The Terms of Use describe the relationship between Map.ca and the people who use it. They are written for a community ambassador to read, not a lawyer. The legal effect is preserved by being specific and honest, not by being long.
Map.ca is location-based digital public infrastructure. It hosts Pins, Civic Pins, Event Pins, Virtual Offices, Discovery Rooms, structured tags, and AI-assisted tools. It is not an advertising platform, a marketplace, or a transaction processor. Visibility is not for sale (Constitution §2 principle 3). Pricing is simple and honest (principle 11). People own their presence (principle 1).
Account holders agree to keep their contact information accurate, to use Map.ca within the Community Standards and the Acceptable Use Policy, and to respect other people’s presence. Pin owners take on additional responsibilities defined in the Pin Owner Agreement. Map.ca agrees to operate the platform with the discipline set out in the Policy Constitution, to publish material changes with a change log, and to give users meaningful notice and a path to appeal when their content or account is affected.
Map.ca is operated from Canada and the Terms of Use are read under the laws of Ontario unless another jurisdiction’s consumer protection rules apply more favourably to the user. Changes to the Terms follow the Policy Review and Versioning Policy: every revision carries a version, an effective date, and a published rationale.
Requirements
- Keep account contact information accurate.
- Follow the Community Standards and the Acceptable Use Policy.
- Use Map.ca for its stated purpose: presence in real places.
- Read the change log when the Terms are updated.
Prohibitions
- Do not scrape Map.ca without an approval under the Scraping and Automated Access Policy.
- Do not misrepresent a person, business, organization, or municipality.
- Do not use Map.ca to coordinate illegal activity.
- Do not bypass moderation, appeals, or claim-verification processes.