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THE SOURCES BEHIND THE VIEW

Credits & licenses.

The people, open projects and data providers that make CAT’s maps and flight visualizations possible.

Disclosures reviewed October 14, 2026.

Maps & buildings

Street tiles are provided by © OpenStreetMap contributors. CAT Blue, Light and Dark maps and 3D building footprints use OpenFreeMap and © OpenMapTiles, with OpenStreetMap data under ODbL 1.0. OpenMapTiles cartography and schema design are licensed under CC BY 4.0.

CAT adapts the map presentation and extrudes available building footprints. Building heights can be missing or estimated; these are not photographic scans. Credits remain on the map in live views and replays.

The 2D satellite and hybrid options retain Esri World Imagery, credited to Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics and contributing providers. The bundled atlas retains NASA Earth Observatory imagery and GSHHG/GMT geography. Those sources have separate terms; the open licenses for the new 3D renderer do not replace them. See all sources and imagery credits.

Terrain & hillshading

Elevation is supplied by Mapterhorn, which combines open elevation datasets. CAT renders the terrain and hillshading for visualization. Resolution and coverage vary by location. Terrain elevation and aircraft altitude are different measurements; neither is a certified height-above-ground reading.

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.

Regional sources include USGS public-domain elevation, national mapping agencies and the other contributors listed below. Source licenses remain with their respective datasets. Mapterhorn processes, blends and reprojects the sources; CAT does not claim authorship or endorsement of them.

Current Mapterhorn source credits · Download this source-credit directory

View terrain-source credits (151)

This is the upstream source-catalog snapshot reviewed on October 14, 2026. Which datasets appear depends on the viewed region. The current Mapterhorn directory identifies changes to hosted terrain.

Aircraft models & creators

These 22 selected aircraft assets use the CC BY 4.0 or CC0 1.0 licenses identified below. CC BY 4.0 permits commercial use and adaptation with creator credit, a license link and modification notices. Bluebell CSL geometry is dedicated under CC0 1.0. CAT uses models as type references: model, livery and dimensions may differ from the observed aircraft. Models are enlarged when needed for readability. No manufacturer or artist endorsement is implied.

Airbus A320, A350, A380; Boeing 737 and 787

By amvlab · CC BY 4.0

CAT loads the original logo-free GLB assets. Runtime orientation and display scale may be adjusted; the source mesh files are not changed.

Original work and creator

Cessna 172

By e737 · CC BY 4.0

Optimized by God's Eye View: simplified geometry/materials, resized textures, and normalized orientation, scale and origin. CAT adjusts runtime orientation.

Original work and creator

1990 Cessna Citation, Texture Detailed, Exterior

By BlenderCommunityHead · CC BY 4.0

Optimized by God's Eye View: simplified geometry/materials, resized textures, and normalized orientation, scale and origin. CAT adjusts runtime orientation.

Original work and creator

Private Jet

By Nick the Name · CC BY 4.0

Repackaged by God's Eye View as GLB with hierarchy transforms baked and orientation, scale and origin normalized; existing materials preserved. CAT adjusts runtime orientation.

Original work and creator

ATR 72 - 600

By Oyan3D · CC BY 4.0

Optimized by God's Eye View: simplified geometry/materials, textures replaced with dominant material colors, and normalized orientation, scale and origin. CAT adjusts runtime orientation.

Original work and creator

Bell 206 JetRanger

By terran4627 · CC BY 4.0

Optimized by God's Eye View: simplified geometry/materials, resized textures, and normalized orientation, scale and origin. CAT adjusts runtime orientation.

Original work and creator

Helicopter (AW101 reference)

By Gigantic Burger · CC BY 4.0

GLB asset supplied through SDRangel. CAT adjusts runtime orientation and plays the model's animation; animation does not represent measured rotor speed.

Original work and creator

Boeing 747

By zairiq-123 · CC BY 4.0

Optimized by God's Eye View: geometry/material simplification and normalized orientation, metre scale and origin; texture resizing where applicable. CAT adjusts runtime orientation and display scale. The source GLB is unchanged.

Original work and creator

Boeing 787-9

By Nobilis 2 · CC BY 4.0

Optimized by God's Eye View: geometry/material simplification and normalized orientation, metre scale and origin; texture resizing where applicable. CAT adjusts runtime orientation and display scale. The source GLB is unchanged.

Original work and creator

MQ-9

By IProZenoN · CC BY 4.0

Optimized by God's Eye View: geometry/material simplification and normalized orientation, metre scale and origin; texture resizing where applicable. CAT adjusts runtime orientation and display scale. The source GLB is unchanged.

Original work and creator

Airbus A330-300; Boeing 757-200, 767-300 and 777-300ER; Embraer 190; CRJ900; Dash 8 Q400; King Air 200

By Bluebell CSL contributors; glTF conversion by SDRangel · CC0 1.0 Universal

CAT repackages the selected glTF geometry as local GLB files, removes airline and registration textures, applies neutral materials, normalizes the forward axis, and preserves upstream metre scale. Reference models are enlarged on screen for readability. The reproducible conversion script records the pinned source path for each model.

Original work and creator

CAT also supplies an original, lightweight generic twin-engine jet. It appears immediately when a model is missing or loading. It does not identify the actual aircraft type. If no heading is available, the plane faces north as a display convention; the aircraft details disclose this.

Upstream modification records: God’s Eye View · SDRangel asset licenses · Bluebell CC0 dedication · Full CC0 notice. Download the selected-model credit record.

Flight observations & history

Aircraft observations and available historical tracks from ADSB.lol are made available under Open Database License 1.0. ODbL permits commercial use and requires attribution and preservation of applicable notices. Public use of an adapted database, or works produced from it, can require offering the adapted database under ODbL. This does not automatically place CAT’s unrelated application code under that license.

Data licensing and hosted API access are separate. Provider capacity, request limits, coverage and availability can change. Purchasing CAT Premium does not buy dedicated access to an upstream provider or guarantee uninterrupted data.

Displayed motion and trails may be interpolated between observations; missing positions are not evidence of a completed route or confirmed incident. An emergency squawk alone does not establish that an accident occurred. Data is for information and visualization, not navigation or emergency decisions.

Software notices

CAT’s new 3D renderer uses MapLibre GL JS under BSD 3-Clause and Three.js under MIT. Both permit commercial products. Their copyright notices, license conditions and disclaimers are retained with the distributed software.

Usage & sharing

Provider policies: OSM street tiles · OpenFreeMap commercial use and attribution · Mapterhorn data access · ADSB.lol API.

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