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Legal

Legal Notice, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service

Legal Notice (Impressum)

Information pursuant to § 5 DDG (Digitale-Dienste-Gesetz) and § 18 MStV (German Interstate Media Treaty)

René Warnke

Sietwende 67

21037 Hamburg, Germany

Email: business@warnke.cloud

Phone: +49 176 45838544

VAT-ID (§ 27a UStG): [DE XXXXXXXXX] (if applicable)

Responsible for editorial content (§ 18 Abs. 2 MStV):

René Warnke (address as above)

EU Online Dispute Resolution

The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR): https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

Pursuant to § 36 VSBG (Verbraucherstreitbeilegungsgesetz), we declare that we are neither obligated nor willing to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

Privacy Policy

Effective date: 23.04.2026. Last updated: 23.04.2026.

1. Controller

The controller responsible for data processing on this platform within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is: René Warnke (contact details under "Legal Notice" above).

As a sole proprietorship (Einzelunternehmen) with fewer than 20 persons regularly engaged in automated processing of personal data, no Data Protection Officer (DPO) is required under § 38 BDSG.

2. Data We Collect

When you use Bivouac, we may collect and process the following personal data:

  • Account data: email address, hashed password (for direct registration), or OAuth identifiers (Google ID, name, profile picture URL when you sign in with Google).
  • Profile data: display name, optional username, optional avatar URL, and vehicle profiles you create (name, dimensions, clearance).
  • Community content: spots you submit (coordinates, type, amenities), reviews and ratings, condition reports, check-ins, photos you upload, and saved-spot bookmarks.
  • Route-planner data: prompts you send to the Stage Planner (origin, destination, dates, vehicle selected) and associated token-usage logs used for cost auditing and abuse prevention.
  • Payment data (Pro subscribers): Stripe customer ID, subscription ID and subscription status. We do not store credit-card numbers — all payment processing is handled by Stripe, Inc.
  • Technical data: IP address, user agent, and access timestamps via standard server logs and rate-limiting.

3. Purpose and Legal Basis

  • Contract performance (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR): account creation, authentication, providing the map and spot-search service, running the route planner, billing and management of Pro subscriptions.
  • Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR): retention of invoicing and payment records under German tax and commercial law (AO § 147, HGB § 257).
  • Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): server logging for security and abuse prevention; rate-limiting; maintaining community content integrity (reports, moderation).
  • Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): displaying user-submitted spots, reviews, condition reports and photos to other users — submission is a voluntary act.
  • Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): when you sign in via a third-party OAuth provider.

4. Third-Party Processors and Data Transfers

We use the following third-party services. Where processing takes place outside the EU/EEA, transfers are safeguarded by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) adequacy decision where the provider is DPF-certified, otherwise by Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs).

  • Supabase Inc. (USA): managed PostgreSQL database, authentication, and object storage for user-uploaded photos. Transfer basis: DPF / SCCs. See Supabase's Privacy Policy.
  • Google LLC (USA): if you sign in with Google, we receive your Google ID, name, email and profile picture URL. Transfer basis: DPF.
  • Stripe, Inc. (USA): payment processing for Pro subscriptions. Stripe receives your payment details directly; we store only your Stripe customer ID, subscription ID and subscription status. We do not store credit-card numbers. Transfer basis: DPF. See Stripe's Privacy Policy.
  • DeepSeek (AI route planner): the Stage Planner sends non-personal trip parameters (origin and destination place names, dates, selected vehicle profile) to DeepSeek's API to generate route suggestions. Requests are made server-side; your account identifier, email address and IP address are not transmitted. Because no personal data leaves Bivouac in this flow, the cross-border-transfer rules of Chapter V GDPR do not apply to this processing.
  • OpenStreetMap Foundation (UK) — Nominatim: geocoding queries (place-name text) are forwarded to nominatim.openstreetmap.org. No user identifiers are transmitted.
  • OpenStreetMap map tiles: the map library fetches vector tiles from OSM-based tile servers. Your IP address is visible to the tile provider as with any web request.
  • OSRM (self-hosted): vehicle routing is computed on infrastructure under our control. No external transfer.

5. Data Retention

  • Account data and user-submitted community content (spots, reviews, condition reports, photos) are retained for the lifetime of your account. You may request deletion at any time.
  • Route-planner request logs are retained for up to 90 days for cost auditing and abuse prevention.
  • Server access logs are retained for up to 14 days.
  • Payment records (invoices, Stripe transaction references) are retained as required by German tax law, typically 10 years (AO § 147).
  • Upon account deletion, your account record is removed. Community content you authored (spots, reviews, condition reports) may be retained in anonymised form where it is integral to the public dataset; photos are deleted.

6. Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have the right to:

  • Access your personal data (Art. 15 GDPR)
  • Rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16 GDPR)
  • Erasure of your data (Art. 17 GDPR)
  • Restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
  • Data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
  • Object to processing (Art. 21 GDPR)
  • Withdraw consent at any time without affecting prior processing (Art. 7(3) GDPR)

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@warnke.cloud.

7. Right to Lodge a Complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. The competent supervisory authority for our business is:

Der Hamburgische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit (HmbBfDI)

Ludwig-Erhard-Str. 22, 7. OG

20459 Hamburg

Phone: +49 40 42854-4040

Website: https://datenschutz-hamburg.de

8. Cookies and Local Storage

This platform uses only essential technical storage required for the service to function:

  • Supabase auth cookies: your signed authentication session.
  • Profile-flag cookie: a short-lived (~5 minutes), signed cookie that caches your ban/admin status to avoid a database lookup on every request.
  • Locale cookie: stores your selected display language.

We do not use tracking cookies, analytics, or advertising technologies. No consent is required for essential technical storage under § 25 Abs. 2 Nr. 2 TTDSG.

9. Automated Processing and AI-Generated Content

The Stage Planner uses artificial intelligence (currently DeepSeek) to generate multi-day route suggestions. The AI processes the trip inputs you provide (origin, destination, dates, vehicle profile) together with publicly available spot data from OpenStreetMap and the Bivouac community.

AI-generated route plans do not constitute automated individual decision-making within the meaning of Art. 22 GDPR. No decisions with legal or similarly significant effects are made about you based on automated processing. The outputs are informational suggestions that you remain free to accept, reject or modify.

Terms of Service

Effective date: 23.04.2026. Last updated: 23.04.2026.

1. Service Description

Bivouac is an open-source platform for discovering overnight stops, campsites, Stellplätze, rest areas and wild-camping spots. It combines data from OpenStreetMap with community contributions (reviews, condition reports, photos) and offers an AI-assisted multi-day stage-planner for premium users.

2. No Safety Guarantee — Important Notice

Spot information is provided for orientation only. Conditions at real-world locations (accessibility, legality of overnight stays, ground surface, safety) change over time and cannot be verified by us. Local regulations on wild camping, overnight parking and fire use vary widely by country, region and season.

You are solely responsible for checking local rules before stopping, and for assessing the safety of any location on arrival. Bivouac is not liable for personal injury, loss or damage to your vehicle or property, fines, or any other harm resulting from the use of information on this platform.

3. AI Disclosure (EU AI Act, Art. 50)

Route plans produced by the Stage Planner are generated by an artificial intelligence system (currently DeepSeek). The underlying AI model and its outputs may change without notice. AI-generated plans may contain errors, omit relevant constraints, or recommend spots that are unsuitable for your vehicle or no longer accessible. Always validate a plan against reality before relying on it.

4. User Accounts and Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account (consent age for information-society services under Art. 8(1) GDPR as implemented in Germany). You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity under your account.

5. Community Content and License

When you submit a spot, review, condition report, check-in or photo, you grant Bivouac a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, display, reproduce and distribute that content as part of the service (including to other users) for the duration of the platform's operation.

You retain copyright in photos you upload. You confirm that you hold the necessary rights to any content you submit and that it does not infringe third-party rights or violate applicable law.

Factual spot data (coordinates, amenities, spot type) may be contributed back to the OpenStreetMap project under the Open Database License (ODbL), in keeping with the open-data nature of Bivouac. Free-form reviews and photos are not shared with OSM.

We reserve the right to remove content that violates these terms, infringes third-party rights, or is abusive, misleading, commercial in nature, or otherwise unsuitable — including via community reports handled by our moderation tools.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

  • submit false, misleading or promotional spot information;
  • scrape, bulk-download or otherwise automate requests against the service beyond the documented API limits;
  • circumvent rate limits, authentication or access controls;
  • submit content that depicts or enables illegal activity, harassment or the endangerment of protected natural areas.

7. Third-Party Data and Attribution

Base map data and significant portions of spot data are © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License (ODbL). Use of this data via Bivouac is subject to OSM's attribution and licensing requirements.

8. Pro Subscriptions

  • Pro subscriptions unlock the Stage Planner and are billed via Stripe at the price displayed at checkout (incl. VAT where applicable).
  • Subscriptions renew automatically each billing period until cancelled.
  • You can cancel at any time via your account's Billing page. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period; you retain access until then.
  • Payments are processed by Stripe, Inc. We do not store your payment-card details.

9. Right of Withdrawal (Widerrufsrecht) — EU Consumers

If you are a consumer in the European Union, you have the right to withdraw from a distance contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period expires 14 days after the day of the conclusion of the contract. To exercise your right of withdrawal, you must inform us (René Warnke, business@warnke.cloud) of your decision to withdraw by an unequivocal statement (e.g., a letter or email).

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal:

If you withdraw from this contract, we shall reimburse all payments received from you without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw. We will carry out such reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction.

Early expiry of the right of withdrawal: For digital content provided outside of a physical medium, the right of withdrawal expires if performance has begun with your express prior consent and your acknowledgement that you thereby lose your right of withdrawal (§ 356 Abs. 5 BGB).

Model Withdrawal Form (Muster-Widerrufsformular)

(pursuant to Annex 2 to Art. 246a § 1 Abs. 2 EGBGB)

If you wish to withdraw from the contract, please complete and return this form:

To: René Warnke, Sietwende 67, 21037 Hamburg, Germany — Email: business@warnke.cloud

I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract for the provision of the following service:

Bivouac Pro Subscription

Ordered on (*) / received on (*):

Name of the consumer(s):

Address of the consumer(s):

Date:

Signature of the consumer(s) (only for paper notifications):

(*) Delete as applicable.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law:

  • The service is provided "as is" without warranty as to the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or fitness for purpose of any spot information or AI-generated route plan.
  • We are not liable for decisions you make on the basis of platform content, nor for any third-party services linked from the platform.
  • For paid services, our total liability for any claim is limited to the amount you paid in the 12 months preceding the claim.
  • This limitation does not apply to liability for intentional misconduct (Vorsatz) or gross negligence (grobe Fahrlässigkeit), for injury to life, body or health, or to mandatory statutory liability under German law (including under the Produkthaftungsgesetz).

11. Modifications

We may update these terms at any time. Material changes will be communicated via the platform. Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

12. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany, without regard to its conflict-of-law provisions. Mandatory consumer protection laws of your country of residence remain unaffected.