Privacy Policy

Last updated August 29, 2026

What RatCity is

RatCity (ratcity.app) maps rat and rodent sightings around Chicago, combining public 311 service-request data from the City of Chicago with reports submitted directly by visitors.

Information we collect

When you submit a sighting report, we collect:

• A location — wherever you tap on the map, an address you search for, or, if you choose to use it, your device’s GPS location via your browser
• Your written description of what you saw
• An email address, only if you choose to provide one

We also automatically log the IP address a report was submitted from, used only to prevent spam and abuse. It’s never published or shown anywhere on the site.

City-provided sighting data comes from Chicago’s public 311 open data portal and doesn’t involve any personal information collected by us.

What we publish

If your report is approved, its location and your description become part of the public map, the same way city 311 data already appears. Your email address, if you provided one, is never published or shown to other visitors.

Cookies & advertising

This site uses Google AdSense to show ads. Google and its advertising partners use cookies to serve ads based on your visits to this and other websites. You can opt out of personalized advertising at Google’s Ads Settings.

We also use Cloudflare Turnstile to verify that report submissions are coming from a real person rather than a bot. See Cloudflare’s Privacy Policy for how they handle that.

How we use your email

If you provide a contact email and ask for a pest control quote, we keep that email together with your request. It’s reviewed internally and isn’t shared with anyone outside RatCity today; if we ever set up a referral partner to actually fulfill those requests, this policy will be updated first.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site evolves. Check back here for the latest version.

Contact

Questions about this policy? ratcity.support@gmail.com