MyObservatory

1. The notification service of the mobile app including weather warnings, location specific heavy rain information, location specific rainfall and lightning forecast, etc. is provided using the Apple Push Notification service (APNs). The Observatory cannot guarantee the successful or timely reception of push notifications via the mobile app. Users should not rely on the mobile app as the only means for reception of important weather information. Depending on factors such as network usage and quality of connection of user's mobile phone connection, it may take 5 to 20 minutes or even longer for the app to receive the notification after it is issued by the Hong Kong Observatory.
2. Use of Location-based Rain and Lightning Forecast notification, and Location-specific Heavy Rain Notification will increase the battery usage and data download slightly. Users who wish to save battery usage of the app may enable the notification function in rainy days and before outdoor activities, and disable the function in sunny days and after finishing the outdoor activities.
3. Although the “MyObservatory” is a free app, user will be charged by their mobile network service provider on the use of data service. These charges can become very expensive on roaming. Please ensure that the option of “Data Roaming” have been disabled in the settings of your mobile devices.
4. In the "My Location Settings", users can opt for using the automatic location service provided by the smartphone, or designating "My Location" on the map themselves. This location will be displayed on the main page and in "My Weather Report". If your location cannot be found, "My Location" will show the last location which was successfully found or "Hong Kong Observatory". The meteorological data displayed on "My Location" or the station you added is provided by meteorological stations nearby, and is not necessarily from a station in the same region. In case meteorological data is not available from nearby stations, data from other meteorological stations at headquarter of the Observatory, King's Park, and Star Ferry will be used instead. If this is the case, the symbol ▲ will appear to the left of the updated time.
5. Because of the variation in both the terrain and height of where the weather stations located, and the variation of your location estimated by the mobile phone, users be noted that there would be difference between the actual situation and the weather information shown on " MyObservatory."
6. The clock on the main page of the app is synchronized automatically to the Observatory's Internet Time Server, and may not be the same as the time displayed on the users’ mobile devices.
7. The app provides link for users to browse the Observatory's Facebook Page. Users may choose to log in his/her own Facebook account. More features of Facebook can be used after logging in. Please be reminded to pay attention to the notes of the Facebook Page, and the privacy policies of the Facebook platform.
8. When isolated thunderstorms affect the territory and the Observatory issues a thunderstorm warning that mentions the affected regions, the thunderstorm warning icon on the main page of the app will be marked with a red dot. Upon clicking the icon, a map will be displayed to enable easy viewing of the regions affected by the thunderstorm warning.
9. The accuracy of location services of the mobile app depends on several factors, including users’ mobile device specifications, satellite positioning, mobile networks, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the surrounding environment, which affect the estimated location. Therefore, the district located by the app may not be accurate.

• The information contained in this mobile app is compiled by the Observatory of the Government for general information only. Whilst the Government endeavours to ensure the accuracy of this general information, the Government (including its servants and agents) makes no warranty, statement or representation, express or implied, with respect to the accuracy, availability, completeness, non-infringement, reliability, security, timeliness, appropriateness or usefulness of the information, contained herein, and in so far as permitted by the laws of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, shall not have any legal liability, obligation or responsibility (including but not limited to liability for negligence) for any loss, destruction, damages, injury or death (save and to the extent any such injury or death is caused by the negligence of the Government or any of its employees in the course of employment) howsoever arising out of or in connection with any use or misuse of or reliance on the information or inability to use such information.
• The Government does not warrant or represent that any information transmitted from this mobile app is free of computer viruses. You are advised to perform virus scanning before using the information. The Government shall not be held liable for any loss, destruction or damages howsoever arising out of or in relation to any transmission from this mobile app over the Internet.
• The Government reserves the right to omit, delete, suspend or edit, all information compiled by the Government in this mobile app at any time in its absolute discretion without giving any reason or prior notice. Users are responsible for making their own assessment of all information contained in this mobile application and are advised to verify such information by making reference, for example, to original publications and obtaining independent advice before acting upon it.
• The notification service of the mobile app including weather warnings, location specific heavy rain information, location specific rainfall and lightning forecast, etc. is provided using the Apple Push Notification service (APNs). The Observatory cannot guarantee the successful or timely reception of push notifications via the mobile app.

1. The protection of privacy in relation to personal data is the concern of every member of staff in the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO). We respect personal data and are committed to fully implementing and complying with the data protection principles and all relevant provisions of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.
2. While HKO does not intend to collect personal data in the mobile app MyObservatory (the app) and has taken practicable steps to minimize the collection of data for the purpose of provision of services, maintenance and improvement of the app (see paragraph 20 for details), some potential personal data may inevitably be involved when some functions in the mobile app are being used or activated. The following paragraphs aim at explaining to users the privacy policy concerning the app, and the potential personal data that may be involved or collected when certain functions of the app are being used or activated.

3. The app is developed for provision of location-based weather service to meet individual user’s needs. The app was designed by putting top priority in respecting user’s privacy, while attempting to provide best possible functions and features for users to enjoy benefits of the latest advancement in technology. If the user grants permission for the app to use the user’s location data, the app will provide weather information closest to the user’s location or district on the main page and “Greater Bay Area Weather” page. User’s location will not be transmitted out from user’s device (unless the user turns on notification function in “Location-based Rain & Lightning Forecast” and “Location-specific Heavy Rain Information”). In case the user does not grant permission for the app to use the user’s location data, the user can still manually select a location (default at Tsim Sha Tsui), or select the districts in Greater Bay Area under “My Favourite” of “Greater Bay Area Weather” page for display of relevant weather information.

4. The app is equipped with two advanced features that alert user of incoming rain and lightning, as well as heavy rain with hourly rainfall of 50mm and 70mm that has been recorded at the district where the user is located. To enjoy these features, user shall grant permission for the app to use the user’s location (allow all the time). When user turns on notifications for these features, user’s location with a time stamp together with the app’s push token that is used for sending notification messages to the user will be stored on HKO servers. A push token is generated by service provider of cloud message platform (e.g. iOS, Android, Huawei, etc.) for the app on user’s device for receiving push notifications. It will be re-generated non-periodically, similarly during re-installation of the app or upgrade of operating system of user’s device. To better protect user’s privacy, the precision of the time stamp of the location data is reduced to the nearest 5-minute when it is uploaded.
5. For the purpose of provision of the notification service of “Location-based Rain & Lightning Forecast” and “Location-specific Heavy Rain Information” on the app, HKO’s servers will store the user’s last updated location with a time stamp with accuracy reduced to the nearest 5-minute, and app’s push token. If the notification functions of these features are not enabled by the user, then user’s location will not be stored on HKO servers. Disabling of the notification functions of these features will not affect the use of other functions of the app, such as the location-based weather service on main page of the app as described in paragraph 3 as well as the map display of “Location-based Rain & Lightning Forecast”, on which users may view animation sequence of rain and lightning forecasts for Hong Kong.

6. The collection of data as described in paragraphs 5 for the purpose of provision of notification service of “Location-based Rain & Lightning Forecast” and “Location-specific Heavy Rain Information” will not be shared with any third party.

7. The app features a “My Weather Observation” function, which allows users to share weather information including weather phenomena, weather photos and weather video clips. To encourage users to report and share weather information accurately using “My Weather Observation”, users have to register and a registration ID comprising random characters and numbers will be assigned.
8. The registration ID assigned to user does not contain any personal identifiable information (e.g. user’s name, ID of user’s device, etc.). It is used for labelling weather reports, viz. weather phenomena, weather photos and weather video clips, that originate from a user.
9. If a user makes use of the “My Weather Observation” function to share false or fake reports of weather information, HKO reserves the right to refuse (at any time without notice) the user who was assigned with a registration ID in relation to using the “My Weather Observation” function, and to remove other reports associated with the registration ID on the app.
10. In case users opt for not registering, they shall not be able to share weather information through the app. However, they may still browse the weather information shared by other users through the “My Weather Observation” function of the app. The use of other functions of the app will not be affected for non-registered users.

11. Users may share reports of weather phenomena after registration and login. The shared report of weather phenomena, the associated location and time, and the registration ID will be transmitted to HKO’s servers for storage in encrypted mode. No personal identifiable information other than those described above in this paragraph will be transmitted to HKO’s servers in this process. In submitting reports of weather phenomena via the app, users give consent to HKO to enquire, via the steps below, more details of the reports of weather phenomena if required. In the event that HKO considers necessary to enquire more details of the reports of weather phenomena, HKO will send message via the app requesting the user to contact HKO by phone. The user may call that number to provide the details to HKO on a voluntary basis.

12. If the registered user is a member of the Facebook public group “Community Weather Observation Scheme” (CWOS), the user may share weather reports with photos and video clips to the CWOS Facebook group through the “My Weather Observation” function of the app. CWOS members may login their Facebook account in “My Weather Observation” of the app, authorize the Facebook app “MyObservatory-CWOS” to share on user’s behalf weather reports of photos and video clips on the CWOS Facebook public group. The purpose of Facebook login is to verify user’s membership on CWOS and Met Talent Facebook groups. Although access to user’s Facebook name and avatar are granted by default after login and authorization, the membership verification processes do not involve the access to any personal identifiable information including name, avatar, and any other information in the profile of user’s Facebook account, and do not involve the storage of any personal identifiable information including name, avatar, and any other information in the profile of user’s Facebook account on HKO’s servers. If the registered user is verified to be a member of the CWOS Facebook group, weather reports of photos and video clips shared via the “My Weather Observation” function of the app will be posted to the CWOS Facebook group directly. If the registered CWOS user is also verified to be a member of Met Talent Facebook group, weather reports of photos and videos shared in the “My Weather Observation” may also be displayed on the app.
13. The weather reports of photos and video clips shared by users through the “My Weather Observation” of the app (in the form of website address of posts of CWOS Facebook group), location and time of the weather reports furnished by users, users’ registration ID (see paragraphs 7 – 8 for details), membership status of CWOS and Met Talent Facebook groups will be transmitted to HKO’s server for storage in encrypted mode.

14. The collection of data from users as described in paragraphs 11 and 13 is for the purposes of: (i) service provision and reporting on the app, HKO’s websites, HKO’s account of social media platforms including but not limited to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Weibo, WeChat, etc.; and (ii) research and development of more services. For the purposes mentioned above, HKO may share the reports of weather information collected through the “My Weather Observation” function of the app with other organizations including but not limited to education institutes, bureaux and departments of the Hong Kong government, etc. However, the shared reports will not include any registration ID.

15. The “My Weather Observation” function on the app comes with a feature to facilitate users in sharing weather information to CWOS Facebook group. Users should not share any weather report of photo and video clip that may contain identifiable information about individual users including but not limited to watermark with personal name, identifiable items or voice, etc. through the “My Weather Observation” of the app to the CWOS Facebook group. Although HKO uses best endeavours not to collect personal data of the users, users may contact HKO (Attn: Mobile App Support Officer) by email (mailbox@hko.gov.hk) should they have any inquiries about their rights to request access to and to request the correction of the data, if any, collected by HKO.
16. Users may remove any individual weather phenomena report submitted by themselves via the “My Weather Observation” function of the app within 3 days after the report was submitted. Within 3 days of submission of report of weather phenomena, users can correct the submitted report by first removing the submitted report and, subject to available quota, submitting a new one.
17. Users may remove any individual weather report of photo or video clip posted by themselves via the “My Weather Observation” function of the app within 3 days after the report was posted through “My Weather Observation”. Within 3 days of submission of report of weather photo or video clip, users can correct the submitted report by first removing the submitted report on “My Weather Observation” and also the related post on CWOS Facebook group manually through Facebook (app or website), and subject to available quota, users may then submit a new weather report of photo or video clip via the “My Weather Observation” function of the app.
18. At any time after 3 days of the submission of report of weather phenomena, weather photos and weather video clips, user may purge (if he or she wishes to do so) any of such submitted materials associated with his/her registration ID by selecting the option “Permanently erase weather reports” via the “My Weather Observation” function of the app. Since HKO does not have any personal data regarding any individual user, HKO does not have sufficient information to verify the ownership of a registration ID by a user. Thus, registered users may enable the purging of weather reports through their own login account on the app only. As such, user shall not be able to remove the weather reports if the registration ID and/or password are lost. Users are highly recommended to make a backup copy of their account details including registration ID and password, in particular before uninstalling the app or cleaning of app data (Android platform). Users may contact HKO (Attn: Mobile App Support Officer) by email (mailbox@hko.gov.hk) if there is any enquiry in purging weather reports through the app.
19. Users who post weather reports of photos and video clips to CWOS Facebook group through the “My Weather Observation” function of the app should note that purging reports associated with a registration ID on the app will purge reports on HKO’s servers only, but not the posts on CWOS Facebook group. Users may remove their own posts on CWOS Facebook group on Facebook through their own Facebook accounts.

20. The HKO will record user’s usage of the app including but not limited to IP address, browser/agent type, time of access, and data retrieved. Such information is collected for the compilation of statistical reports, diagnosis of problems with or concerning computer systems, and carrying out analysis and research to help improving the app and providing new services.
21. To provide notification services, the app stores app’s push token and user's preferences on receiving such information on HKO’s servers. A push token is generated for an app by service provider of cloud message platform (e.g. iOS, Android, Huawei, etc.) for providing push notification to app’s user. It will be re-generated non-periodically, similarly during re-installation of the app or upgrade of operating system of user’s device.
22. For the purpose of reporting issues encountered in using the app, users may contact HKO using the form in “Contact Us” of the app and provide information including but not limited to OS version, device model, network type, and email address. The information submitted will be sent directly to HKO through user’s email account, and the access to the information is restricted to authorized personnel only.
23. The app may use camera lens of user’s device in the “My Weather Report” function of the app, and save the photos taken by users on user’s device. The app would not access any information in photo album of user’s device.
24. The app supports sharing of information via third party service providers. If you use any sharing function, please refer to the privacy policy of corresponding service providers.
25. To enable better user experience, the app makes use of the YouTube Application Programming Interface (API) to provide direct links to latest video clips on various playlists of the HKO’s YouTube channels. Users should take note of the YouTube Terms of Service and Google Privacy & Terms before viewing weather video clips on YouTube through the app.
26. To support feature of “Select Notification Sound” for Android users to customize notification sound, the app may have to read the folders of default incoming ringtone, notification sound and alarm sound.

This Notice has been translated into Chinese. If there is any inconsistency or ambiguity between the English version and Chinese version, the English version shall prevail.