Watchfloor · Notamy Ltd
Attribution & Data Licences
Watchfloor uses data, software, imagery and other materials provided by third parties. This page identifies the principal sources currently used by Watchfloor and the licences or terms applicable to them.
Attribution displayed on this page supplements any attribution shown directly within maps, imagery, reports or other Watchfloor outputs.
Hazard and impact data
| Source | Used for | Licence / terms |
|---|---|---|
| USGS Earthquake Hazards Program | Earthquake catalogue, ShakeMap, PAGER and related earthquake information | US Government material is generally public domain. Source acknowledgement applies. |
| EMSC | Additional seismic information used alongside other earthquake sources | Used subject to the applicable EMSC terms and conditions. |
| Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) | Satellite-based emergency mapping and observed damage information | © European Union, Copernicus Emergency Management Service. Relevant products are used under the applicable Copernicus licence, including CC BY 4.0 where specified. |
| GDACS — European Commission JRC / United Nations | Multi-hazard information including cyclones, floods, wildfires and other significant events | Used subject to the applicable GDACS terms of use and attribution requirements. |
| NOAA National Hurricane Center / CPHC | Tropical cyclone advisories, tracks, forecast cones and intensity information | US Government material is generally public domain. Source acknowledgement applies. |
| Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (Tokyo, Darwin, Washington, Anchorage, Montreal, London, Toulouse, Buenos Aires, Wellington), via NOAA | Volcanic ash advisories for a volcano's event panel, read from NOAA's public copy (tgftp.nws.noaa.gov) | NOAA's copy is US Government material, generally public domain. Each advisory names the VAAC that issued it. |
| USGS Volcano Hazards Program (HANS) | Official volcano alert levels and aviation colour codes for US volcanoes | US Government material is generally public domain. Source acknowledgement applies. |
| GeoNet — GNS Science and Toka Tū Ake EQC | Volcanic Alert Levels for New Zealand volcanoes | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Data: GeoNet. |
| Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) | Eruption alert levels and warnings for Japanese volcanoes | Source: Japan Meteorological Agency website, used under the JMA website terms of use; the level and words are JMA's, laid out by Watchfloor. |
| DOST-PHIVOLCS | The Alert Level, its meaning and the danger zone of Philippine volcanoes, with the link to the bulletin they come from | Source: DOST-PHIVOLCS. Shown to every reader, never behind a paid plan; no other bulletin figure is copied and Watchfloor publishes no forecast of its own about Philippine volcanoes. |
| NASA FIRMS | Satellite-based thermal and fire detections | NASA FIRMS / Earthdata. Used subject to applicable NASA data-use and citation requirements. |
| IPC, FEWS NET, WFP, UNHCR, UNOCHA, WHO and IOM DTM | Humanitarian, food-security, displacement and related contextual information | Each source remains subject to its own applicable licence, attribution requirements and terms of use. |
Geography, population and imagery
| Source | Used for | Licence / terms |
|---|---|---|
| Google Open Buildings | Building footprints and related building information | CC BY 4.0 and/or ODbL, as applicable to the dataset used. |
| Microsoft Global ML Building Footprints | Building footprints for the radar change test on /radar (each building's radar signal read inside its footprint) and for the Panama village lines in the Closer view; and, through Overture Maps, for the building model behind earthquake damage estimates and the building pages | Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). © Microsoft. |
| GEM Global Active Faults Database | Active-fault information and map layers | CC BY-SA 4.0. |
| WorldPop | Population and exposure estimates | Used under the applicable WorldPop licence, including CC BY 4.0 where specified. |
| GHSL — European Commission Joint Research Centre | Population and geographic information | Used subject to the applicable European Commission/JRC reuse terms. |
| GHS-POP — JRC / GHSL | Population figures in the flood, seismic and corridor documents (modelled residents; the epoch is stated in every document) | Used subject to the applicable European Commission/JRC reuse terms (CC BY 4.0 where specified). |
| Copernicus Sentinel data (ESA) | Radar and optical satellite scenes behind the flood and damage readings of the Live map and the event rooms | Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data [2026], processed by ESA and by Watchfloor. Free, full and open access under the Copernicus data policy (Regulation (EU) No 377/2014 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1159/2013). |
| NASA OPERA (Observational Products for End-Users from Remote Sensing Analysis) | Surface water and surface disturbance products read for floods and damage on the Live map and the event rooms | NASA/JPL-Caltech OPERA products. US Government material, public domain; cited as OPERA project products distributed by NASA's Earth Science Data Systems. |
| Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF DAAC) | Access to Sentinel-1 radar scenes and OPERA products | Data distributed by the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center (ASF DAAC), NASA Earthdata. Includes Copernicus Sentinel data, processed by ESA. |
| NISAR — NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (Urgent Response data) | The radar change test on /radar (buildings flagged by the radar, checked against Copernicus EMS gradings in Venezuela and Colombia) and the Panama village lines in the Closer view («Where to look first»); and the surface rupture of a large earthquake in the Closer view: ground offsets and the fault trace measured from the radar | NISAR Urgent Response data (NASA-ISRO) and L2 GUNW and GOFF products, processed by NASA JPL and distributed by the Alaska Satellite Facility DAAC (ASF DAAC), NASA Earthdata; radar change, offsets and trace derived by Watchfloor. US Government material is generally public domain. Source acknowledgement applies. |
| NASA SRTM | Terrain (elevation) in the corridor and exposure documents | US Government material, public domain. Source acknowledgement applies. |
| HydroSHEDS / HydroBASINS — © WWF | Rivers and drainage basins in the flood corridor documents | Used under the HydroSHEDS licence; © World Wildlife Fund, Inc. Attribution required and given here and in every document that uses it. |
| geoBoundaries | Administrative boundaries | CC BY 4.0 (dataset-specific licences apply per country). |
| GeoNames | Place names | CC BY 4.0. |
| NASA GIBS / Worldview — VIIRS (NOAA-21) | Daily true-colour satellite view beside the storm map | US Government material, public domain. We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). |
| Giga (UNICEF and ITU) | Schools inside a storm's wind area, a strong-shaking area or a flood footprint, when the school count is switched on | Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL 1.0), opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0 — as stated on maps.giga.global; share-alike applies to the school data we pass on. © Giga and its contributors. Counts are ours, from Giga's school locations. |
| Natural Earth | Names of seas, gulfs, bays and straits, to say where a storm at sea is | Public domain. Made with Natural Earth (naturalearthdata.com). |
| Esri and contributing imagery/data providers | Basemap and geographic imagery where displayed | Used subject to applicable Esri and underlying provider terms. |
| Cesium ion | 3D globe, terrain and related geospatial services | Used subject to the applicable Cesium ion terms. |
| Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles | Photorealistic 3D geographic content | Used subject to applicable Google Maps Platform terms. |
Where required by the applicable provider, additional attribution is displayed directly within the Watchfloor map or globe interface.
Optional globe layers
These layers are off until you turn them on in Layers → More layers. When one is on, your browser or our server asks its source for data, and its credit appears on the globe.
| Source | Used for | Licence / terms |
|---|---|---|
| adsb.lol | Optional globe layers: live flights and military flights | Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0. © adsb.lol contributors. |
| AISStream.io | Ships from their AIS broadcasts: a picture every 3 hours over the active storms' seas, used by the optional globe layer and the «Ships in elevated seas» column of the cyclone Key Messages | AIS is a public radio broadcast; used subject to the AISStream.io terms. |
| CelesTrak (Dr. T.S. Kelso) | Optional globe layer: satellite orbital elements | US-government-origin orbital data; citation: CelesTrak, celestrak.org. |
| NOAA nowCOAST | Optional globe layers: clouds (satellite infrared), rain radar (NWS/OAR MRMS) and lightning density (derived from Vaisala NLDN/GLD360) | US Government material, public domain. Source acknowledgement applies. |
| NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS) | Optional globe layer: daily VIIRS true-colour satellite photo | NASA data, public domain. We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). |
| National Interagency Fire Center — WFIGS | Optional globe layer: current wildfire perimeters in the United States | US Government material, public domain. |
| Natural Earth | Optional globe layer: names of seas, gulfs, bays and straits | Public domain. Made with Natural Earth. |
| OpenStreetMap / Open Infrastructure Map | Optional globe layer: a selection of large dams and hydro plants | Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0. © OpenStreetMap contributors; Open Infrastructure Map. |
| Giga (UNICEF and ITU) | Optional globe layer: primary and secondary schools and their internet connection | Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL 1.0), opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0 — as stated on maps.giga.global; share-alike applies to the school data we pass on. © Giga and its contributors. |
| WFP Humanitarian Data Cube (VAM) | Rainfall and vegetation by district in drought and country briefs, when switched on; optional globe layers: rain against normal, the three-month drought index (SPI), days without rain, vegetation against normal | Open web services of the World Food Programme's Humanitarian Data Cube, api.earthobservation.vam.wfp.org/ows — «Fees: none, Access constraints: none». Rainfall: CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Center, UC Santa Barbara). Vegetation: MODIS NDVI (NASA). District means computed by Watchfloor over geoBoundaries ADM2. |
| satellite.js | Satellite positions computed in the browser (SGP4) | MIT License. © Shashwat Kandadai and UCSC. |
| God's Eye View | Techniques rewritten for the optional globe layers (cached relay of public feeds, world-oriented icons, position estimate between updates) | MIT License. © 2026 Bilawal Sidhu. |
Software and fonts
Watchfloor also uses open-source software and fonts, including:
- CesiumJS — Apache License 2.0
- MapLibre GL — applicable open-source licence
- marked — MIT Licence
- Firebase SDK — applicable Google/open-source licence
- Geist, Geist Mono, Inter and Source Serif 4 — SIL Open Font License 1.1 where applicable
Additional open-source licence notices are available in the relevant licence files included with the service.
Watchfloor analysis
Watchfloor also produces its own analytical outputs, including modelled damage estimates, exposure analysis, risk assessments and scenario simulations.
Where an output is modelled rather than directly observed, Watchfloor identifies it accordingly. Further information about Watchfloor's models, methodology, assumptions and limitations is available on the Methodology page.
Third-party data and materials remain the property of their respective owners and remain subject to the applicable licences and terms of those providers.