Terms of service

Census Studio (the "service") is operated by Location3x / Geospatial Training Services ("we", "us") at app.censusstudio.com. By creating an account or using the service you agree to these terms. They are written in plain language on purpose; if something is unclear, ask us at location3x.gis@gmail.com.

1. What the service does

Census Studio downloads public data published by the U.S. Census Bureau (American Community Survey, Decennial Census, population estimates, migration flows and LEHD employment data), joins it to boundaries, runs analyses on it and on files you upload, and lets you download results as GIS files and printed map layouts. The Census Bureau's data is in the public domain; our processing of it, the service itself and its design are ours.

2. Your account

• You need an account with a working email address. Keep your password private; you are responsible for what happens under your account.
• One person per account. Teams should create an account per person.
• You may store your own Census Bureau API key in your account to run under your own quota. It is encrypted at rest and used only to make requests on your behalf.
• We may close accounts that abuse the service (see section 6) or that stay empty and unused for a long time, after notice to the email on file.

3. Credits, payments and refunds

• Running a tool costs credits. The exact cost is shown on the form before you run it. New accounts receive free credits to start.
• Credit packs are a one-time purchase and the credits never expire. Monthly plans add a credit allowance each billing month and renew automatically until cancelled; cancelling stops future charges and keeps the plan active until the end of the paid period.
• Payments are processed by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.
• A run that fails is refunded to your credit balance automatically.
• If a purchase was made by mistake and the credits are unused, email us within 14 days and we will refund it. Otherwise purchases are final. Prices may change; a change never affects credits you already hold.

4. Your data

• Files you upload stay yours. We use them only to run the tools you ask for and to show you the results. Nobody else can see them.
• Results and uploads are kept for a limited time so you can download them, then deleted; see the privacy policy for the periods. Download what you want to keep.
• You confirm that you have the right to upload what you upload.

5. Results and their use

Results you download are yours to use, publish and sell, including inside your own products and client deliverables. Attribute the data to the U.S. Census Bureau where appropriate; attributing the processing to Census Studio is welcome but not required. Census estimates carry margins of error; the service reports them so you can judge reliability, and you are responsible for how results are interpreted and used.

6. Acceptable use

Do not use the service to break the law, to attack or overload the service or the Census Bureau's API, to attempt to reach other users' data, to resell access to the service itself, or to run automated bulk extraction beyond what the credit system allows. We may limit, suspend or close accounts that do.

7. Availability and changes

We aim to keep the service available at all times but do not guarantee it. Maintenance, outages and changes at the Census Bureau can interrupt it. We may change tools, formats and prices; we will tell you about material changes by email or in the app.

8. No warranty, limited liability

The service is provided as is. To the extent the law allows, we make no warranty about the accuracy of results (the underlying data comes from the Census Bureau and carries its own limitations) or about fitness for any particular purpose, and our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

9. Ending the relationship

You can stop using the service at any time and ask us to delete your account by email. We can end these terms with notice if you breach them. Sections 5, 8 and 10 survive.

10. Governing law and contact

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, United States, and disputes are heard in its courts. Questions, refund requests and account deletion: location3x.gis@gmail.com.