Privacy Policy for the Travel Survey Mobile App
This smartphone application (app) collects certain Personal Data from its Users. The information that is collected, with the User’s permission, consists of: GPS location (continuous), email address, accelerometer sensor data, and gyroscope sensor data. The app also temporarily uses storage space on the smartphone.
Why is This Information Collected?
The purpose of the Travel Survey app is to record the User’s stop locations and collect additional information about each stop during the survey period, typically 24 hours to a week. GPS data are required by the app to detect and record the User’s vehicular stops and to help draw, for illustration purposes, their vehicle’s approximate travel path. Data from the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors are used by the app’s logic to confirm, with a high degree of accuracy, that an actual stop has indeed been made at the location indicated by the GPS signal. The app may rely on the User’s supplied PIN or TOKEN to uniquely assign the collected stop data to the correct person. The PIN/TOKEN is collected during log-in to allow our office staff to contact the User and – if a need arises – review the recorded stop information during or shortly after the survey collection period. Note that, only the supplied PIN/TOKEN is required to log-in and use the app; however, if the User does not give permission to use the location and sensor data, the app will not be able to operate automatically in the background and all stop information, including locations, will need to be entered manually by the User.
Who Are We – App Owner/Developer
ETC Institute (Owner) developed and maintains this app. ETC Institute is a market research company headquartered in Kansas. We can be contacted at the following address. Support email and phone number are provided inside the app.
ETC Institute
725 West Frontier Ln
Olathe, KS 66061
(913) 829-1215
What Happens to The Personal Information Collected During the Travel Survey?
The Travel Survey App is set up to collect the minimum information necessary to operate optimally in the background in order to collect accurate stop data during the survey period. Of the information collected by the app, only the stop data (e.g., longitude, latitude) and associated survey responses (e.g., place type, arrival, and departure times) are submitted to the Public Agency Client (PAC), in this case a Department of Transportation. PAC is an institution that requested the project and enrolled ETC Institute to conduct the survey. The data collected by the app on behalf of the User is ultimately used only in combination with other users’ data as input into PAC’s research tools such as regional travel demand models. Raw GPS data are also submitted to the PAC for initial Quality Control checks (e.g., comparing the total number of stops reported against the GPS tracks). During the survey period, which typically extends 6 to 12 months, your data are stored on secured servers. Shortly after the PAC has reviewed and accepted processed survey data, ETC Institute permanently removes and purges personally identifying information from the survey data across its entire project storage system.
Withdrawal of Consent
By participating in the survey, the app User agrees with the Owner’s use of the collected data as described in this Privacy Policy and in the general privacy policy linked below. The User may withdraw his or her consent at any time by contacting ETC Institute. At that time, all of the User’s data will be permanently removed from our storage.
Associated General Privacy Policies
ETC Institute’s general privacy policy can be accessed here: Privacy Policy