Terms of Use

About these terms

These terms apply when you use the Spotted website or the Spotted apps for Android and iPhone. Spotted is run by an individual developer based in Australia, named as the developer on Spotted’s store page. By using Spotted you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use Spotted.

What Spotted is

Spotted suggests places to take photos, with a map, today’s light times and directions. The suggestions are written by an AI model using web search, checked by some automatic filters, and may be reused for other people for about a week. Spotted is free to use, with a monthly limit on fresh searches and up to 5 saved spots. Searches that Spotted answers from results it already has do not count towards the limit. The Android and iPhone apps have no accounts, ads or purchases. Optional accounts exist on the website only.

Spotted is a guide, not a guarantee. We may change, limit or stop any part of it. It may not be available in every country.

Suggestions can be wrong. You are responsible for your safety.

AI suggestions can be mistaken, out of date or unsafe. A place may be closed, private, restricted or dangerous when you arrive. Before you go, and while you are there, you are responsible for checking:

• Access and permission. Whether the place is open to the public, whether you need a ticket or permit, and who owns or manages the land. Do not trespass. Obey fences, gates, signs and the instructions of staff, owners and rangers.
• Safety and conditions. Weather, heat, cold and wind, tides, swell and slippery rock platforms, steep or unstable ground, wildlife, traffic, rail corridors and daylight. Never stand or sit on walls, railings or edges, and never cross a barrier, for a photo.
• Drones. Many places ban drones or need approval. Check the rules from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the land manager before you fly.
• Local rules and respect. Photography rules, heritage and cultural sites, sacred places, defence and restricted areas, privacy of other people, and the opening hours that apply to your visit.

Signs and the instructions of people on site always override Spotted. In an emergency in Australia call 000. If you think a suggestion is unsafe, wrong or inappropriate, use “Report this suggestion” on the spot’s card.

Who can use Spotted

Spotted is for people aged 18 or over. If you use it, you confirm that you are at least 18. You must also be allowed to use it where you are. Do not use Spotted if the law where you are prohibits it.

Acceptable use

Please do not:

• use Spotted to trespass, break the law, harm anyone or put anyone at risk;
• scrape, copy in bulk, resell or republish Spotted’s suggestions, or use them to build a competing service;
• get around free-search limits, for example by changing or faking identifiers, or send automated or excessive requests;
• try to break, overload, probe or reverse engineer Spotted, except as the law allows;
• send false, abusive or spam reports;
• try to make Spotted produce harmful, illegal or abusive content, or use it in a way that breaches the terms of the map and photo providers below.

We may remove a suggestion, limit your access or block a device if we think these rules are being broken or to protect Spotted and other people.

Third-party data and services

Maps and place lookups use data from OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence. Place suggestions use GeoNames data, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Photos come from Wikimedia Commons and are shown with the author and licence the photographer chose (for example a Creative Commons licence). If you reuse a photo, follow its licence. Suggestions are generated by our AI search provider. Directions and sharing open other apps, which have their own terms.

These providers and their services are not ours. We are not responsible for them, and they may change or become unavailable.

Our content and your input

Spotted’s software, design and presentation belong to the operator or its licensors. You may use the suggestions to plan your own photography. Reports and other feedback you send us may be used by us to review, correct and improve Spotted. You keep any rights you have in what you send.

Your privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and why. Spotted asks for your agreement before it sends a place or an approximate location to its providers.

Paid features

Paid plans are not offered in the Android or iPhone app. If we offer a paid plan on the website, its price, billing period and how to cancel will be shown before you pay.

No warranty

Our services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any right or remedy, or any guarantee, warranty or other term or condition, implied or imposed by law that cannot lawfully be excluded, including the consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law to the extent they apply.

Subject to that, and to the extent permitted by law, Spotted and its suggestions are provided “as is” and “as available”. We do not promise that they are accurate, complete or current, that any place is safe, lawful or accessible, or that Spotted will be available, uninterrupted or error-free.

Limit on our liability

Subject to the section above, and to the extent permitted by law, we are not liable for loss or damage (including injury, property damage, fines, costs of travel or lost time) arising from your use of, or reliance on, Spotted or from your visit to any place, or for indirect or consequential loss. Where the law allows us to limit our liability for breach of a guarantee that cannot be excluded, our liability is limited, at our option, to supplying the service again or paying the cost of having it supplied again.

Stopping and changes

You can stop using Spotted at any time and, if you have a website account, delete it as described in the Privacy Policy. We may suspend or end access if you break these terms or to protect Spotted. We may update these terms by changing this page. The date at the top shows the latest version, and we will highlight significant changes at the top of this page. If you keep using Spotted after a change takes effect, you accept the updated terms. The app contains a copy of this page, which may be older than the website until you update the app.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia, and you and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that State or Territory and of the Commonwealth. This does not limit any consumer rights you have under the law of the place where you live.

Contact

Questions about these terms or help with Spotted: support@spotted.pics. Privacy requests and complaints: privacy@spotted.pics.