About

Mission, privacy, safety, and data sources

Safety-first aurora intelligence

Nightcompass helps aurora chasers decide when and where to go using space weather, cloud cover, darkness, and safety data. It is free, open, and built to respect your privacy.

▲ Safety is our first principle. Conditions data is for planning only — always prioritise your own safety over any forecast.

Your data is never sold or tracked

Nightcompass collects no personal data. No accounts. No tracking. No analytics. Your location and search queries, when used, are sent only to our own Nightcompass Weather Core servers to calculate forecasts and find places — never to a third party.

Language and unit preferences are stored in your browser only, using localStorage.

● We do not sell, share, or monetise user data. We have no user data to sell.

  • We do not collect, store, or transmit any personal data.
  • We do not use cookies for tracking.
  • We do not use analytics SDKs (no Google Analytics, no Mixpanel, no Segment).
  • We do not embed tracking pixels or fingerprinting scripts.
  • Your location and search queries, if used, are sent only to our own Nightcompass Weather Core servers — never to a third party, and never stored as a history.
  • Unit and language preferences are stored in your browser's localStorage only.
  • We do not sell data. We have no data to sell.
  • When contextual ads are introduced, they will be served without behavioural tracking.
  • This policy is written in plain language intentionally.

Open data only

All data powering Nightcompass comes from free, publicly available sources.

  • NOAA SWPC — Kp index, solar wind, IMF Bz, aurora oval forecast
  • Nightcompass Weather Core — Cloud cover, temperature, wind, visibility (NOAA GFS)
  • GeoNames — Location search (CC BY 4.0)

Built for everyone

All status indicators use icons, labels, and shapes — never colour alone. The interface is keyboard-navigable and screen-reader tested. Reduced motion is respected.

Advertising policy

The MVP contains no real ad network. Placeholder ad slots exist to reserve layout space. When advertising is introduced, it will be contextual only — no behavioural profiling, no third-party tracking pixels, no user data sold to advertisers.

Commercial-use-safe project

All libraries, data sources, and assets used by Nightcompass are licensed for commercial use. See docs/LICENSE_COMPLIANCE.md for full details.

Contact & contribute

For questions, bug reports, or contributions, visit the project repository at github.com/nightcompass/nightcompass.