Terms of use

These terms are an agreement between you and Cernitex (Pty) Ltd (registration number 2026/452042/07), a private company registered in South Africa (Cernitex, we, us). They apply when you create an account and when you use:

• Cernitex Maps at maps.cernitex.com;
• the Cernitex API at api.cernitex.com;
• Cernitex for AI assistants, our MCP servers;
• the sign-in and account pages on cernitex.com.

Together these are the Services.

You accept these terms by ticking the box when you create your account. Accepting them is your licence to use the maps and the data (clause 3). If you do not accept them, do not create an account.

Clauses in bold limit our responsibility or place a duty on you. Please read them carefully.

1. What the Services are

1.1 The Services give access to maps and data compiled from public sources: government, municipal and publisher websites, open-data portals, satellite imagery and similar records. They cover places in South Africa and other countries, with layers such as boundaries, land use, infrastructure, population, hazards and valuation information.

1.2 The Services are a beta. They are free while we build and test them. Layers, datasets, features and the way the Services work will change, and some things may not work as expected. We may pause, change or end the Services, or any layer or dataset, at any time. If we end the Services as a whole, we will give you at least 14 days' notice by email.

1.3 There are no fees during the beta. If we later charge for any part of the Services, that will be under separate terms that you must accept before you are charged. Nothing in these terms obliges you to pay anything.

2. Accounts and access levels

2.1 Who may join. Anyone aged 18 or over may create an account. You sign in with Google, Microsoft or GitHub, or with a link we email you. You must use a real email address that you control. An account is for one person. Do not share your sign-in, or let anyone else use your account.

2.2 Access levels. The Services have these levels:

2.3 Nobody can see a map without signing in.

2.4 Expert access is by invitation only. Cernitex decides, at its sole discretion, whether to grant Expert access to anyone, and may withdraw it at any time without giving a reason. Before an Expert sees any restricted layer, they must accept the Expert Undertaking, which binds them in addition to these terms. Applying for Expert access does not entitle you to it.

2.5 Restricted layers contain personal information (for example property owners' names in valuation rolls), or come from sources whose terms do not allow us to show them more widely. They are never shown to Members, and never offered through the API or an MCP server. Layers with personal information are shown only to Admins, whom Cernitex names individually, and never to Experts.

2.6 You are responsible for your account. You are responsible for everything done through your account, its API keys and the AI apps you connect, unless it was done by someone who got access because of our failure. If you think someone else has used your account, tell us at once at hello@cernitex.com.

3. Your licence

3.1 What you may do. While your account is active, we give you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the maps and data your level allows:

• for your own research, analysis, planning and decision-making, including in your work and your business;
• to show small extracts in a report, presentation or article: for example a screenshot of an area, or a figure. Each extract must carry the credit "Cernitex; source: [the source named in the app or in the answer]";
• to use results you derive from the data, such as a figure, a chart, a ranking, a score or an estimate, in your own work and products, as long as nobody can recover the underlying data from them in bulk.

3.2 What you may not do. You may not:

• sell, license, publish, share or redistribute data from the Services, or offer it through another product or service, whether for a fee or free;
• copy, download, export or extract maps or data in bulk, or rebuild any substantial part of a layer or dataset;
• use data from the Services to build or refresh a dataset or service that substitutes for any part of the Services;
• use the data to train, fine-tune or evaluate a machine-learning or AI model;
• access the maps with any robot, scraper or script beyond what an ordinary web browser does. The API and MCP servers are the routes for automated access, on the terms in clause 4;
• get around, probe or test the sign-in, the access levels, the rate limits or any other security measure;
• try to identify, contact, profile, track or harass any person from what the Services show, or combine data from the Services with other data to do so; or
• use the Services for anything unlawful, or in a way that infringes anyone's rights.

3.3 Personal information. The maps open to Members, the API and the MCP servers are built so that they contain no personal information about individuals. If you come across any, do not copy, keep or use it, and tell us at hello@cernitex.com. Admins who see layers with personal information, and Experts and Internal staff who see other restricted layers, handle them only as Cernitex's instructions, the Expert Undertaking or their employment allow.

3.4 Source terms travel with the data. Each layer and dataset comes from a source with its own terms, and the Services name the source of each one. When you use data from the Services, you must also follow its source's terms, including any requirement to credit the source, not to use it commercially, or not to redistribute it. We cannot give you more rights than a source gave us.

Where a source publishes its data under an open licence, nothing in these terms restricts what that licence lets you do with the source's own data, if you obtain it from the source itself. Clause 3.2 covers Cernitex's compilation, selection, processing, derived measures, maps and API.

3.5 "Commercial" maps are maps that we may later offer only to paying customers. During the beta, every Member may view them on the terms in this clause 3, free of charge. Viewing a commercial map during the beta does not give you any right to keep using it after the beta.

4. The API and AI assistants (MCP)

4.1 Keys. You can create API keys on your account page. Each key lasts for the period you choose, up to two years, and is shown once. Keep your keys secret. You are responsible for calls made with a key until you revoke it. If you think a key has leaked, revoke it on your account page at once.

4.2 AI apps. You can connect Claude or another app we support to our MCP servers. The app's calls are your calls. You can see and end each connection on your account page. What our servers return goes to the app's provider, under that provider's terms with you.

4.3 What answers contain. The API and MCP servers return only datasets cleared for that use. Each answer carries a credit line naming its sources. When you show or publish a result derived from an answer, show that credit line with it.

4.4 Limits. Calls are limited per key and per account. Above a limit, the API answers `429` with a `Retry-After` time. Wait that long before calling again. We may change the limits at any time during the beta.

4.5 Clause 3 applies to answers. Your licence in clause 3.1 and the rules in clause 3.2 apply to what the API and MCP servers return, exactly as they apply to the maps.

4.6 We may revoke a key or a connection, or suspend an account's API and MCP access, if we reasonably believe it has leaked, is being used against clause 3.2, or is being used to attack the Services. We will tell you why, unless the law or security prevents it.

5. Accuracy of the information

5.1 We compile the Services from public records, and we do not create or verify the underlying information. Records can be wrong, incomplete, out of date or matched to the wrong place, and our processing can introduce errors. Each layer and dataset says where it comes from and how current it is.

5.2 The Services are information, not advice. They are not a valuation, survey, title search, engineering or environmental assessment, or legal, financial or investment advice. Before you rely on anything you see for a decision that matters, check it with the original source or a qualified professional.

5.3 If you find an error, tell us at hello@cernitex.com with the subject "Correction". We will look into it.

5.4 Some layers use the Copernicus DEM. The organisations in charge of the Copernicus programme by law or by delegation do not incur any liability for any use of the Copernicus WorldDEM-30. Copernicus does not endorse Cernitex or the Services.

6. Our responsibility to you

6.1 What we do not exclude. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for fraud, wilful misconduct or gross negligence by us or anyone acting for us. Nor does it limit any right you have under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 or the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 that the law does not allow us to exclude.

6.2 Subject to clause 6.1:

• the Services are provided "as is" and "as available", without any promise that they will be available, error-free, complete or fit for a particular purpose;
• we are not liable for loss of profit, business, opportunity or data, or for any indirect or consequential loss, however it arises;
• we are not liable for failures of services outside our reasonable control, including Google, Microsoft, GitHub, your email provider, an AI app you connect, your internet connection, or any source we draw data from; and
• our total liability to you for all claims connected with the Services is limited to R1 000.

6.3 These limits apply because the Services are free, in beta, and built from records we do not control. They may mean that you cannot recover all of a loss.

6.4 Your indemnity. If you break clause 3.2 or 3.3 or the Expert Undertaking, or use the Services unlawfully, you must make good any loss, claim or cost (including reasonable legal costs) that Cernitex suffers because of it.

7. Suspension and closing your account

7.1 You may close your account at any time from your account page, or by writing to hello@cernitex.com. We then delete your account as the Privacy Notice sets out.

7.2 We may suspend or close your account, revoke its keys and connections, or lower your access level, without notice, if we reasonably believe you have broken these terms, put the Services or other people at risk, or used the Services unlawfully. Otherwise, we may close an account on 14 days' notice by email.

7.3 When your account closes, your licence in clause 3 ends. Clauses 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 continue to apply.

8. Privacy

8.1 Our Privacy Notice (version maps-beta-1.1, at cernitex.com/privacy) explains:

• what personal information we collect about you, and why;
• who processes it, and how long we keep it;
• your rights.

It forms part of these terms. Please read it.

8.2 The Services set only the cookies they need to sign you in and keep you signed in. They use no advertising, analytics or tracking cookies.

9. Changes to these terms

9.1 We may change these terms. We will email you at least 30 days before a change that reduces your rights or adds to your obligations takes effect, and you will be asked to accept the new version the next time you sign in. If you do not accept it, you may close your account. Changes that only correct errors, or that the law requires, may take effect sooner.

9.2 The version you accepted, and when, is recorded against your account.

10. Disputes and the law that applies

10.1 South African law governs these terms.

10.2 If you have a complaint, write to us first at hello@cernitex.com with the subject "Complaint". We will acknowledge it within 5 business days, and try to resolve it within 30 days. This does not stop you going to the National Consumer Commission, the Information Regulator or a court.

10.3 You and we consent to the jurisdiction of the Magistrates' Court for any claim within its jurisdiction, even if the amount would otherwise fall outside it. This does not stop either of us approaching the High Court.

11. General

11.1 These terms, the Privacy Notice and (for Experts) the Expert Undertaking are the whole agreement between you and us about the Services.

11.2 If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.

11.3 If we do not enforce a right at once, we have not given it up.

11.4 You may not transfer your rights under these terms. We may transfer ours to a company that takes over the Services, and will tell you if we do.

11.5 Notices to you go to the email address on your account. Notices to us go to hello@cernitex.com, or, for legal service, to our physical address below.

12. Information about us (ECTA section 43)