1. Address Transmission & Geocoding
When you enter a street address into GroundLayers, the address text is transmitted over HTTPS to the GroundLayers application server, which forwards the structured address to the official U.S. Census Bureau Geocoding Services API (`geocoding.geo.census.gov`) to obtain geographic coordinates (latitude and longitude).
2. Browser Local Search History
GroundLayers retains a list of your 5 most recent location searches strictly inside your own web browser's local storage (localStorage under key groundlayers_search_history).
Search history is stored locally in your browser for convenience and is never transmitted back to GroundLayers servers or any third-party database. An explicit "Clear History" button is provided on the search interface to immediately wipe all stored items from your browser.
3. Server Requests & Federal Agency Queries
To populate the location report, the GroundLayers server issues anonymous server-to-server HTTP requests to public federal agency REST endpoints (U.S. Census Bureau, USDA NRCS, USGS, FEMA). These API requests transmit the geocoded coordinates to fetch public mapping data.
4. Base Map Tiles & Server Logs
Interactive map views load base map tiles directly from USGS and OpenStreetMap tile servers. Standard HTTP web server access logs (containing IP address, User-Agent, and request URL) may be generated by hosting infrastructure and tile servers in the normal operation of web services. GroundLayers does not sell user data or use cross-site advertising tracking scripts.