Attribution and the ODbL

TrailSplits builds on open data. Using it commercially is allowed on every plan; in return you show where it comes from, and you keep OpenStreetMap's share-alike rule in mind if you build a database from it.

This is guidance, not legal advice. The licences themselves govern: ODbL 1.0, OpenStreetMap copyright, CC BY 4.0, and the API terms.

What to show

  • Always: “© TrailSplits” and “© OpenStreetMap contributors”.
  • Terrain and elevation: the terrain credit that comes with the data (Copernicus DEM, or the national source named in the manifest).
  • Weather: the text in provider.attribution (“Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0)”). Snow forecasts carry their own forecast.attribution.
  • Aerial imagery: the credit line that comes with each layer.

Where: next to the data. On a map, the usual corner credit is enough; it may be collapsed behind an ⓘ as long as one tap shows it. In a list or a chart, a line under it. In a printed or exported image, inside the image (static maps already include it).

MapLibre: keep the credit visible 
new maplibregl.Map({
  container: 'map',
  style,
  attributionControl: {
    compact: true,
    customAttribution: '© TrailSplits · © OpenStreetMap contributors',
  },
});

What the ODbL means for you

OpenStreetMap data is licensed under the Open Database License. It separates two things:

  • A produced work: a map, an image, a route shown to a user, a list of huts on a page. You only need the attribution above, and you can license the work as you like.
  • A database made from OSM data. If you build one by adapting or combining the data (a derivative database) and you make it available to others, or use it to make produced works others see, the ODbL asks you to offer that database, or the changes, under the ODbL too. That is the share-alike part.

Examples

1. A hiking app shows routes and huts from the API

Each screen is a produced work. Show the attribution. Nothing else to share.

2. You cache answers for 30 days to work offline

Allowed by the API terms. A cache used to show your users produced works is fine with attribution.

3. You merge our huts into your own hut database and publish it

That merged database is a derivative database. If you publish it or build public maps from it, offer it (or the OSM-derived part and your changes) under the ODbL. To avoid that, keep the two apart: your own data in one database, ours alongside it unchanged (a collective database), joined only when you display them.

4. You run route analysis on your users' tracks and store the results

Surfaces and grades derived from OSM, stored per track, are derived data. Showing them to the user is a produced work. Publishing a bulk dataset of them would bring in share-alike for the OSM-derived parts.

Not allowed under any plan: reselling the data as a dataset or tile service, or bulk downloading to build a copy (API terms §6).

All sources

The full list of sources, with their licences and how they are credited, is on Data sources.