's consent message instead of ours. Google requires publishers serving ads in those regions to use a consent platform it has certified, and ours is not one. Rather than ask you the same question twice, we stand our dialog down when Google's is present: your answer there is the one that governs, for both advertising and analytics. Everywhere else, the dialog described on this page is the only one.

Changing or withdrawing your choice

Click Cookie Preferences in the footer of any page. You can switch individual categories on or off, or reject everything optional.

Two things worth knowing:

• Withdrawing consent stops anything further from loading, and we clear the analytics cookies we can reach. A script that already ran in the page you are looking at cannot be recalled, so the change takes full effect on your next page load.
• Your choice is stored for 30 days. After that you will be asked again.

You can also clear or block cookies in your browser directly — every major browser offers this in its privacy settings — and deleting this site's stored data will make the consent notice reappear.

What is not a cookie

The spatial data you paste, draw or import is not stored in cookies and is not sent anywhere. It is held in memory in your browser, and any layers the tool remembers between visits live in your browser's local storage on your own device. See the Privacy Policy for the full picture.

Changes to this policy

If the cookies we use change, this page changes with them and the "Last updated" date above moves. If the change affects what we ask consent for, you will be asked again.

Who sets these cookies

GIS Tools (gis-tools.com) is operated by Yarden Haramati, based in Israel, who is responsible for the cookies described above. Cookies set by Google are covered by Google's own policies, linked throughout this page.

Contact

Questions about cookies on this site: gis.tools.online@gmail.com