Terms, Privacy & Legal
Elara-Cortex · Johannesburg, South Africa · Last updated 4 June 2026
1. Terms of Service
These terms govern your use of the Elara Route website, map and routing API (the “Service”), operated by Elara-Cortex (“we”, “us”), the trading name of its founder Kgomotso Lekola (legal contact at legal@elara-cortex.com). By using the Service you agree to these terms.
Responsible party (POPIA) and operator: Kgomotso Lekola, trading as Elara-Cortex, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. For a postal address or written legal notice, email legal@elara-cortex.com and we will provide the current postal details for service. See the Contact section for our full details and the Information Regulator reference.
Your account & keys
You are responsible for keeping your API key and account credentials secure and for all activity under them. Tell us at once if you suspect unauthorised use.
The Service
We provide route planning, multi-stop optimisation, live re-routing, distance matrices and place search. We work to keep the Service available and accurate, but it is provided “as is” to the extent permitted by law. We may change, suspend or improve features over time and will give reasonable notice of material changes that affect you.
Fair use & limits
Each plan has request-rate and volume limits. We may rate-limit, suspend or revoke access that threatens the stability, security or lawful operation of the Service.
Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim relating to the Service is limited to the fees you paid us for it in the three months before the claim. We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa, and the courts of South Africa have jurisdiction, without affecting any mandatory consumer rights in your own country.
Service levels (SLA)
Paid plans target 99.9% monthly availability for the routing API, measured on successful responses to valid requests and excluding scheduled maintenance (notified in advance) and events outside our reasonable control. Where a paid month falls below this target, you may request a service credit against your next invoice. Specific availability targets, support response times and credit schedules for Enterprise plans are set out in your order or contract. Trial and free entitlements are provided without an availability commitment. Questions: legal@elara-cortex.com.
2. Acceptable Use
- Do not use the Service unlawfully, or to harm, harass, defraud or infringe the rights of others.
- Do not attempt to break, overload, reverse-engineer or circumvent the Service, its security or its rate limits.
- Do not resell or redistribute raw map data in breach of our data providers’ terms (see Sub-processors).
- Do not use the Service where failure could lead to death, injury or serious harm (see Safety Notice).
3. Privacy Policy
This policy explains what personal information we process and why. It is designed to meet the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA, South Africa), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, EU/UK) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA). For EU/UK and POPIA purposes, Elara-Cortex is the responsible party / data controller.
3.1 What we collect
| Category | What & why | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Account | Email, password (hashed), optional phone, to create your account and issue an API key. | Contract |
| Location you enter | Search terms and the coordinates you route, to return directions. We do not sell location data. | Contract / consent |
| Device location (GPS) | Only when you switch on “Use my location” for live navigation. Processed to guide you; not stored against your identity. | Consent |
| Usage analytics | Anonymous, app-generated identifier and event counts, only after you accept analytics, to improve the Service. | Consent |
| Voice feedback | Audio you choose to record, plus its transcript and the place it was given, to fix the issue you report. | Consent |
3.2 How long we keep it
We keep account data while your account is active. Anonymous analytics and voice feedback are kept for up to 12 months and then deleted or aggregated. You can ask us to delete your data sooner (see Your Data Rights).
3.3 Where it is processed
Data is processed in South Africa and by the sub-processors listed below, some of which operate outside your country. Where we transfer EU/UK personal data, we rely on appropriate safeguards such as the Standard Contractual Clauses.
3.4 What we never do
We do not sell your personal information. We do not run third-party advertising trackers. We do not share your routes or locations except with the routing/mapping providers needed to answer your request.
4. Cookies & Local Storage
We use a small amount of browser storage to make the Service work:
- Essential, remembers your theme, recent searches and an anonymous device id so the app functions. Always on; no consent needed.
- Analytics, usage events that help us improve. Off until you accept them in the banner; you can change your mind any time.
We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.
5. Your Data Rights
Under POPIA, GDPR and CCPA you may:
- Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Correct or delete it (“right to be forgotten”).
- Object to or withdraw consent for analytics and other consent-based processing.
- Port your data to another service.
- Not be sold, we never sell personal information (CCPA “Do Not Sell”).
To exercise any right, email privacy@elara-cortex.com. We respond within the time the law allows. You also have the right to complain to the South African Information Regulator or your local data-protection authority.
6. Sub-processors
We use trusted providers to deliver the Service. Each receives only the data needed for its task.
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| OpenStreetMap / OSRM | Road network & routing |
| TomTom | Live traffic & geocoding |
| Nominatim · Photon · Overpass (OSM) | Place & address search |
| OpenAI | Transcribing the voice feedback you record |
| DeepSeek | Understanding mis-typed or mis-heard searches |
| Paystack | Payment processing |
| Hosting provider | Secure hosting of the Service |
7. Data Processing (for business customers)
If you use the API to process personal data of your own users, you are the controller and we are your processor. We process that data only on your instructions, keep it confidential, secure it appropriately, help you meet your own obligations, and delete or return it on request. A full Data Processing Addendum is available on request at legal@elara-cortex.com.
8. Refunds, Cancellation & Disputes
8.1 Cancelling a plan. You can cancel a paid plan at any time from your account or by emailing hello@elara-cortex.com. Cancellation stops the next renewal; your plan stays active until the end of the period you have already paid for. We do not pro-rate or refund the unused part of a current paid period, except where clause 8.2 or the law requires it.
8.2 Free trial, and when we refund. Elara Route is sold as a flat monthly subscription with a free-trial period first. The trial carries no charge: if you cancel before the trial ends, you are not billed. Billing only begins when the subscription starts after the trial.
- Free trial. You can cancel any time during the free-trial period and pay nothing. We only charge the subscription once the trial ends and you have not cancelled.
- Material service failure. If the Service materially fails to perform as described and we cannot fix it within a reasonable time after you tell us, we refund the affected paid period (pro-rated to the days affected).
- Duplicate or incorrect charges. If you are charged twice, or charged in error, we refund the difference in full.
- Your statutory rights. Your rights under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 and the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 always apply and are not limited by this policy.
- When a paid period is not refundable. Because the routing engine and API are provisioned and consumed as you use them, once a paid subscription period has begun that started period is not refundable, except as set out above or where the law requires it. By starting the subscription you agree that performance begins immediately, so the seven-day cooling-off for electronic transactions does not apply to a service you have already begun to use (ECT Act, section 42(2)(a)). The free trial carries no charge, so there is nothing to refund.
8.3 How to ask for a refund. Email hello@elara-cortex.com within 7 days of the charge, with your account email and the reason. We aim to reply within 2 business days and to settle valid refunds within 10 business days, back to your original payment method.
8.4 Disputes & chargebacks. If you are unhappy, please contact us first, most issues are resolved quickly. We keep a signed receipt and a log for every billed call, and we will share the relevant records with you. If a chargeback or payment dispute is raised with your bank or card provider before you have contacted us and given us a fair chance to resolve it, we may suspend the account while the dispute is open, and we reserve the right to contest the chargeback with our transaction and usage evidence. Where a dispute is upheld in your favour we refund promptly; where it is not, normal billing resumes. This clause does not limit your statutory rights in clause 8.2.
9. Safety Notice
10. Contact
Elara-Cortex (trading name of Kgomotso Lekola) · Johannesburg, South Africa
General: hello@elara-cortex.com · Privacy: privacy@elara-cortex.com · Legal: legal@elara-cortex.com
For a postal address or written legal notice, email legal@elara-cortex.com and we will provide the current postal details for service.
As the responsible party under POPIA, our Information Officer can be reached at privacy@elara-cortex.com. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (South Africa): The Information Regulator, JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001 · enquiries@inforegulator.org.za · POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za · inforegulator.org.za.
We review and update these terms as the Service grows. Material changes will be notified on this page with a new “last updated” date.