Licensing & sources
Open data, openly licensed
PublicArtMap is built on open data and open-licensed images, and the site's own content is open in turn. Here's exactly what we use, the terms we use it under, and how you can reuse our work.
Our content licence
The text and data created by PublicArtMap — descriptions, curated walks and the catalogue itself — are released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0). You're free to share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit PublicArtMap and release derivatives under the same terms.
Individual photographs keep their own licences (shown on each image), and database records derived from OpenStreetMap remain under the Open Database Licence — see the notes below.
Where the data comes from
| Source | Licence | Used for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenStreetMap Live | ODbL 1.0 | Artwork locations, types and names (tourism=artwork, historic=memorial/monument/statue). | |
| Wikidata Live | CC0 1.0 | Structured facts — makers, dates, identifiers — linked by Wikidata ID. | |
| Wikimedia Commons Live | Per-file (CC BY-SA / CC BY / CC0 / PD) | Photographs, with the photographer and licence credited on each image. | |
| Getty ULAN Live | ODC-BY 1.0 | Artist identities — life dates, nationality and short biographies, matched via Wikidata. | |
| Open Plaques Planned | CC0 1.0 | Commemorative plaques and their inscriptions. | |
| Historic Environment Scotland Live | OGL v3.0 | Listed statues, monuments, mercat crosses and war memorials in Scotland. Contains Historic Environment Scotland data © HES. | |
| Historic England (NHLE) Live | OGL v3.0 | Listed monuments, statues and memorials in England. Contains Historic England data © Historic England. | |
| Geograph British Isles Planned | CC BY-SA 2.0 | Photographs of works that Wikimedia Commons does not cover. |
OpenStreetMap & the ODbL
Location and tagging data sourced from OpenStreetMap is used under the Open Database Licence. Each OSM-derived record is tagged with its OSM identifier, and we credit © OpenStreetMap contributors on every map. Reuse of that portion of our database is governed by the ODbL's share-alike terms.
Open Government Licence sources
Data from public bodies such as Historic Environment Scotland and Historic England is used under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which we attribute to the originating body. Map tiles are © CARTO, over OpenStreetMap data.
Corrections & takedown requests
PublicArtMap is a work in progress built largely from open data, and some records will contain mistakes. If an image is miscredited, a record is inaccurate, or a work is misattributed, email joshua@cultural-commons.org and we'll put it right. See also the contribute page.
If you are an artist, photographer or rights holder and believe material on this site infringes your rights — for example a photograph of a copyrighted mural, or a work you would rather not see listed — tell us at the same address, with a link to the page in question. We take such requests seriously: we'll review promptly, remove or amend material while a genuine question is open, and reply to let you know the outcome.
PublicArtMap is a project of Cultural Commons CIC, supporting open cultural infrastructure.