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Privacy

Updated 29 Sep 2026
The short version

Your saved spots and commute sync to our server so they survive a new phone — rounded to a ~100 m grid, under a silent anonymous session with no name or email. You can optionally link a Google account so they follow you to a new device; only then do we hold your email. You can download or delete everything any time from the Me tab. Your live location, if you allow it, only centres the map and is never sent to us. Analytics and ads set cookies; you can reject them and the traffic data still works.

1. Who we are

Malta Traffic (trafficmalta.com) is a free, ad-supported traffic information site for Malta and Gozo, operated by Hakan Kanmaz, an independent developer based in Malta. The site is free to use and requires no registration; it is funded by advertising and voluntary reader support.

2. Data we collect

We never require registration. If you choose to link an account, we hold the email address it gives us — that is the only personal information you give us directly. The following data may also be collected:

  • Analytics data — We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors use the site (pages visited, session duration, approximate location at country level, device type). This data is aggregated and cannot identify you personally.
  • Advertising data — Google AdSense may collect data to serve and measure ads, as described in Section 4 below.
  • Saved places and commute — If you save spots or a commute, they are stored on our server (Supabase, EU region) under an anonymous session that is created silently the first time you open the site. That session holds no name, email or phone number unless you link an account (next item). Places are rounded to a ~100 m grid — we never store your exact address. You can download or delete all of it from the Me tab.
  • Linked account (optional)— If you choose “Continue with Google” in the Me tab, Google gives us your email address, name and profile picture URL, and we store them with your session so your saved places follow you to another device. This is the only step that attaches your identity to anything here, it is never required, and the site works exactly the same without it. Deleting your data from the Me tab removes this too.
  • Bottleneck reports (optional) — If you report a bottleneck, we store the point you picked on the map, the kind of problem and your note (up to 280 characters), and a one-way hash of your network address so we can limit abuse — never the address itself. Reports are not linked to your session or account, and are reviewed before anything is shown on the map.
  • Traffic measurements — Travel times we record belong to a road corridor, not to a person, and carry no link to your session. They are not personal data and are not part of a deletion request.
  • Technical data — Standard server logs may record your IP address, browser type, and referring page. These logs are retained for a limited period for security and debugging purposes.

3. Cookies

Google Analytics sets cookies (such as _ga and _ga_*) to distinguish unique visitors and track sessions. These cookies expire after 2 years and 24 hours respectively.

Google AdSense and its certified ad-technology partners may set advertising cookies (such as those on the doubleclick.net domain) when ads are served — see Section 4.

Analytics and advertising cookies are only set after you accept them in the consent banner. You can also disable cookies through your browser settings or use the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.

4. Advertising (Google AdSense)

We display ads served by Google AdSense. Google and its partners are third-party vendors that use cookies to serve ads based on your visits to this and other websites.

  • Google uses advertising cookies (including the DoubleClick cookie) to serve ads and to measure how they perform.
  • Where you have consented, ads may be personalised based on your previous visits to this and other websites. Without consent, only non-personalised ads are shown.
  • You can opt out of personalised advertising at Google Ads Settings and manage other vendors' cookies at aboutads.info or youronlinechoices.eu.
  • How Google uses information from sites that use its services is described at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.

5. Consent (EU/EEA and UK visitors)

On your first visit you are shown a consent banner. Analytics and advertising cookies are blocked until you make a choice, using Google's Consent Mode. If you decline, the site still works fully — you simply see non-personalised ads and we receive no analytics about your visit. You can change your choice at any time by clearing this site's data in your browser, which makes the banner appear again.

6. Third-party services

  • TomTom— Traffic flow tiles, incident data, and segment data are loaded from TomTom APIs. TomTom's privacy policy applies to data they process.
  • SkylineWebcams— We only link to their live camera streams; no images or other content are loaded from SkylineWebcams on this site. If you follow a camera link, SkylineWebcams' own privacy policy applies on their site.
  • Google AdSense — Advertising. See Section 4. Google Privacy Policy.
  • Google Analytics — See Section 2 above.
  • Supabase — Database and anonymous sessions, hosted in the EU (eu-west-1). This is where saved places and commutes live. Supabase Privacy Policy.
  • Vercel — The site is hosted on Vercel. Vercel Privacy Policy.
  • Buy Me a Coffee — Voluntary support payments are processed entirely on buymeacoffee.com; we never see your payment details.

7. Your rights (GDPR)

As Malta is in the European Union, you have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including the right to access, correct, or delete your personal data.

You do not have to ask us to exercise them. Open the Me tab and you will find Download my data — a JSON file with everything stored against your session, including a list of what we deliberately do not keep — and Delete my data, which removes your session and everything attached to it from our server and from this device. Deletion is immediate and cannot be undone.

Two things deletion does not cover, and we would rather say so than let you find out: notification subscriptions belong to a browser rather than to your session, so turn those off from the same screen; and corridor travel times are not linked to you at all, so there is nothing there to delete.

If you have questions or concerns about your data, please contact us at info.hakankanmaz@gmail.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC) in Malta.

8. The mobile app

The Malta Traffic app reads the same data as this site. It asks for your location only if you tap the locate button on the map, and uses it only to centre the map — your location never leaves your phone. For the places you save, only the place name and a coordinate rounded to about 100 metres are stored.

The app sends us only:

  • an anonymous account number, created automatically so your saved places can follow you to a new phone — no name, no email, no password;
  • the places and the commute you choose to save;
  • a notification token, and only if you turn notifications on;
  • a bottleneck report, only if you send one — the same data as on the site (section 2), not linked to your account;
  • the app version and whether it is iOS or Android, so we can tell which build a problem came from.

There is no advertising, no advertising identifier and no analytics or crash-reporting SDK in the current version. You can download everything we hold, or delete it, from the app's Me screen; deletion is immediate and covers the server copy as well. If you have removed the app and want the data deleted, email info.hakankanmaz@gmail.com and we will do it.

9. Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated date.