Privacy policy
Last updated 16 October 2026
First Place Finder (firstplace.dev) is run by NCH Consultancy, Adelaide, South Australia ("we", "us"). This policy says what we collect, why, who else handles it, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. It follows the Australian Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
Questions or requests: [email protected].
The short version
- You can use the map without an account. Nothing you type is stored unless you sign in.
- If you sign in, we keep your email and the searches you run, so you can come back to them. Both are encrypted before they are stored.
- We do not sell your information, show ads, or use tracking or analytics cookies.
- Stripe takes your card details. We never see or store them.
- You can download or delete everything from the account panel at any time.
What we collect
| What | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your email address | When you make an account | To identify your account, and to send a password reset if you ask for one |
| Your password, as a one-way hash | If you sign in with email and password | To check your password. We cannot read it or recover it |
| A keyed fingerprint of your Google account ID | If you sign in with Google | To recognise you next time. We ask Google for your email address and nothing else: not your name, photo or contacts |
| Your saved searches: the places you added, their addresses, what kind of place each is, how often you go and how you travel | When you run a search while signed in | To show your search history. We keep your 50 most recent |
| Purchase records: the plan, the amount, the date and Stripe's reference for the payment | When you buy a plan | To give you access, and because tax law requires sales records |
| A keyed fingerprint of your IP address | When you search for homes, or start a search without a plan | To apply the free limits (2 home searches a day, each after a 60-second wait). The fingerprint cannot be turned back into the address |
| Server logs: the page or API path, the response code and how long it took | Every request | To keep the service working and secure. Logs do not hold addresses you search, emails or passwords |
Cookies
We set two cookies, and only when you sign in: one that keeps you signed in (for up to 30 days) and one that lasts ten minutes while you sign in with Google. Both are strictly necessary. We use no advertising, analytics or tracking cookies. Your browser also keeps your current search in the page address and a few settings in local storage; those stay on your device.
Who else handles your information
To find travel times and homes, the app sends parts of your search to other services. They receive the minimum each one needs, and none of them receives your email.
| Service | What it receives | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe (payments) | Your email, and the card and billing details you give on its page | Australia and the United States |
| Google (sign-in, if you choose it) | That you are signing in to First Place Finder | United States |
| Cloudflare (network and security) | Every request passes through it, including your IP address | Global, nearest data centre |
| Photon by komoot (address search) | The text you type into an address box | Germany |
| OSRM project and FOSSGIS (driving and walking times) | Map coordinates of your places and the area searched | Germany |
| Transitous (public transport times) | Map coordinates of places you reach by public transport | Europe |
| RealtyAPI (home listings) | The rectangle of map searched for homes | United States |
| OpenFreeMap (map tiles) | Your browser asks it for map images directly, so it sees your IP address | Europe |
| Resend (email, only if we send you one) | Your email address and the message | United States |
Some of these services are outside Australia. We use them because they are what make the service work, and each one receives only what its task needs. The servers that hold your account are in Australia.
How we protect it
- Every connection is encrypted with HTTPS.
- Your email and saved searches are encrypted (AES-256-GCM) before they are written, with a key kept apart from the data.
- Passwords are stored only as a salted scrypt hash.
- Backups are encrypted.
- Sign-in attempts are rate limited.
No system is perfectly secure. If a data breach is likely to cause you serious harm, we will tell you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, as the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme requires.
How long we keep it
- Your account and saved searches: until you delete them.
- An account nobody has signed in to for three years, with no plan running: deleted.
- Sign-in sessions: 30 days. Password reset links: one hour.
- Free-limit fingerprints of IP addresses: about two months.
- Server logs: a few weeks.
- Purchase records: five years, as Australian tax law requires. If you delete your account, they are kept without any link to you.
Your choices and rights
- See your information: the account panel has a "Download my data" link that gives you everything we hold about you.
- Delete it: remove one search, clear your history, or delete your whole account from the account panel. It takes effect at once. Copies in our encrypted backups are removed as those backups expire.
- Correct it: to change the email on your account, write to us.
- Complain: write to us first, and we will reply within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.
Children
The service is not intended for anyone under 16, and we do not knowingly hold their information.
Changes
If this policy changes, the new version is posted here with a new date. If a change affects what we do with information we already hold, we will tell account holders by email first.
See also the terms of use.