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OpenCDSS / cdss-app-tstool-main

Colorado's Decision Support Systems (CDSS) TSTool application main program
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Add Google Analytics tracking for TSTool usage #257

Open smalers opened 1 year ago

smalers commented 1 year ago

Google Analytics 4 is used to track documentation page views. It can also be used to track TSTool usage by doing a GET on a OpenCDSS page. Implement this to evaluate tracking usage.

smalers commented 1 year ago

I enabled the code. Monitor during development. Close this issue.

smalers commented 1 year ago

I did not think this one all the way through. A simple GET is not enough because the Javascript in the HTML file needs to be run in the client software. I don't see a way to do that in Java but maybe there is a GA4 API that could be used. I'll have to spend more time on this technical issue later but the privacy concerns probably need to be addressed more explicitly (what if someone in Europe downloaded the software?).

I did post an article on Stack Overflow and got a long response pointing out things about privacy. I understand the points made and tried to explain valid reasons for tracking in a comment.

I have commented out the tracking for now until more time can be spent on it. The reasons for tracking TSTool use are:

  1. Understand versions and operating system that is being used to help with support and updates.
  2. Understand amount of use, to justify funding for support.
  3. Spatial distribution of users would be good, again to allow approaching funders in different locations.

Perhaps what should be done is to get some "Terms of Use" language on the CDSS/OpenCDSS websites or maybe for specific applications to explain how software are used. This goes beyond the software license. If tracking were done, the terms of use could say something like "Data are collected to tracking usage in order to help software developers plan for updates and to help justify government funding of the software. No personal information is collected."