THE MUSEUM OF MAPS — TERMS OF USE

Effective date: 27 August 2026
Last updated: 27 August 2026

1. Who we are

The Museum of Maps website, available at https://themuseumofmaps.com/ (the “Website”), is operated by:

Pixel Company EOOD
Registered office and management address: 21 Gorotsvet Street, 1151 Lozen, Sofia, Bulgaria
Registered in the Commercial Register and Register of Non-Profit Legal Entities of the Republic of Bulgaria
Unified Identification Code (UIC): 205286365
VAT identification number: BG205286365
Email: weare@pixelcompanystudio.com

In these Terms, Pixel Company EOOD is referred to as “Pixel Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”. Anyone who visits or uses the Website is referred to as a “user” or “you”.

2. Scope and acceptance

These Terms of Use govern access to and use of the Website, including its freely accessible interactive maps, visualisations, articles, images, educational and curatorial materials, search and navigation functions, newsletter sign-up and other free features (together, the “Services”).

These Terms are made permanently available through the Website footer. By accessing or continuing to use the Website after having a reasonable opportunity to review them, you acknowledge and agree that your use is subject to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Website. Nothing in this paragraph removes any consent or information requirement imposed by mandatory law.

No registration or purchase is currently required to use the freely accessible Services covered by these Terms. If we introduce paid access, subscriptions, ticketed content, accounts or other paid services, the relevant offer and separate sales or subscription terms will apply. Those additional terms will be made available before an order is placed.

3. Purpose of the Website

The Museum of Maps is an independent digital museum devoted to cartography, geography, spatial data, satellite imagery, historical maps and interactive visualisation. The Website is intended for general informational, cultural and educational use.

The content is not professional legal, medical, financial, engineering, surveying, navigation, emergency, safety, defence or other specialist advice. It must not be used as the sole basis for decisions where errors, omissions, scale, timing or positional accuracy could cause loss, injury or legal consequences.

4. Geographic and cartographic notice

Maps are selective representations of the world. Their boundaries, place names, classifications, projections, generalisation, dates and visual choices may reflect the source material, the purpose of a particular exhibit or the uncertainty of the underlying data.

The depiction or naming of any territory, boundary, jurisdiction, entity or geographic feature does not express a legal or political position by Pixel Company. Dashed lines, disputed boundaries, alternative names and similar conventions are used for informational and cartographic purposes only.

Unless an exhibit expressly states otherwise:

• coordinates, distances, areas, routes and measurements are approximate;
• datasets may relate to different dates or use different methods and resolutions;
• live or frequently changing information may not be complete or current;
• historical material is presented in its historical context and may contain outdated, contested or offensive terminology or viewpoints; and
• the Website is not a navigation, cadastral, property-boundary or emergency-response service.

Where practical, the source, date, licence and methodological limitations of data are identified in the relevant exhibit or its attribution panel. Users should consult the original source before relying on information for research, publication or decision-making.

5. Intellectual property and permitted use

Unless otherwise stated, the Website’s original selection, arrangement, interface, design, branding, text, commentary, illustrations, custom graphics, software, databases and interactive visualisations are owned by or licensed to Pixel Company and are protected by copyright, database, trade mark and other applicable laws.

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable permission to access and use the freely available Services for personal, educational, journalistic and internal non-commercial purposes.

You may share a normal link to a public page of the Website and may quote short extracts for criticism, review, teaching, research or reporting where permitted by applicable law, provided that you:

• identify The Museum of Maps as the source;
• include a link to the relevant page where reasonably possible;
• do not remove or obscure credits, copyright notices or data attributions;
• do not imply endorsement, partnership or authorship by Pixel Company; and
• comply with any licence or attribution stated for third-party material.

Except where permitted by mandatory law or by an express open licence displayed with particular content, you may not, without our prior written permission:

• reproduce, republish, sell, sublicense or commercially exploit a substantial part of the Website or its original content;
• copy or systematically extract maps, articles, images, data, metadata or database contents;
• frame, mirror or embed a complete exhibit on another website in a way that substitutes for visiting the Website;
• remove watermarks, credits, rights notices or source attributions;
• use our branding, logo or name in a way that suggests affiliation or endorsement;
• use automated means to scrape, harvest or download content at a scale that burdens the Website or conflicts with a source licence; or
• use Website content to train, fine-tune, benchmark or populate a commercial machine-learning or generative-AI system, except with our prior written permission or where applicable law does not allow such restriction.

To the fullest extent permitted by Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790 and corresponding national law, Pixel Company expressly reserves all rights to reproduce and extract lawfully accessible works and database contents for text and data mining, including for the development, training, fine-tuning, validation or operation of artificial-intelligence systems. This reservation applies in addition to any machine-readable reservation published in the Website’s metadata, headers or robots instructions. It does not restrict uses that cannot lawfully be reserved, including qualifying scientific-research uses under mandatory law.

Requests for licensing, republication, media use, classroom packs, exhibitions or commercial use may be sent to weare@pixelcompanystudio.com.

6. Third-party material, data and map services

Some exhibits incorporate or refer to material supplied by third parties, including open-data publishers, public authorities, archives, scientific organisations, libraries, image providers, OpenStreetMap contributors, basemap and tile providers, and external websites.

Third-party material remains subject to the rights, licences, attribution requirements and terms identified by its owner or provider. A permission granted by these Terms applies only to material controlled by Pixel Company and does not override a third party’s licence.

Pixel Company does not warrant third-party material and is not responsible for a third party’s later correction, withdrawal, licence change or service interruption. Attribution of a source does not mean that the source endorses The Museum of Maps or the interpretation presented in an exhibit.

The Website may load map tiles, geocoding, fonts, media or other resources from third-party services. Those providers may receive technical requests from your browser and operate under their own terms and privacy notices. More information is provided in our Privacy Policy and, where appropriate, in the attribution shown in an exhibit.

Links to external websites are provided for context or convenience. We do not control and are not responsible for their availability, security, accuracy, content or privacy practices. A link does not imply endorsement.

7. Acceptable use

You must not:

• use the Website unlawfully, fraudulently or in a way that infringes the rights of another person;
• attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Website, its server, source code, administrative areas or connected systems;
• introduce malware, malicious code or content designed to disrupt or compromise the Website;
• circumvent technical access controls, rate limits or security measures;
• interfere with the operation or availability of the Website or with another user’s use;
• use automated requests at a rate or volume that may impair the Services;
• falsely represent the Website’s content as official governmental, scientific, legal or navigational information; or
• use the Website to facilitate discrimination, harassment, unlawful surveillance or harm.

We may restrict or block access where reasonably necessary to protect the Website, users, third-party rights or legal compliance.

8. Availability, changes and corrections

We aim to keep the Website available and accurate, but we do not guarantee uninterrupted access or that every exhibit will remain available in its current form. We may correct errors, update data, change sources, redesign, suspend or withdraw any part of the Website for editorial, technical, security, licensing or legal reasons.

Freely accessible exhibits may rotate or move into or out of a curated collection. No user acquires a permanent right to continued access to a particular free exhibit.

If you identify a factual, cartographic, attribution or accessibility issue, please contact us at weare@pixelcompanystudio.com and include the page address and a description of the issue.

9. No warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Website and free Services are provided “as is” and “as available”. We do not give warranties that the Website will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, complete, current or suitable for a particular purpose.

Nothing in these Terms excludes any guarantee, warranty or right that cannot lawfully be excluded, including mandatory consumer rights.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Pixel Company is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss, loss of profit, revenue, opportunity, goodwill, anticipated savings, data or business interruption arising from the use of, inability to use, or reliance on the free Services, including loss caused by inaccurate, incomplete, outdated or differently interpreted geographic information, incompatibility with a device, or a third-party service.

For a user acting wholly or mainly for purposes relating to a trade, business, craft or profession, Pixel Company’s aggregate liability arising out of or in connection with the free Services will not exceed EUR 100. That business user will indemnify Pixel Company against third-party claims, losses and reasonable costs caused by the user’s unlawful commercial republication, infringement of third-party rights, circumvention of access controls or deliberate interference with the Website.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where exclusion or limitation is prohibited by law, including liability for wilful misconduct, gross negligence, death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud, or mandatory consumer rights.

11. Children and educational use

The Website is a general-audience cultural and educational service. Free exhibits can be viewed without submitting personal information.

Children may use the public educational content under the guidance of a parent, guardian or teacher. People under 16 should not subscribe to the newsletter, submit a contact form or otherwise provide personal information without the involvement and permission of a parent or guardian.

Teachers, parents and guardians are responsible for deciding whether an exhibit is suitable for a particular child and for supervising the child’s use of external links and third-party services.

12. Privacy and cookies

Our processing of personal data and use of cookies and similar technologies are described in the Privacy Policy. Non-essential analytics, embedded media or marketing technologies are activated only in accordance with the choices offered through the Website’s consent controls where consent is required by law.

13. Feedback and communications

If you send us a correction, suggestion or other feedback, you retain ownership of your original material. You give us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free permission to use that feedback for reviewing, correcting and improving the Website. This does not allow us to publish your name or private correspondence without an additional lawful basis.

14. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms when the Services, technology, licences or legal requirements change. The current version will be published on this page with a revised “Last updated” date.

Changes apply from the stated effective date. If a change materially affects registered or paid users in the future, we will provide any additional notice required by law or by the applicable service terms. Continued use of the free Website after the effective date means that the updated Terms apply to that use.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Bulgaria, without prejudice to mandatory protections that apply to consumers under the law of their country of habitual residence.

Please contact us first at weare@pixelcompanystudio.com so that we can try to resolve a concern. Where applicable, consumers may also refer a complaint to the Bulgarian Consumer Protection Commission or use another competent alternative dispute-resolution body. Nothing in these Terms limits the right to bring a claim before a court that has jurisdiction under applicable law.

For users acting wholly or mainly for business purposes, the courts of Sofia, Bulgaria will have exclusive jurisdiction, unless mandatory law requires otherwise.

16. General provisions

If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in effect. A failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of that provision. These Terms do not create a partnership, agency, employment or joint venture between you and Pixel Company.

17. Contact

Questions about these Terms, permissions or the Website may be sent to:

Pixel Company EOOD
21 Gorotsvet Street, 1151 Lozen, Sofia, Bulgaria
UIC: 205286365
VAT identification number: BG205286365
Email: weare@pixelcompanystudio.com

THE MUSEUM OF MAPS — PRIVACY POLICY

Effective date: 27 August 2026
Last updated: 27 August 2026

1. About this Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Pixel Company EOOD collects, uses, discloses and protects personal data when you visit https://themuseumofmaps.com/, explore interactive exhibits, contact us or subscribe to Museum communications.

It is designed to provide the information required by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Bulgarian data-protection law and to present our practices transparently to visitors in other countries, including the United States, Canada and countries in Asia-Pacific.

2. Data controller and contact details

The controller responsible for personal data processed through the Website is:

Pixel Company EOOD
Registered office and management address: 21 Gorotsvet Street, 1151 Lozen, Sofia, Bulgaria
UIC: 205286365
VAT identification number: BG205286365
Email for privacy requests: weare@pixelcompanystudio.com

The Managing Director / Privacy Lead is responsible for the organisation’s privacy programme and is the contact person for privacy matters. Privacy enquiries and rights requests may be sent to the email above. The title “Privacy Lead” does not mean that a statutory data protection officer has been appointed under Article 37 GDPR.

3. Personal data we process

The data processed depends on how you use the Website.

3.1 Data generated when you visit

Our hosting, content-delivery and security systems may process:

• IP address;
• date and time of a request;
• requested page or file;
• referring page;
• browser type, device type, operating system and language;
• approximate country or region derived from an IP address;
• technical error, performance and security information; and
• cookie or consent preferences.

We use this information to deliver the Website, maintain security, diagnose errors, prevent abuse and keep technical records.

3.2 Interactive maps and third-party resources

When an exhibit loads a basemap, map tile, font, image, video, geocoding result or other external resource, your browser may send the relevant provider your IP address, browser information, the page or tile requested and the time of the request. Depending on the exhibit, providers may include public-data services, OpenStreetMap-based services, OpenFreeMap, Esri or another provider named in the map attribution.

We minimise external requests where reasonably possible and identify relevant source and attribution information in the exhibit. Third-party providers process data under their own privacy notices. Where applicable law requires consent before a non-essential external service is loaded, the service remains blocked until you choose to allow it.

3.3 Analytics

If you consent where consent is required, we use Google Analytics 4 to understand, in aggregated form, how visitors find and use the Website. Analytics data may include online identifiers, approximate location, device and browser information, pages viewed, interactions and session timing. Google may process data as an independent provider or service provider as described in its own terms and privacy information.

We do not use analytics to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you. You can refuse or withdraw analytics consent through the Website’s cookie settings. Refusal does not prevent access to the free maps.

3.4 Newsletter

If you subscribe to Museum letters, we process:

• your email address;
• any name you choose to provide;
• subscription date, source and proof of consent;
• subscription status and communication preferences; and
• delivery, bounce, unsubscribe and, if enabled and consented to where required, email engagement information.

We use this data only to send the communications described at sign-up, manage the mailing list and demonstrate that subscription was requested. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in each message or by contacting us.

3.5 Contact and correspondence

If you contact us, we process the contact details you provide and the contents and metadata of the correspondence. Please do not send sensitive personal data or personal data about another person unless it is necessary and lawful to do so.

3.6 Information we do not currently request

The freely accessible Services do not currently require an account, payment details, precise device location or identity verification. We do not intentionally collect special-category data, government identifiers or biometric data through the free Website.

4. Purposes and legal bases

For visitors protected by the GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:

Purpose	Data	GDPR legal basis
Deliver pages, maps and requested functions	Technical request and device data	Performance of a request/contract, Art. 6(1)(b), and legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f)
Security, abuse prevention, debugging and service integrity	Logs, IP address, errors and security events	Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f)
Respond to enquiries and manage correspondence	Contact details and message	Steps at your request or performance of a contract, Art. 6(1)(b); legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f)
Send the newsletter	Email, preferences and subscription record	Consent, Art. 6(1)(a)
Measure Website and email use through non-essential technologies	Analytics and engagement data	Consent, Art. 6(1)(a), where required
Maintain evidence of consent and comply with legal duties	Consent, suppression and compliance records	Legal obligation, Art. 6(1)(c), and legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f)
Establish, exercise or defend legal claims	Relevant correspondence, logs and records	Legitimate interests, Art. 6(1)(f)

Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests are operating a secure, reliable and understandable digital museum, preventing misuse, answering users and protecting our rights. We consider the impact on visitors and use only data reasonably necessary for those purposes.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

Cookies are small files stored on a device. Similar technologies include local storage, pixels and software development or analytics identifiers.

We may use:

• strictly necessary technologies, required for security, load balancing, consent choices and core Website functions;
• preference technologies, which remember optional display or language choices;
• analytics technologies, which help us understand use and performance; and
• embedded-content or marketing technologies, if the Website later uses external media or campaigns that set such technologies.

Strictly necessary technologies may operate without consent where the law permits. Other technologies will be used only after consent where consent is required. The consent interface must allow users to reject non-essential technologies as easily as they can accept them and to change their choice later.

The live cookie banner or cookie-settings panel lists the actual cookie or technology name, provider, purpose and duration. Because the Website’s providers and configurations may change, that live list forms the current detailed cookie register.

Browser settings can also delete or block cookies, although blocking strictly necessary storage may affect some functions.

6. How we share personal data

We do not sell personal data. We do not currently share personal data for cross-context behavioural advertising or use it for targeted advertising.

We may disclose limited personal data to:

• hosting, infrastructure, content-delivery, security and technical-support providers;
• newsletter and email-delivery providers;
• analytics providers, where enabled in accordance with your choices;
• map, tile, geocoding, media, font and open-data providers requested by your browser;
• professional advisers where necessary to protect rights or comply with law;
• public authorities where disclosure is legally required; and
• a successor organisation in a merger, restructuring or transfer of the Website, subject to applicable safeguards.

Service providers acting on our instructions may process data only for agreed purposes and subject to appropriate contractual and security obligations. Some external map or media providers may act as independent controllers under their own privacy notices.

We require processors to notify us of relevant security incidents and assist with rights requests and legal compliance where required. We do not permit a processor to use personal data for its own unrelated purposes merely because it receives data while providing a service to us.

7. International data transfers

The Website is operated from Bulgaria, within the European Union. Some service providers or their infrastructure may be located outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Where GDPR-protected personal data is transferred outside the EEA, we use an applicable lawful mechanism, such as an adequacy decision, the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses together with supplementary measures where necessary, or another transfer mechanism permitted by law.

Visitors in other countries should understand that their data may be processed in Bulgaria, the EEA and the countries in which the relevant service providers operate. Privacy and public-authority access rules may differ between countries.

8. Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as needed for the purposes described above, taking account of security, legal, accounting and dispute-resolution requirements.

Our general retention periods are:

• routine web-server and security logs: normally up to 90 days, unless an incident requires longer retention;
• contact enquiries and ordinary correspondence: normally up to 24 months after the matter is closed;
• newsletter data: until you unsubscribe or we end the newsletter;
• unsubscribe and consent evidence: a minimal record may be retained for up to 3 years after withdrawal or the last relevant communication, where needed to demonstrate compliance and prevent further messages;
• consent preferences stored on your device: for the period stated in the cookie-settings panel; and
• Google Analytics data, if used: configured for no longer than 14 months, unless a shorter period is shown in the live settings.

We may retain relevant information longer where required by law or reasonably necessary for an active dispute, security investigation or legal claim. Aggregated or irreversibly anonymised information may be retained without a fixed period because it no longer identifies a person.

9. Your choices and rights

9.1 EEA, United Kingdom and similar rights regimes

Subject to the conditions and exceptions in applicable law, you may have the right to:

• obtain information about and access your personal data;
• correct inaccurate or incomplete data;
• request erasure;
• restrict processing;
• object to processing based on legitimate interests;
• receive data you provided in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format where data portability applies;
• withdraw consent at any time, without affecting processing that was lawful before withdrawal; and
• lodge a complaint with a competent supervisory authority.

We do not currently use solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

9.2 United States

Residents of some US states may have rights to know or access, correct, delete or obtain a copy of certain personal information, and to opt out of sale, targeted advertising or certain profiling. We do not sell personal information or currently use it for targeted advertising. Where a state privacy law applies to us, we will honour applicable requests and will not discriminate against a person for exercising a privacy right.

California visitors may also request information about categories of personal information collected and categories of third parties to which it is disclosed, as described in this Policy. The Website does not currently respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals because there is no universally accepted technical standard. Where legally required and technically supported, we will respect recognised opt-out preference signals.

For clarity, during the preceding 12 months the categories described in Sections 3.1–3.5 may have been collected and disclosed to the corresponding provider categories in Section 6 for the stated operational purposes. We have not sold those categories or shared them for cross-context behavioural advertising. Because we do not conduct those activities, an opt-out signal does not currently change such processing; if our practices change, we will recognise legally required signals, including Global Privacy Control where applicable, and update this Policy before the change.

9.3 Canada

Visitors in Canada may request access to or correction of personal information and may withdraw consent, subject to legal and contractual limitations. The Managing Director / Privacy Lead identified in Section 2 is accountable for our privacy practices. Canadian visitors may raise a concern with us and, where applicable, with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or the relevant provincial authority.

9.4 Asia-Pacific and other regions

Depending on where you live and whether the relevant law applies to our activities, you may have rights to obtain notice, access, correction, deletion, withdrawal of consent, objection, restriction, data portability or complaint to a regulator. This may include rights under privacy laws in Japan, Singapore, South Korea, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia or other jurisdictions.

These regional sections do not claim that every listed law applies to every visit. They explain how to submit a request if a law grants you a right.

The Website is operated from Bulgaria and is not presently localised for, or specifically directed at, residents of mainland China, South Korea or another non-EEA jurisdiction that imposes additional local-representative, localisation or registration duties on qualifying foreign organisations. We do not analyse the behaviour of people in those jurisdictions specifically in order to offer them locally targeted services. If our activities change so that such a regime applies, we will complete the required local assessment, representation or notice steps before beginning that targeted processing.

9.5 How to exercise a right

Send a request to weare@pixelcompanystudio.com with the subject line “Privacy request — The Museum of Maps”. Describe the request and the Website interaction to which it relates.

We may ask for information reasonably necessary to verify identity and locate the relevant data. We will not ask for more information than necessary. Where permitted by law, an authorised agent may submit a request, but we may require evidence of authority and identity verification.

We will respond within the period required by applicable law. GDPR requests are normally answered within one month, subject to a lawful extension for complex or numerous requests.

10. Children’s privacy

The Website is intended for a general audience and does not knowingly collect personal information from children through the free maps. Public educational content can be viewed without an account.

People under 16 should not subscribe to the newsletter or submit personal information through a form without the involvement and permission of a parent or guardian. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from a child under 13 in circumstances covered by the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

If you believe a child has provided personal information without appropriate permission, contact us and we will investigate and delete it where required.

11. Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures appropriate to the nature and risk of the processing. These may include access controls, software updates, encrypted transmission, backups, minimisation and contractual safeguards.

If a personal-data breach occurs, we will assess it and notify the competent authority and affected individuals where and within the period required by applicable law.

No internet transmission or storage system is completely secure. Please do not send confidential or sensitive information through an ordinary contact form or unencrypted email.

12. External links and services

This Policy covers processing for which Pixel Company is responsible. It does not govern an external website or service reached through a link, or an independent provider that processes data under its own terms. Please review the privacy information of those services.

13. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy to reflect changes in the Website, providers, legal requirements or our processing. The current version will be published with a new “Last updated” date.

If a change materially affects how we use data already collected, we will provide additional notice or obtain consent where required by law.

14. Complaints and supervisory authority

Please contact us first so that we can address your concern.

If the GDPR applies, you may lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in the EEA country where you live or work or where you believe an infringement occurred. Pixel Company’s lead supervisory authority in Bulgaria is:

Commission for Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Bulgaria
2 Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov Boulevard
1592 Sofia, Bulgaria
Website: https://www.cpdp.bg/

You may also contact a competent privacy regulator in your country where local law provides that right.

15. Contact us

For privacy questions or requests:

Pixel Company EOOD
21 Gorotsvet Street, 1151 Lozen, Sofia, Bulgaria
UIC: 205286365
VAT identification number: BG205286365
Email: weare@pixelcompanystudio.com