Tile Maps

A Tile map is an online map that downloads "tiles" from the internet as you use it. However, MicrobeTrace was originally designed to be a completely-offline application. To meet this constraint, we designed a world map using data that was small enough we could send it to every computer that used MicrobeTrace. However, that map couldn't provide high enough resolution, and some users needed to see the underlying geography for very small areas. In order to accommodate these users, MicrobeTrace now includes some tile layers for users who are connected to the internet. MicrobeTrace enables three tile layers: a basemap, labels, and satellite.

Privacy Concerns

Tile maps (such as Google Maps) work by downloading map "tiles". This means that your computer must request the specific tiles which correspond to specific locations on the planet from a map server. If you have zoomed far into a tile map, the tiles that the server provides will show a small area, possibly as small as a single house. The server could log that someone requested that specific tile. If someone with access to the server knew that you were performing analysis on certain stigmatized diseases, they might be able to infer that someone associated with that property may have some interest in that disease (e.g. as a patient with it).

This is not a likely scenario. There are a number of factors which make the above scenario very improbable. Even so, in an abundance of caution, all tile maps are disabled in MicrobeTrace by default. You can enable them manually in the Map View by opening the Map View Options, selecting the "Layers" Tab, and clicking the "Show" Button next to the desired tile map.