We've provided a few simple options to give you control over your project, without sacrificing user's rights to privacy and anonymity.

Summary

• Users are anonymous by default, logging in is optional
• Premium accounts can require users to log in to a canvis.app account
• Logged in and anonymous users all have a unique ID which you can use for data analysis, or identifying fraud and abuse.
• Survey responses to map layers are publicly visible if the map layer is visible— avoid asking sensitive questions here.

Important considerations

<aside> ⚠️ User's right to privacy and data protection is covered under European law, as well as state laws around the USA, and other national laws around the world. These protections apply to your project as well. For this reason, avoid using survey forms to collect personally identifying information. Read more about our platform data policy Privacy & Data Protection

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Identifying Users

Logged In Users

When someone visits your project, they have the option to log in. Every logged in user has a unique, permanent User ID ("UID") associated with that account. They can also choose a display name for themselves.

This account and UID is the same for all projects in the canvis platform, which is useful if you plan to create multiple projects over time.

Anonymous Users

If a user is not logged in, canvis.app assigns a unique UID to their web browser. When you export your project data and survey responses, this UID can be used to associate survey responses and map contributions to the same user.

The UID carries over across sessions, however users can erase this UID by clearing their browser cache, or viewing your project in incognito mode.

Anonymity Settings

In the project settings, upgraded projects have 3 options to choose from: