Terms of Use

1. About Earth Pulse

Earth Pulse (earth-pulse.org) is an independent, volunteer-run citizen science environmental observatory monitoring a single location — Baner, Pune, Maharashtra, India (18.5526°N, 73.7819°E) — at the eastern edge of the Western Ghats UNESCO World Heritage ecosystem buffer zone.

The site is operated by an individual researcher and is not affiliated with any government body, university, or commercial organisation. Earth Pulse is provided in good faith as a public resource for education, environmental awareness, and open citizen science.

2. Acceptance of terms

By accessing or using earth-pulse.org (the "Site"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree, please do not use the Site. These terms apply to all visitors, registered users, and anyone who accesses any content or data on the Site.

3. Data and content

3.1 Accuracy and reliability

Earth Pulse displays environmental data collected from automated sensors, third-party APIs, and acoustic AI systems. While we make every reasonable effort to ensure accuracy, we cannot guarantee that all data is error-free, complete, or up to date. Sensor outages, API failures, and model limitations can affect readings.

Earth Pulse data should not be used as the sole basis for decisions affecting health, safety, agriculture, or emergency response. Always consult official sources (IMD, MPCB, CPCB) for authoritative weather and air quality information.

3.2 Permitted use

You may:

• View, download, and use Earth Pulse data for personal, educational, research, or non-commercial purposes.
• Share links to earth-pulse.org pages.
• Cite Earth Pulse data in research or journalism with appropriate attribution: "Source: Earth Pulse (earth-pulse.org), Baner, Pune."
• Download CSV data exports for personal analysis (available to registered users).

3.3 Prohibited use

You may not:

• Scrape, bulk-download, or systematically harvest data from the Site in ways that impair its performance.
• Re-publish or redistribute Earth Pulse data commercially without written permission.
• Use the Site or its data to mislead, deceive, or misrepresent environmental conditions.
• Attempt to reverse-engineer, bypass, or interfere with any part of the Site's infrastructure.
• Use the Site in any manner that violates applicable Indian or international law.

4. Third-party data sources and attributions

Earth Pulse aggregates data from multiple third-party sources. By using this site you acknowledge these upstream terms and licences:

Earth Pulse does not claim ownership over any third-party data. All upstream data remains the property of its respective providers.

5. User accounts and registered users

Earth Pulse offers free registration (via Supabase Auth) that provides access to additional features including full historical data downloads, personalised alerts, and field notes. By registering, you agree to:

• Provide accurate information when creating your account.
• Keep your credentials secure. You are responsible for all activity under your account.
• Not share your account with others.
• Notify us at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorised access.

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms or misuse the platform.

6. Community contributions — plant identification

Registered users can submit plant identification photos via the Identify a Plant tool. By submitting:

• You confirm the photo is your own or you have permission to share it.
• You grant Earth Pulse a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display the submission and associated data in the plant database.
• You confirm (or reasonably believe) the plant was photographed within the Baner Hill area (10km radius).
• Submissions are subject to admin review before appearing publicly.

Earth Pulse reserves the right to remove any submission at its discretion.

7. Intellectual property

The Earth Pulse website design, original code, written commentary, AI-generated insights, and the continuous multi-year dataset of Baner environmental measurements are the intellectual property of Earth Pulse and its operator.

The Earth Pulse name, logo, and "Observing the Earth, over time." tagline are not to be used without written permission.

8. Disclaimer of warranties

Earth Pulse is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, express or implied. We make no warranties regarding:

• The accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any data or content.
• The continuous availability of the Site (sensor outages, server downtime, and API failures may occur).
• The suitability of the data for any particular purpose.

AI-generated summaries (marked with ✨ or labelled "Gemini summary") are produced by automated language models and may contain inaccuracies. They should not be treated as expert scientific opinion.

9. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, Earth Pulse and its operator shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from your use of or reliance on this Site or its data, including but not limited to health decisions, agricultural decisions, or financial decisions based on displayed environmental data.

10. Links to third-party sites

Earth Pulse may link to external websites (Wikipedia, iNaturalist, eBird, Google Maps, etc.). We have no control over and accept no responsibility for the content or practices of any third-party site.

11. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms of Use at any time. Changes will be reflected by updating the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the Site after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

12. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of India. Any disputes shall be subject to the jurisdiction of courts in Pune, Maharashtra, India.

13. Contact