Turn Map Off?

Hello,
is it possible to toggle the map off that shows where you live? Or make it less accurate?
For receiving postcards you obviously need and address, but I don’t see why any member should be allowed to see that on a profile page. I don’t want my data to be shared like that.

Any idea what to do about this?

2 Likes

Go to the settings in your profile.

There’s one field where you enter your address, that has to be correct.

For the place you can chose something a bit further away from your home address, if you like.
Just stick with your country.

But: The kilometres will be probably be calculated with the place shown on the map. If you don’t mind it’s not the correct numbers, it’s all fine. (I know that some are more keen on correct numbers than others are.)

6 Likes

If I do that will the postcards send to me go to that address then?

The map is just to give people a rough idea. It doesn’t even point to your address, just the town you chose from a dropdown. Your actual address is not in any way linked to it.

9 Likes

The map doesn’t show your exact address. The map shows the centre of your city, as you picked from the drop down menu when creating your profile (or when changing your location).

If you go to Explore > Seach and then select a city with many members, you’ll see that their map all show the same location.

No. There’s separate fields for city/place and address. The city/place is the one that is shown in your map. The postcards are still sent to your address.

3 Likes

okay, that’s good to know! :smiley: It just had me worried…
(And what happens if if you live in the city-center? xD)

1 Like

You can also set your profile to only be visible to people logged into the website, rather than to everyone.

That doesn’t exactly address your question, but it might help your unease.

3 Likes

I guess there is a small chance that some members could potentially live at the exact centre of their town or city. They would end up with an uncomfortably accurate pin. Obviously no one would ever know since everyone in the same town gets the same pin.

When I lived in a very small town I used to put my pin an hour’s drive away into the next larger town.

2 Likes

Thank you for your help! :smiley:
I’ll check my profile page setting’s!

1 Like

The pin on the map will be in the exact same place regardless of your address. The chance that you live on exacly that place where the pin is, is very, very small. Random persons who look at your profile have no way of knowing your address, and they don’t know how far from the pin in the map you live.

3 Likes

Yes there are people who are ashamed about their aera where they live. And would prefer to live somewhere else.

Btw. There are mailbox services, which accept your mail and forward it to your real address.

2 Likes

10 posts were merged into an existing topic: Where do you live on your Postcrossing map? :wink:

You could try putting a different city as your city/place. The center of the city you choose is always shown as the location, so everyone who has picked the same city as you, also has their location as this hospital. I think people are not going to think bad of you or assume you’re in hospital because the location is one of the things explained in the FAQ which I assume a majority of users have read at some point.

For example I live in a village which I could have picked as a location, but it was too specific for me, so I picked the closest city.

4 Likes

Is it just coincidence that this is on the home page today?

3 Likes