Privacy policy

About this policy

This policy covers CAP Compass, including the MyCompass workspace and its Google Drive connection. CAP Compass is an independently operated reference and productivity website. It is not an official Civil Air Patrol website or an endorsement by Civil Air Patrol. You can contact the CAP Compass site administrator through the privacy request form.

Connecting Google Drive

Connecting Google Drive is optional. Google asks you to authorize permission to view and manage all of your Drive files. MyCompass reads file and folder metadata, including names, identifiers, types, sizes, timestamps and revisions, to display the folder picker and your workspace.

Before writing to Drive, MyCompass asks you to choose a working folder and confirm that your changes should save there. Its subfolders become boards. This choice limits MyCompass’s normal actions; it does not narrow the Google permission to that folder.

In your workspace, MyCompass reads file content for previews, notes, links and requested downloads or backups. Your actions can create and edit files, upload content, create folders, rename and move items, and send deleted items to Google Drive trash. A small .mycompass-board.json file records card positions and colors alongside your files. Sync and periodic checks for outside changes run while the workspace is open.

Where workspace information is stored

Google Drive: file requests travel directly between your browser and Google’s APIs. The Drive integration does not send your access token or file contents to the CAP Compass server. Tokens stay in page memory and browser session storage to support navigation and other open Compass tabs; they expire and require reconnection. Closing the page stops sync, but does not itself revoke the app’s authorization in your Google Account.

Browser storage: device-only workspace files and preferences stay in the browser you used. Save to MyCompass in a Compass tool writes to your connected session folder when one is selected; otherwise it uses device storage. Logo saves are PNG images containing editable project data, including source images and hidden layers, so they can reopen in Logo Designer. This data stays inside the saved file and follows it to your selected storage destination. Ribbon rack saves similarly contain a PNG preview and editable award, device, member-type, and layout selections. Editable project downloads remain available separately. Pending layout changes may also be saved locally for recovery, including file names, identifiers, revisions, positions and colors. Successful synchronization or choosing the saved layout clears the corresponding pending recovery copy.

Computer folders and backups: files are saved in the folder you choose. Your desktop sync app handles any subsequent cloud transfer. Requested backups and copies may contain the full contents of your files. Store them with the same care as the originals.

Activity projects and to-dos

MyCompass activity projects are separate from your file boards. With a connected Google Drive account, adding a project creates a project file inside a dedicated CAP Compass Activity Projects folder at the root of My Drive. It is outside your selected workspace folder and hidden from the MyCompass file board, including when your workspace is My Drive itself. Projects are MyCompass checklists, not native Google Tasks; no additional Google authorization is requested.

Project titles, dates, checkmarks, resource links and notes are cached in this browser using IndexedDB. Drive caches are separated by account; browser-only projects are copied to Drive only when you request it. Synchronization runs while MyCompass is open, and failed or conflicting changes are kept locally for recovery. Export a backup before clearing browser data. Archiving retains the checklist; remove cloud files using Google Drive and remove browser caches through your browser’s site-data controls.

Project data goes directly between this browser and Google Drive. It is not sent to CAP Compass analytics, Sully, or official CAP registration or qualification systems. Keep medical information and other sensitive registration documents in the official event system.

How Google data is used

CAP Compass uses information obtained from Google APIs for MyCompass’s visible file-management, preview, layout, backup and transfer features. Its use and transfer of that information follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

MyCompass does not sell Google Drive data, use it for advertising, or use it to train AI models. It does not automatically send your Drive files to Sully or the site’s usage-statistics service. The integration does not give the site administrator an automatic copy of your Drive files. Copies and exports occur when you request them; existing Drive sharing permissions still apply.

Feedback and website statistics

When you submit feedback or a privacy request, CAP Compass receives your message, category, page, submission identifier and optional email address. The site stores these for the administrator and can transfer them to the administrator’s private feedback records. Submissions are not posted publicly.

On supported reference and tool pages, the usage tracker records page visits, searches, tool saves and external resource opens, together with a temporary visit identifier, broad device category, referring website and country. Search statistics contain a recognized publication code or a broad topic category, plus the number of matching results. Full queries are not stored. Successful saves in the email signature, logo, and ribbon tools are counted without file names or contents. Development sessions and detectable automated visits are labeled separately; older records remain unclassified. MyCompass workspace and activity-project interactions, Drive file contents and Sully conversations are not collected by this tracker.

Raw IP addresses are not included in these analytics records. Requests still expose technical information needed for hosting and security. The application uses temporary rate-limiting information to reduce abuse. The usage tracker respects the opt-out control below, Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control.

How long information stays

Your files: Google Drive files remain under your account’s storage, deletion and trash rules. Browser-only files remain until removed or the site’s browser storage is cleared. “Recently removed” holds browser recovery copies; a connected computer folder uses .mycompass-trash. Disconnecting does not erase those files, local recovery data or exported backups.

Feedback and usage records: these remain available to the administrator until deleted. After export, the site’s working copy becomes eligible for removal after seven days; cleanup runs when another submission is received. This does not remove unexported records or copies already exported to private administrator records. There is currently no fixed automatic deletion period for those records. You can request deletion of information that can be identified as yours.

Service and security records: hosting and API providers may retain technical or abuse-prevention information under their own service policies. A fixed retention period for all provider-managed logs is not configured by this website.

Sully and service providers

When you press Design review in Logo designer, a rendered preview of your patch, visible layer details, and significance statement are sent through CAP Compass to OpenAI for review against CAPR 110-3. Hidden and reference layers and unused source images are excluded. The review request uses store:false and no review database is created; provider data-handling policies still apply.

If you use Sully, your question and recent conversation context are sent to the CAP Compass service. When AI answering is enabled, they are sent with relevant reference excerpts to OpenAI to generate an answer. MyCompass does not automatically attach Drive content. Anything you choose to paste into a question is submitted as part of that question.

Sully’s visible conversation stays in page memory and clears when you leave or reload. The application requests that OpenAI not store responses as retrievable application state; this does not eliminate all provider security or operational retention. See OpenAI’s API data controls.

The website is hosted through OpenAI Sites and Cloudflare infrastructure. These services process requests needed to deliver and protect the site. Google handles Drive authorization and file requests. Relevant provider information is available in the Google privacy policy, Cloudflare privacy policy and OpenAI privacy policy; OpenAI API content is governed separately by its API arrangements and data controls.

Your privacy controls

To end an active Google connection, use Disconnect location in MyCompass. The Google connection calls Google’s revocation function. You can also remove CAP Compass’s access in your Google Account’s third-party connections settings. Manage Drive files and trash in Google Drive, and computer-folder files in your file manager.

Contact and deletion requests

Send privacy questions or requests for access, correction or deletion through the private form below. Include a submission reference, approximate date, or the email address you used so the administrator can identify the relevant record. You may be asked for enough information to verify the request. Please do not send passwords, CAP IDs, private Drive files or unnecessary sensitive information.

This process concerns information held by the site administrator. Browser-only files cannot be recovered by the administrator after you clear their storage. Files in your own Google Drive or computer folder are managed by you.

Saved email signatures

When you save an email signature to a connected Google Drive folder, CAP Compass creates a Google Doc and stores the editable signature fields in its description. MyCompass uses those fields for the saved preview, copying, and reopening the tool. Changes made directly to the Doc body do not update the saved fields. Device and computer-folder saves use an editable signature project file.

Meeting and event plans

Meeting plans, reusable blocks, activity catalogs, assignments, notes and checklists are saved in this browser. If you have connected Google Drive and selected a MyCompass folder, the planner also saves an editable workspace file in that folder while the planner is open. Older browser meeting plans are carried into the new planner without deleting their original records. Conflicting Drive changes pause synchronization and keep your browser draft available for backup.

Google Docs and Sheets exports create snapshots in your selected folder only when you choose an export. Local DOCX, XLSX and JSON downloads work without Google. Calendar review prepares a calendar file for manual import; the planner does not create or update Calendar events automatically and does not request new Calendar permission. Existing calendar events are unchanged.

Plan and export requests travel directly between your browser and Google. CAP Compass does not send plan contents to its server, analytics or Sully. Access to saved Drive files follows your folder's existing sharing settings. Download a backup before clearing browser storage or changing accounts. Existing activity projects remain available under Checklists.

Changes to this policy

The effective date identifies this version. Changes to how Google data is handled will be disclosed before they take effect, with renewed consent when required. This page will be updated as the website’s practices change.