Privacy Policy

Introduction

BeeMachine ("we," "our," or "us") is a citizen science platform developed by the Spiesman Lab at Kansas State University. Our mission is to advance bee identification and pollinator conservation through community-powered observations. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your information when you use the BeeMachine website and mobile application (collectively, the "Service").

Information We Collect

Account Information

When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and optional profile photo. This information is stored securely in Firebase Authentication and is used to identify you within the platform.

Sighting Data

When you submit a bee sighting, we collect the photographs you upload (up to 5 per sighting), the geographic location (latitude and longitude) of the observation, the date and time of the sighting, and any optional notes you provide. This data is essential for species identification and ecological research.

Location Data

With your permission, we collect precise geolocation data when you submit a sighting. This data is used to map observations, calculate geographic distributions, and support pollinator research. You may choose to enter a location manually instead of using GPS.

Usage Data

We automatically collect standard usage information such as browser type, device type, pages visited, and interaction patterns. This helps us improve the Service and diagnose technical issues.

How We Use Your Information

• To process your bee sightings through our AI-powered prediction service and provide species identification results, confidence scores, and geographic context.
• To display your observations on the BeeMachine Observatory map and contribute to global pollinator data.
• To support academic and ecological research on bee populations, distributions, and biodiversity trends.
• To enable community features such as comments, projects, and verification of sightings.
• To send you notifications about replies to your comments, project membership updates, and important service announcements.
• To improve the accuracy of our identification models and the overall quality of the Service.

Data Sharing and Research Use

BeeMachine is a research platform. Aggregated and anonymized sighting data may be used in published academic research, shared with conservation organizations, or contributed to public biodiversity databases. Your personal account information (name, email) is never shared publicly without your consent. Sighting data displayed on the Observatory map is associated with your display name.

Data Storage and Security

Your data is stored using Google Firebase and Google Cloud services, which provide industry-standard security protections including encryption in transit and at rest. Uploaded images are stored in Amazon S3 with secure access controls. We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your information against unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Request correction of inaccurate information.
• Delete your account and associated personal data.
• Export your sighting data.
• Opt out of non-essential communications.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the address listed below.

Cookies and Tracking

We use essential cookies for authentication and session management. We may use analytics tools to understand how the Service is used. We do not sell your data to advertisers or use tracking for targeted advertising purposes.

Children's Privacy

BeeMachine is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can take appropriate action.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal reasons. We will notify users of significant changes through the Service. Your continued use of BeeMachine after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or your data, please contact: