Privacy
TowerScope has no accounts, no cookies, no ads and no tracking. You can use all of it without telling us who you are.
The short version
- No accounts. There is nothing to sign up for.
- No cookies. The site sets none.
- No ads and no analytics. No tracking scripts run on the page.
- Your settings stay with you. They are saved in your own browser, not on our server.
What stays in your browser
To remember how you like the map, TowerScope saves a few choices in your browser's own storage: the airport you picked, the map style, the flight you are following, which layers are on, and any notes you write. They never leave your browser. Clearing this site's data in your browser removes them.
To draw the map, the page asks our server for the traffic around the airport on screen and for the flight you are following. Those requests carry nothing about who you are.
Saved flights and alerts
When you tap Save on a flight, it goes on a short list (up to 10 flights) kept in your own browser. While a TowerScope page is open, it checks your saved Houston flights about once a minute by asking our server for that flight, the same way the flight card does. Changes show on the page. If you also tap "Also alert me" and your browser asks and you allow it, your browser shows the alert itself; we do not send you messages, and nothing about you is stored on our server. Unsave a flight or clear this site's data to remove the list.
"Near me"
If you tap Near me, your browser asks whether to share your location. If you allow it, the page finds the nearest airport right there in your browser. Your location is not sent to our server.
When something breaks
If a script on the page fails, the page sends us the page address and the first 200 characters of the error message, so we can fix it. That report carries no location, no flight and nothing about who you are.
Shared drawings
When you share a drawing from the Draw tool, it is stored on our server under a long random room code, with no account attached, and it expires. Anyone who has the room link can see that drawing, so share the link only with people you want to see it.
Other services your browser talks to
The map is built from pieces your browser loads straight from other providers. Like any website, each of them sees your IP address when your browser asks for a piece:
- OpenFreeMap (base map)
- Esri ArcGIS (imagery)
- Google map tiles (3D buildings and imagery)
- NASA GIBS (satellite imagery)
- NOAA nowCOAST (weather)
- Iowa Environmental Mesonet (radar)
- Google Fonts (the page's typefaces)
- jsDelivr (a code library for the 3D space view)
- NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (the space weather forecast)
- Planespotters.net (aircraft photos on a plane's card)
- NASA EPIC (the whole-Earth photo)
Our server
We do not keep a web access log for this site. Our services keep basic system records to stay running, and we do not sell or share them.
Aircraft owners
When a plane's card shows its registered owner, that comes from the public aircraft registry and shows only the name, city, state and aircraft type. We never show a street address, ZIP code, phone number or email.
Aircraft whose owners have joined the FAA's LADD or PIA privacy programs are filtered from the map using the FAA's LADD and PIA lists and the feeds' own privacy flags, and their owners are never shown.
Questions about this page: see About TowerScope. This page describes how the site works today; if that changes, this page changes with it.