Transparency
Data sources
Every figure on this site comes from a public dataset with a licence that allows this use, or from our own counts on it. Here is each one.
| Source | What we use | Period | Licence | Attribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copernicus DEM GLO-30 | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF, AWS Open Data) | 2011-2015 (TanDEM-X) | Copernicus WorldDEM-30 licence (free, worldwide, incl. commercial use) | Relief, cuts and 3D models produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. The organisations in charge of the Copernicus programme by law or by delegation do not incur any liability for any use of the Copernicus WorldDEM-30 |
| EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 | s2cloudless 2016 (layer s2cloudless_3857) | 2016 | CC BY 4.0 | Satellite images: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0 |
| GeoNames | cities1000 (towns with 1,000+ people, with elevation) and countryInfo | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 | Towns from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) | |
| NASA POWER | Climatology, monthly and daily point data (MERRA-2 / CERES SYN1deg) | 1991-2020 averages; 2020-2025 month by month; daily rain 1991-2025 | CC BY 4.0 (NASA open data) | Climate: the data was obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science Division |
| OpenFreeMap | Vector base map (OpenStreetMap data) | ODbL 1.0 (OSM data) | Base map © OpenStreetMap contributors, OpenFreeMap | |
| OpenStreetMap | Viewpoints, trails, via ferrata, climbing, footbridges, rafting spots, places, parking, campsites and the river line around each place (Overpass API) | Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0 | Viewpoints, trails, bridges and rivers around each place © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) | |
| OurAirports | airports.csv | Public domain | Airports from OurAirports (public domain) | |
| Wikidata | Places and gorges: names in 7 languages, published depth, length and width, elevation, river, protected area, World Heritage, images | CC0 1.0 (public domain) | Place names, published depths, lengths and rivers from Wikidata (CC0) | |
| Wikimedia Commons | Photographs of each place (Wikidata P18, Commons category, English Wikipedia article, geosearch) | Per file: public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only | Photos from Wikimedia Commons; author and licence under each photo | |
| flag-icons | Country flags in SVG (4:3) | MIT | Country flags from flag-icons (MIT licence) |
The places
From Wikidata (CC0): bird observatories, bird sanctuaries, Ramsar wetlands (designation P1435 and the Ramsar ID P2525), Important Bird Areas and the EU's Special Protection Areas.
The birds
GBIF.org occurrence data, only the records published under CC0 or CC BY 4.0: above all the eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology, CC BY 4.0), with iNaturalist research-grade records, atlases and ringing schemes. For each place we ask GBIF how many records of each species there are in a box around it, in total and month by month; every page links to the same query on gbif.org.
The species
The GBIF Backbone Taxonomy (CC BY 4.0) for orders and families; Wikidata (CC0) for the common names in 7 languages and the IUCN Red List category (a fact; the IUCN's texts and maps are not used); photographs from Wikimedia Commons, free licences only, each with its author.
Residents and migrants
Our own rule: the share of each month's bird records that belong to the species. Most records in May–August and almost none in November–February is a summer visitor (the reverse in the southern hemisphere), and so on. It is a summary, not a field guide's verdict.
Temperature and rain
NASA POWER: temperature and rain (MERRA-2, 1991–2020), monthly averages for a cell of about 55 km.
What is around
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL): bird hides, observation towers, trails, visitor centres, car parks, places to stay — only inside the pages, never in downloadable files.
Images
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons, each with its author and licence. Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0).
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit 
mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.You are here
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Coming soonVisit