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I've asked for our IT department to install QGIS Desktop on a new laptop. They asked me to confirm whether data for the app is stored in the UK.

As far as I can tell the data is simply stored locally.

Could anyone clarify or point to documentation covering this?

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    The data is stored where you save it (or where you get it from): if you save locally, it's saved locally. If you save on a server (or if you retrieve it from there), it will be there: same if you use a Word-document: it can be anywhere. It depends completely on the use case, so this question here cannot be answered.
    – Babel
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 8:40
  • @MrXsquared OK, in a way you might be right... ;-)
    – Babel
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 8:49
  • @Babel thank you for your response. Yes, I'm saving it locally. I thin the question is in relation to GDPR, i.e. checking that no data is stored remotely on any 'non-uk' servers. I think you've answered the question, but how I 'evidence' it is more problematic, short of pointing them to the network location. Anyway, I digress, thanks for your time.
    – Steve
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 9:10
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    You have full control over where you save the data you produce. Other data, e.g. WMS you use, probably are stored on servers outside the UK.
    – Erik
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 9:16
  • Are the IT guys are actually asking where does QGIS (the project) store the data it collects about the user, not the data the user accesses, creates and manipulates in the course of using QGIS (the software)? If so, I don't think QGIS (the project) collects any data other than web server stats, there was a proposal to include telemetry but it was rejected.
    – user2856
    Commented Sep 7, 2021 at 12:52

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I think you can answer IT that QGIS simply do not store any data, it's a tool that let you access, display, create, analyse and manage data but has no data storage component.

When you access existing data it may be stored anywhere, if that's a concern you will need to check if each individual datasource follow your requirement (could be hard to know where the server is/are located)

When you create new data they will need to be stored somewhere, either as file (on a server or on any other storage media) or in a database but you retain full control on where you choose to store the data

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QGIS desktop is a software that allows you to visualise, edits and manipulate spatial data and their associated attribute information, it does not come with any dataset per se. You create your own datasets or gather existing datasets from various sources either online or local organisations and you store these datasets on your local drive or server such as PostgreSQL.

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