Last updated: 2026-09-23
Spatialize Tavak is a field-surveying app. Every permission below belongs to something you can point at in the app. The ones marked core are what the app needs to do its job at all. The ones marked optional are only used once you turn on the feature that needs them.
Recording accurate GPS coordinates is what the app is for: survey points, lines, polygons, landmarks and geofences all depend on it. Without precise location there is no app. It is read only while you are actually surveying (placing a point, recording a track, or navigating to a landmark), and it is stored on your device and nowhere else.
A track has to keep recording while the app is not in front of you. That is what a long survey looks like: walking the edge of a parcel, a riverbank or a monitoring boundary for anything from half an hour to most of a day. While the track is running the app keeps a notification on screen, so you are never in any doubt that the GPS is on. It stops the moment you tap "Stop Track" or end the session.
Background location is never used for advertising, for analytics, or for anything other than the survey you have running.
Used to get the map roughly over you when you first open the app, before there is a precise fix to work with. As soon as one arrives, everything switches to precise location.
For taking geotagged photos and videos of sites, landmarks and anything else worth a picture. Each one is attached to the coordinates it was taken at and travels with your export. The camera only ever opens when you tap the camera button.
Records sound alongside a survey video. Used only while a video is actually being recorded.
So you can pick a photo you already have and attach it to a survey feature, and so the photos and videos you take during a survey can be saved into your gallery when you export them.
Android insists that an app using location in the background run a "foreground service" and keep a notification visible while it does. That notification is the one you see while a track is recording. The notifications permission is asked for so that it can be shown, and for nothing else. We never send marketing or promotional notifications.
Keeps the GPS running with the screen off, so putting the phone in your pocket does not put a hole in the track. Held only while a track is recording.
Asks Android to leave the app out of Doze mode while a track is recording, so the GPS is not throttled during a long session. You can refuse, and the app still works; on some phones a very long track will simply come out less accurate.
Google Play Billing handles the subscription, and it needs this. Your payment details and your Google account never reach us. All Play tells the app is whether the subscription is active.
The app goes online for two things: map tiles, from OpenFreeMap and from any tile service you add yourself, and checking the subscription with Google Play or the Apple App Store. Your survey data stays on your device and is never sent to a server of ours.