Lineaby mertcoart
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Data privacy notice

Your journey is yours.
Here is exactly what happens to it.

Linea turns a list of places into a line. It is built so that the list never has to leave your device. This page explains what the tool does, what it asks permission for, and who else could see something.

Last updated 8 October 2026 (version 11) · Applies to Linea, the tattoo concept generator published by mertcoart.

1. Who is responsible

Linea is published by mertcoart, a fine line tattoo studio in Brussels. For anything about this notice, use the contact details on mertcoart.com. The full GDPR information notice (controller, legal bases, retention, processors, transfers and your rights) is on mertcoart.com.

2. What the tool does on your device

Everything that makes the line happens in your browser: the places you type, the coordinates behind them, the line itself, and the SVG or PNG you download. There is no account, no database, and no server that receives your journey. Closing the page clears it unless you asked the tool to remember it (see 4).

Files you upload (itinerary text, CSV, GPX, JSON) are read by your browser only. They are not transmitted. This includes a Google Maps Timeline export: your browser extracts the places you stayed and for how long, on your device; the file itself goes nowhere.

3. The permission screen

The first time you open Linea, it asks before doing anything that reaches outside the page or remembers something. Each permission is off until you switch it on. “Essentials only” keeps them all off and the tool still works with its built-in list of cities.

  • Find places online. If a place is not in the built-in list, the name you typed is sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service to get coordinates. Nominatim receives the text you typed and your IP address. Their rules are described in the OpenStreetMap Foundation privacy policy. Nothing else about your journey is sent.
  • Remember my journey. The list of places and any lines you keep are stored in your browser's local storage on this device, so you can come back to them. Nothing is synced or uploaded. Use “clear” next to the restored journey, the cross on a kept line, or Preferences, to delete them.
  • Google Places search. Shown only when the studio has configured a Google Maps key. With it on, the text you type in a place search and your IP address go to Google to return matching places. Google's handling is described in the Google privacy policy. Off means the built-in list and, if allowed, OpenStreetMap.
  • Web fonts. The typefaces are loaded from Google Fonts. Google then receives your IP address and standard browser information when the font files are requested. With this off, the page uses the fonts already on your device.

Your choice is stored in local storage under one key, with the date and version of this notice. You can change it anytime via “Preferences” at the bottom of the page.

4. What is stored on your device

ItemWhenContainsHow to remove
linea-consentAfter the permission screenYour choices, the date, the notice version, and the invitation details if you arrived through an invitation linkClear site data in your browser
linea-journeyOnly if “Remember my journey” is onPlace names, countries, coordinates, nights, moments, notes and tags“clear” on the page, or switch the permission off
linea-sentAfter “Send to mertcoart”, if “Remember my journey” is onThe reference and the withdrawal token of the last line sent“Withdraw”, or clear site data
linea-keptOnly if you keep a line with “Keep”Up to 12 journeys with their settingsThe cross on each kept line, or switch the permission off
linea-lang, linea-themeWhen you switch language or themeA language code, “light” or “dark”Clear site data in your browser

Under Preferences, “Stored on this device” lists everything in the table above that is currently stored and lets you delete each item, or everything, with one tap. Linea uses no analytics, pixels, or tracking of any kind. Signing in sets a single strictly necessary cookie, linea_session, that remembers you signed in until your login ends, at most one week. It holds no personal data and is removed when you sign out or it expires. Your login itself, meaning the username the studio gave you, a salted hash of the password (never the password) and the dates it was made and ends, is kept by the studio so that you can sign in. It stops working after one week and is deleted 30 days after that.

5. Links you share

“Share link” and “Send to mertcoart” build a link that contains your journey itself: the place names, rounded coordinates, nights, moments, the notes you wrote about places and their tags, and the line settings are encoded into the address. Photos are never part of it. Notes are read on your device only; no text is sent anywhere to be analysed. The link is the data. Anyone who has the link can open the same line. Nothing is uploaded when the link is created; it only travels through whatever app you choose to send it with (your messaging app, e-mail, and so on), under that app's own terms.

Send to mertcoart. When the studio backend is deployed, this button sends the journey (including your notes and tags) and the line settings, the first name you type, your note, the contact detail you choose to give (e-mail or Instagram, optional) and your interface language to the studio's server, where they are stored in the studio inbox until mertcoart deletes them or you ask for deletion, and in any case they are deleted automatically 12 months after sending unless they lead to a confirmed tattoo project. If you came through an invitation, the signed invitation travels with it so the studio can recognise it. No photos, no device location history, no other data. Without the backend, the button falls back to the share link. After sending you get a reference and a “Withdraw” link that deletes the line from the studio inbox at once; it works for a year and is kept on your device while “Remember my journey” is on.

6. Invitation links

mertcoart may send you a personal link to Linea. It can contain your first name so the page can greet you. When you accept the permission screen through such a link, the invitation details and the moment you accepted are stored on your device together with your choices, so that the greeting and your preferences persist. Nothing about this is reported back to the studio automatically.

7. Server logs

The server that delivers this page keeps standard access logs for security and operation: IP address, time, the address requested, and browser type. These logs do not contain your journey, which never reaches the server. They are kept for the hosting provider's standard retention period.

8. Your rights

Under the GDPR you can ask what personal data is held about you, have it corrected or deleted, object to processing, and complain to a supervisory authority (in Belgium, the Data Protection Authority). For Linea itself there is very little to ask about, because the tool is designed not to keep anything. For journeys you have sent to the studio, write to mertcoart and they will be removed.

9. Leaving this page

This notice links to OpenStreetMap, Google, and the Belgian Data Protection Authority. Once you leave Linea for one of those sites, their operator is responsible for how your data is handled there. mertcoart.com is operated by mertcoart and has its own privacy policy.

10. Changes

If this notice changes in a way that matters, the version number stored with your choice is raised and the permission screen appears again.