Licensing & Fair Use

Permissions & Terms of Use

Clear guidelines on personal print rights, commercial licensing, OpenStreetMap attribution requirements, and intellectual property terms for all MapofCities assets.

Effective Date: September 2026•Personal Printing 100% Free•ODbL 1.0 Compliant

1. Personal & Editorial Use (Permitted & Free)

We believe beautiful cartography should be accessible to everyone. You are fully granted permission to generate, download, and reproduce MapofCities map posters for personal and non-commercial purposes:

Home & Office Display

Printing 300 DPI posters for display in your home, apartment, dorm room, or private workspace.

Personal Gifting

Framing physical prints as custom gifts for friends, family, weddings, anniversaries, or housewarmings.

Digital Wallpapers

Using map renders as personal desktop wallpapers, tablet lock screens, or smartphone backgrounds.

Educational & Research

Inclusion in academic presentations, non-commercial research papers, and classroom cartography studies.

2. Commercial Rights & Retail Licensing

Commercial exploitation requires written licensing authorization. You may not perform the following without an explicit commercial license agreement:

  • Retail Resale: Selling physical posters, framed art prints, canvas prints, or metal signs on marketplaces such as Etsy, Amazon, Shopify, or in physical retail stores.
  • Print-on-Demand (POD): Uploading raw or derivative map assets to automated fulfillment networks (e.g., Printful, Redbubble, Society6).
  • Stock Asset Distribution: Selling or bundling MapofCities digital files as stock vectors, graphic templates, or wallpaper packs.
  • Hospitality & Commercial Staging: Bulk installations for hotels, corporate office fit-outs, or restaurant staging without enterprise clearance.

To inquire about affordable commercial licensing terms or white-label vector feeds, reach out to [email protected].

3. OpenStreetMap Data Attribution (ODbL 1.0)

MapofCities incorporates geographic data made available by OpenStreetMap contributors under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0).

When sharing, publishing, or distributing any map created on MapofCities in public forums, social media, or publications, you agree to preserve the visible attribution:

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0) • Rendered by MapofCities

4. Vector Tile & Elevation Data Sources

Interactive vector tiles are provided through OpenFreeMap. 3D terrain elevation contours are derived from public domain satellite elevation datasets, including NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and European Space Agency Copernicus DEM data.

5. Intellectual Property & Brand Assets

The MapofCities name, logo, compass rose insignia, proprietary software code, web application user interface, and custom shader colorways are the intellectual property of MapofCities. You may not claim ownership over our brand or misrepresent third-party prints as an official MapofCities physical merchandise partnership.

6. Artistic Purpose & Disclaimer of Warranty

All posters and digital renderings are provided for aesthetic and decorative art purposes only. Map layers undergo stylistic filtering and artistic exaggeration. They are not certified for nautical navigation, aeronautical flight planning, surveyor boundary determinations, or emergency route navigation. MapofCities assumes no liability for geographical inaccuracies or spatial omissions in third-party source data.

7. Policy Modifications & Permission Requests

We reserve the right to amend these permissions and terms at our discretion. For custom licensing agreements, press inquiries, or special permissions:

Licensing & Rights Desk[email protected]
Last Updated: September 2026View Privacy Policy →