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Photo & data licences

How to use photos and data from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikimedia and other sources correctly, including the commercial-use ban on NC licences.

Pustaka Biodiversitas makes it easy to take photos and data from open databases. Those photos and data still belong to their creators and are subject to their licences. This page explains what you may and may not do.

This page is general guidance, not legal advice. For large-scale commercial use, consult an intellectual property lawyer.

Creative Commons licences#

LicenceCommercial use?Changes allowed?Obligations
CC0YesYesNone (crediting the source is still recommended).
CC BYYesYesCredit the creator, source and licence.
CC BY-SAYesYesAttribution, and derivative works must use the same licence.
CC BY-NCNoYesAttribution; non-commercial purposes only.
CC BY-NC-SANoYesAttribution, non-commercial, same licence.
CC BY-ND / NC-ND—NoNot accepted by the app.
All rights reservedNoNoNot accepted by the app; the owner's permission is needed.

NC (non-commercial) photos#

Most photos on iNaturalist and many on GBIF are licensed CC BY-NC. This licence prohibits use for commercial purposes, meaning use primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation.

Generally fine with NC photos
  • Research databases or personal collections.
  • Educational or conservation websites without ads that are not sold.
  • Non-commercial teaching materials and presentations.
  • Internal reports of an institution.
Not allowed without the photographer's permission
  • Books, posters or calendars that are sold.
  • Paid, subscription or ad-supported websites or apps.
  • Promotional or marketing material for products/services.
  • Paid work for clients (e.g. a billed environmental impact report).

For commercial use, contact the photographer (usually through a message on iNaturalist) and ask for written permission, or use other photos licensed CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA.

How the app helps

  • The Include non-commercial licences (CC BY-NC) option is off by default. When you turn it on, the app shows a warning.
  • The licence of every photo is stored in Properties → Media and printed below the picture in exports.
  • Home shows the number of NC media under Needs attention.
  • The Media usage report has a Non-commercial (NC) filter to find NC photos and replace or delete them before a commercial publication.
Media usage report
The Media usage report: filter Non-commercial (NC) to see photos that may not be used commercially.

Writing correct attribution#

For BY licences, include at least: the title/caption (if any), the creator's name, the source (a link to the original page) and the licence (with a link to the licence text). Example:

Dendrobium smillieae. Photo: Jun MATSUI, via iNaturalist (observation #251998145), CC0 1.0.

The app fills in the creator, source and licence automatically for online photos. Do not remove them, and say so if you change a photo (cropping, adding a watermark). A watermark must not cover or replace the attribution.

Terms of each data source#

SourceLicence & main terms
iNaturalistEach photo and observation uses the licence chosen by its observer; many are CC BY-NC. iNaturalist asks API users to limit their request rate (about 1 per second) and not to download very large amounts of data through the API. For bulk data, use a GBIF export. The app pauses automatically. iNaturalist's terms of use also prohibit using its data to train commercial AI models.
GBIFData are subject to the GBIF Data User Agreement and each dataset's licence (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-NC). Credit the data publishers. For scientific publications GBIF recommends citing a DOI; create a download or derived dataset on GBIF.org to get one.
IUCN Red List (via GBIF)Only the category code is stored and shown. Cite: IUCN. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species with the version year. Commercial use of IUCN data requires IUCN's permission.
POWO / WCVP (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)Kew data are generally licensed CC BY. WCVP on GBIF/ChecklistBank is CC BY 4.0. Citation: POWO ({year}). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
WoRMSCC BY 4.0. Citation: WoRMS Editorial Board ({year}). World Register of Marine Species.
Catalogue of LifeMostly CC BY 4.0. Mention the checklist version used.
WikipediaText is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The app adds attribution when it inserts a summary. Works containing that text must remain CC BY-SA.
Wikimedia CommonsLicence per file. The app only accepts free licences and stores their attribution.
Ministerial Regulation P.106/2018A legal regulation, free to quote.
CITES AppendicesMay be reused with credit to the source (CITES Secretariat). The CITES logo is not used.
Base mapsOpenStreetMap: ODbL data, the "© OpenStreetMap contributors" attribution is required. GBIF maps: GBIF and OpenMapTiles attribution. TDWG WGSRPD boundaries (CC BY 4.0) and Natural Earth (public domain) are credited on every distribution map.

Third-party terms can change at any time. Always check each source's official terms page.

Your own data#

Topic text, photos and data you create yourself remain yours. Set the project's data licence in Settings → This project → Data licence (e.g. CC BY 4.0), and fill in the licence of your own photos in Properties → Media.

Photo credits in the app#

The photos in the start-screen honeycomb collage and the Home banner are by Reza Saputra, all rights reserved, except the photos below, which are used under open licences that allow commercial use. They are scaled down and cropped to hexagons in display.

The app's licence#

Use of the Pustaka Biodiversitas app is governed by the End User Licence Agreement. The fonts bundled in the website templates (Lato, Playfair Display) are licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1.

© 2026 Pustaka BiodiversitasPrivacyEULAPhoto & data licencesPhotos: Reza Saputra