Botanics Nearby is an iOS and Android app that helps you learn about the things around you on a visit to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. This page gives details of the data the app gathers about you so you can make decisions about how to use it.

The app downloads data over the internet so you need to have an active data connection for it to work. This can either be provided by your phone company or you can use our Wi-Fi network (Botanics Visitor) which is available in and near our public buildings.

You should be aware that if you are not on our network you may be charged for data usage by your provider especially when listening to audio.

When you are outdoors the app uses GPS to find your location. In some indoor locations it uses BlueTooth LE beacons to identify where you are. Your BlueTooth needs to be turned on for this to work.

Your Privacy:  In order for us to tell you what is around you we need to record your location but we do this entirely anonymously. Our servers record the location of a data request but not who makes the request.

There is a location tagging form included in the app that allows you to submit your location with an email address if you wish to give us feedback about that location. This data is used only to gather feedback about the gardens and will not be used for other purposes without your permission.

Because of the software libraries we use to play back audio some phones will ask for permission to access ‘phone state’ and ‘audio record’. We do not record any audio in the app.

If you have any question or suggestions please contact Roger Hyam.