Privacy Policy/Terms of Service

Updated: July 2022 

The Sparkmap Mapping, Assessment and Data Analysis Tool (the “Services”) is an online application made available on this website (“Website”) by The Curators of the University of Missouri (the “University”) as part of the Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (“CARES”) of the University’s University of Missouri Extension program.

If you have any questions about these Terms of Service or the Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us at:

sparkmap@missouri.edu 

Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (“CARES”)
University of Missouri Extension 
212 Whitten Hall
Columbia, MO 65211 

BY USING THE SERVICES AND WEBSITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ AND ARE LEGALLY BOUND BY THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND THESE TERMS OF SERVICE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE AND THE PRIVACY POLICY, YOU MAY NOT USE THE SERVICES AND WEBSITE AND YOU MUST EXIT THE WEBSITE IMMEDIATELY.  THE UNIVERSITY RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR AMEND THESE TERMS OF SERVICE FROM TIME TO TIME WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE. YOUR CONTINUED USE OF THE SERVICES, WEBSITE OR ANY AFFILIATE WEBSITES FOLLOWING THE POSTING OF CHANGES TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE WILL MEAN YOU ACCEPT THOSE CHANGES.

Compliance with Law

Users of the Services and Website shall abide by all applicable international, federal, state and local laws and shall not use the Services or Website to engage in any of the following: fraud, libel, slander, defamation, trade libel, product disparagement, harassment, invasion of privacy, and copyright and trademark infringement.

Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability 

The content provided on the Services is presented as a courtesy to be used only for informational purposes and is not represented to be error free. CARES and the University of Missouri make no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the Services, such representations and warranties being expressly disclaimed. The content provided on the Services and Website is presented as a courtesy to be used only for informational purposes and is not represented to be error free.  The University makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the Services or Website, such representations and warranties being expressly disclaimed. The University makes no, and disclaims any, warranty that the Services, the Website or the server(s) that make the Services and Website available are free of viruses or other harmful components. Moreover, the University does not represent or warrant that the content of the Services is accurate, complete or current for any specific or particular purpose or application. The Services and Website are not intended to provide, nor should anyone consider that the Services or Website provide, medical, legal, accounting, tax or other advice.

In no event will CARES and the University of Missouri or any of their officers, trustees, employees, agents, affiliates, contractors, or successors and assigns (collectively, “Representatives”) be liable for any damages-whether direct, indirect, special, general, consequential, for alleged lost profits or otherwise-that might result from any use of or reliance on materials or links made available on or through the Services. In no event will the University or any of its Curators, officers, trustees, employees, agents, affiliates, contractors, or successors and assigns (collectively, “Representatives”) be liable for any damages-whether direct, indirect, special, general, consequential, for alleged lost profits or otherwise-that might result from any use of or reliance on materials or links made available on or through the Services or the Website.

Intellectual Property 

Copyright and Ownership

The original content and design of the Services and Website created or owned by the University are protected under copyright law. All such content featured or displayed on or in connection with the Services and Website, including without limitation trademarks, logos, trade names, trade dress, text, graphics, photographs, images, moving images, sound and illustrations (collectively, the “Content”), is owned by the University. The University reserves the right to track the usage of Content. See Privacy Policy.

Except as may be otherwise indicated on the Website: (1) you are authorized to view, print, and download the Content for personal, informational and noncommercial purposes only; and (2) you may not copy, distribute, transmit, display, perform, reproduce, publish, license, create derivative works from, transfer or sell any of the Content or the information contained therein. You may not remove any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notices from the Content. Permission for any other use of the Content must be obtained from the University in writing. 

In using Content in accordance with these Terms of Service, you may not (1) state or imply that the University is endorsing you, your viewpoints or any of the products or services that you or your organization may provide, or (2) represent that you or your organization has a relationship with the University or any of the events, products or services that the University provides unless that relationship is the subject of a written agreement that has been signed by the University. You may not access any Content of the Services through any technology or means other than manually accessing the pages of the website itself, the Widgets (as defined below) or such other explicitly authorized means as the University may designate. See “Access and Interference” below.

Trademarks  

All trademarks, service marks and trade names of SparkMap used in the Services (including, but all trademarks, service marks and trade names of used in connection with the Services and Website (including, but not limited to SparkMap, CARES, and the University of Missouri names and logos – collectively, the “Marks”) are marks of the University or third-parties. You may not use, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute or modify the Marks in any way, including in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of materials on the Services, without the University’s prior written consent. The use of the Marks on any other website or networked computer environment is not allowed.

Services and Submissions 

The Services and Website may include or make available applications or services, which may include, among other things, data sharing services, online communities, and other services. The use of these applications and services is subject to these Terms of Service and any additional provisions that may be specified as a condition to using the services.

In using the Services and Website you agree to act responsibly.  The University does not control the content posted by others and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity, quality or availability of such content.  Although, the University ordinarily does not censor the content being posted, it reserves the right to refuse the posting of, or to remove after its posting, any content which in its sole discretion it deems violative of the Terms of Service or applicable standards of conduct.  Such content may be removed immediately and without prior notice, and further postings by the individual may be blocked. Use of the Services is subject to these rules:

  1. You are solely responsible for the content you submit or post, the consequences of posting content, and the consequences of any reliance by you on content posted by third parties.
  2. For any content that you post to the Website or in using the Services that is covered by intellectual property rights, you grant the University a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, in any form now existing or hereafter discovered.

The University is not required to treat any content posted or submitted as confidential. 

Commercial Use Policy/Disclaimers

Through the Services and Website the University makes data available from Reporting, Map Room, Data Application Programmer Interface (“API”), and Data Extractor products. Commercial use is encouraged, but restricted as follows: 

  1. The raw data, maps, charts, or other visualizations from the Website or created by the Services may not be republished in its entirety, or otherwise distributed (in whole or in part) on a stand-alone basis. You may incorporate the data into derivative works, as products that you publish and sell. 
  2. The data incorporated from the Website into a derivative work may not be changed, except to update or correct this data.
  3. Sub-licensing the data or reselling the raw data to others, in whole or in part, is prohibited.
  4. If you publish the data, maps, charts, or other visualizations in a derivative work, you must give attribution to the original source, with the following acknowledgement, “Original Material Obtained from SparkMap, an online tool made available by the Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (“CARES”), University of Missouri Extension”. 
  5. The University does not guarantee accuracy of any data found on the Website or generated by the Services. By using this data, you acknowledge that it may contain errors or inaccuracies. Additionally, the University is not obligated to update the data. 
  6. Under no circumstances shall the University be held liable for any claims arising from your use of the data.

Copyright Infringement 

If you believe that any content posted on the websites infringes your copyright and you want the content removed from the website, please send a detailed message to sparkmap@missouri.edu or write to:

SparkMap Manager

Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems 
212 Whitten Hall
Columbia, MO 65211

Digital Millennium Copyright Act 

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the following information must be included in the message to us: 

  1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
  2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
  3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material.
  4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
  5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
  6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Widgets

To the extent that the Services or Website make available to you (or otherwise) “widgets” to obtain access to Content from the Services (collectively, the “Widgets”), you agree as a condition to accessing and using such items that you will not use the Widgets for any commercial use, without the prior written consent of the University. Prohibited commercial uses include, but are not limited to, any of the following actions: sale of access to the Services on another web site and use of the Services for the purpose of gaining advertising or subscription revenue.

Member Account, Password and Security

Some of the Website features or use of the Services may require that you create/receive a password, token and/or account designation. See “Registration” below. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any such password or token and account and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account. If you allow third parties to access your username and password or token, you will defend and indemnify the University, its employees, agents and representatives from and against any liability, costs or damages arising out of claims or suits based upon or relating to such access and use. You agree to immediately notify the University as set forth above of any unauthorized use of your password, token, or account or any other breach of security related to the Services or Website of which you are aware.

Unlawful or Prohibited Use

As a condition of your use of the Services and Website, you will not use the Services or Website for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms of Service or is otherwise prohibited under applicable law. You may not use the Services or Website in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair the site or interfere with any other party’s use and enjoyment of the site. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any Services.

Guidelines

In using the Services and the Website you may not post or send:

  1. Content or communications that are unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, sexually explicit, obscene, pornographic, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
  2. Content or communications that falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your identity, affiliation with the University or any other person or organization;
  3. Confidential business or personal information, or content that infringes any trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party;
  4. Content or communications that advertise or promote services or products, or that contain advertising, promotional materials, sweepstakes, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes, or any similar form of solicitation;
  5. Content or communications that are fraudulent, false, inaccurate or misleading;
  6. Content or communications that violate any law, ordinance or regulation; that promotes illegal activities; that is harmful to minors; or
  7. Links to files that contain viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time bombs, cancelbots, corrupted files, or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer or property of another.

No Lobbying or Election Activities

The Services and Website are operated in conformity with applicable laws and codes regarding influencing the outcome of elections for public office or lobbying activity.  You should not post or upload any content or communications directed to influencing the outcome of elections in connection with your use of the Services or Website.

Access and Interference 

You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the Services or Website or their features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any content or enforce limitations on use of the site or the Content therein. You shall not use any bot, crawler, harvester, indexer, robot, spider, scraper or any other automated means to access, compile, read or gather content from the Services or Website automatically. Additionally, you shall not: (a) take any action that imposes, or may impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the infrastructure relating to the Services or Website; (b) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Services, the Website or any activities conducted on the Website; or (c) bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Services or Website.

Indemnification 

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless the University from and against any and all losses, damages, liabilities and costs of every nature incurred by any of them in connection with any claim, damage or loss related to or arising out of: your use of the Services or Website, any assistance or services provided by the University in connection with the Services and Website, any alleged unauthorized use of the Services or Website by you, or any breach or alleged breach by you of these Terms of Service. You agree to cooperate fully in the defense of any of the foregoing.  The University reserves the right, at its own expense, to control exclusively the defense of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you and you will not settle any matter without our prior written consent. Your obligation to indemnify, defend and hold harmless shall be limited to the extent that you are afforded sovereign immunity under applicable federal, state or local laws. In such cases where your obligation to indemnify may be limited due to the requirements of federal, state or local laws, you shall be responsible for the ordinary negligent acts and omissions of your agents and employees causing harm to persons not a party to these Terms of Service.

Availability 

The Services or Website may not be available due to a variety of causes, including, but not limited to, failure of electronic or mechanical equipment or communication lines, telecommunications or other interconnect problems, computer viruses or other damaging code or data, unauthorized access, theft, operator errors, severe weather, earthquakes, natural disasters, strikes or other labor problems, wars, or governmental restrictions, and therefore will not be liable if the website is unavailable.  Subscription services may also be temporarily unavailable due to development, maintenance or repair. Where reasonably possible, the University will provide subscribers advance warning of maintenance issues but shall not be obliged to do so.

Release 

In the event that you have a dispute with one or more other users of the Services or the Website, you release the University, its employees and agents from any and all claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.

Applicable Law and Jurisdiction 

The Services and Website are provided and operated via the University’s CARES facilities in the State of Missouri.  By accessing and using the Services and Website, you agree to be bound by the Terms of Service and agree that the interpretation and enforcement of those Terms of Service are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Missouri, without giving effect to any conflict of laws principles.  You agree that all of your activity occurring in connection with the Services or Website (including, but not limited to, accessing pages, downloading materials, etc.) is presumed to occur in the State of Missouri.

You agree that in the event of any suit, action or proceeding relating to these Terms of Service or use or access of the Services or Website, such suit, action or proceeding must be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction located within the State of Missouri.

Electronic Communications; Binding and Entire Agreement 

You agree that: (a) these Terms of Service constitute an agreement effectively “signed by you” under applicable law; (b) any notices or other communication regarding your use of the site may be provided to you electronically (by posting on the web site, by e-mail, and other electronic formats) and will be considered received upon posting or other distribution. These Terms of Service (including the Privacy Policy) constitute the entire agreement between you and the University and supersede all other agreements, oral or written, concerning its subject matter. You consent to the use of the English language in these Terms of Service and all documents or notices relating to them and your use of the site.

Severability 

If any of these Terms of Service is determined to be invalid, void or unenforceable for any reason, then the unenforceable provision will be deemed amended in a manner that will most nearly carry out the intent of the provision to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law or deleted if amendment is not possible, and the remaining Terms of Service will be enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.

No Waiver 

The failure by the University to enforce these Terms of Service in every instance in which they might apply shall not be a waiver of any of right of the University and the University reserves their rights to take all legal steps available to enforce these Terms of Service.

Termination 

The University shall have the right to terminate the services, access to the services and/or these Terms of Service at any time without notice for any reason, including, in the case of these Terms of Service, for your violation of any of its provisions. The Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability, Indemnification, Release and Applicable Law and Jurisdiction provisions of these Terms of Service shall survive any such termination.

If you want to remove your account or have your account removed at any point you can do so by contacting the University at sparkmap@missouri.edu.

Privacy Policy  

General 

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at: sparkmap@missouri.edu 

SparkMap Manager

Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems
212 Whitten Hall
Columbia, MO 65211

Information Collected About You and How It May Be Used

Through use of the Services and Website, the University (“We”) may collect the following types of information about you:

  1. Information you provide – When you sign up to use a service that requires registration, We ask you for personal information (such as your name, e-mail address, postal address, etc.). We may combine the information you provide to us with information that we obtain about you through other services or third parties; We do this to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of the Website and the Services. For certain of the Services, We may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information about you.
  2. Services-related communications – When you register to use the Services, We may send you email communications about that Service. We may use this information to email you about your account, request feedback, deliver targeted information about the Services to you, notify you of other products and services and perform other business activities as necessary.
  3. Cookies – When you visit the Website or a website offered as part of the Services, We send one or more cookies – a small file containing a string of characters – to your computer or other device that uniquely identifies your browser. We use cookies to improve the quality of the Services and Website, including for storing user preferences and tracking user trends. Most browsers are initially set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, some of the Services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled.
  4. Log information – When you visit the Website or other website offered as part of the Services, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your web request, Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser. We use this information to improve the quality of the Services and Website.
  5. User communications – When you send e-mail or other communications to us, We may retain those communications in order to process your inquiries, respond to your requests and improve the Website and the Services.
  6. Services offered through other websites – We offer some of the Services on or through other websites. Personal information that you provide to those sites may be sent to the University in order to deliver the Services. We process such information under this Privacy Policy. The other websites through which some of the Services are offered may have different privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.
  7. Gadgets and Applications – The Services may include gadgets and applications (including third party gadgets and applications) that the University makes available. The information collected by the University when you use any such gadget or other application is processed under this Privacy Policy. Any information that may be collected by third party application providers or third-party gadget providers for their use is governed by their respective privacy policies.
  8. Location data – The University may offer location-enabled services as part of the Services. If you use those Services, the University may receive information about your actual location (such as GPS signals sent by a mobile device) or information that can be used to approximate a location (such as a cell ID).
  9. Links – The Services may present links in a format that enables the University to keep track of whether these links have been followed. We use this information to improve the quality of the Services.
  10. Other websites – This Privacy Policy applies to the Services only. We do not exercise control over all websites that include our applications, products or services, or links from within our various Services. These other websites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data or solicit personal information from you.

The University only processes personal information for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and/or the supplementary privacy notices that may be issued for specific Services. In addition to the above, such purposes include:

  1. Providing our Services and Website and displaying customized content;
  2. Auditing, research and analysis in order to maintain, protect and improve the Website and the Services;
  3. Ensuring the technical functioning of Website;
  4. Protecting the rights or property of Website or our users; and
  5. Developing new services. 

You can find more information about how we process personal information by referring to the supplementary privacy notices that may be issued for particular Services.

Specific Services 

The services contained in this section enable the University to monitor and analyze web traffic and can be used to keep track of user behavior.

Google Analytics (Google Inc.) 

Google Analytics is a web analysis service provided by Google Inc. (“Google”). Google utilizes the Data collected to track and examine the use of this Application, to prepare reports on its activities and share them with other Google services.

Google may use the Data collected to contextualize and personalize the ads of its own advertising network.

HubSpot, Inc

HubSpot is a customer relationship management service we use to manage information about and communications with our Users.

Personal Data collected: Cookie and Usage data

Information Sharing 

Consistent with the mission of the University, We will share your personal information with other parties and individuals in the following circumstances:

  1. We provide such information to third parties for the purpose of processing personal information on our behalf. We require that these parties agree to process such information based on our instructions and in compliance with this Privacy Policy and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
  2. We have a good faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of such information is reasonably necessary to (a) satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request, (b) enforce applicable Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations thereof, (c) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or (d) protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of the Website, its users or the public as required or permitted by law.

We also may share with third parties certain pieces of aggregated, non-personal information that does not identify you individually.

Please contact us as noted above for any additional questions about the management or use of personal data.

Information Security 

We take appropriate security measures and may use your personal information to protect against unauthorized access to or unauthorized alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. These include internal reviews of our data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures, as well as physical security measures to guard against unauthorized access to systems where we store personal data.

Data Integrity 

We process personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected and in accordance with this Privacy Policy or any applicable Service-specific privacy notice. We review our data collection, storage and processing practices to ensure that we only collect, store and process the personal information needed to provide or improve our services or as otherwise permitted under this Privacy Policy. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we process is accurate, complete, and current, but we depend on our users to update or correct their personal information whenever necessary.

Right to Opt-in/Opt-out 

When you sign up for a particular service that requires registration, we ask you to provide personal information. We may combine the information you provide to us with information that we obtain about you through other services or third parties; we do this to provide you with a better experience and to improve the quality of the Website and the Services. For certain of the Services, we may give you the opportunity to opt out of combining such information about you. You also can decline to submit personal information to any of our Services or to subsequently opt-out, in which instances we may not be able to provide those Services to you.

In addition, if we propose to use personal information for any purposes other than those described in this Privacy Policy and/or in the specific Service privacy notices, we will offer you an effective way to opt out of the use of personal information for those other purposes.

Accessing and Updating Personal Information 

When you use the Website and Services, we make good faith efforts to provide you with access to your personal information and for you to be able either to correct this data if it is inaccurate or to delete such data. Some of our Services may have different procedures to access, correct or delete users’ personal information. We will provide the details for these procedures in the specific privacy notices or FAQs for those Services. If you choose to delete personal information, we may not be able to provide the Services to you.

Changes to this Privacy Policy 

Please note that the Privacy Policy set forth herein may change from time to time. We will post any Privacy Policy changes on this page and, if the changes are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice (which may include e-mail notification of Privacy Policy changes). Each version of this Privacy Policy will be identified by its effective date.

You must be older than 13 years to use the Services and the Website. The Services and Website are not directed at, or marketed to, or intended for users under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly or intentionally collect any information from children under 13 years of age. If we learn that any information was provided in connection with use of the Services or Website by a user younger than 13 years of age, we will delete the information immediately.