About Updraft
Updraft is a flying geography platform for paragliding and free flight: a topographic base map from open data and air layers derived from pilots' flights.
Product
The base map is built from OpenStreetMap and Copernicus elevation data; on top of it come take-offs and landings, the thermal grid, skyways and region profiles, derived from pilots' flights and checked by moderators.
Updraft Atlas is the account-free showcase of this data. The same tiles and layers are served to applications through the API and the tile service.
Attribution
Every surface that shows an Updraft map or layer must display this attribution line:
© Updraft · © OpenStreetMap contributors · © OpenMapTiles · Copernicus DEM
- The attribution sits on or right below the map, readable and visible in every theme; it is not hidden or tucked away in a menu.
- "© Updraft" links to the Updraft about page at updraftmaps.com (the same link as in the map style), "© OpenStreetMap contributors" to openstreetmap.org/copyright.
- Updraft layers such as thermals, skyways or region profiles are credited with "© Updraft" also when used without the base map.
- The style may be changed; a changed map must not suggest Updraft endorses it, and the attribution line stays.
Data sources and licences
| Source | Licence | Credit | Used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenStreetMap | ODbL 1.0 | © OpenStreetMap contributors | Roads, settlements, water, land cover, names, power lines |
| OpenMapTiles schema | CC-BY 4.0 | © OpenMapTiles | Layer and field layout of the base map tiles |
| Copernicus GLO-30 DEM | Copernicus | Copernicus DEM © 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 | Contour lines, hillshade, 3D terrain, take-off elevation and direction |
| Copernicus Sentinel-2 (L2A) | Copernicus | Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data | Satellite imagery (summer mosaic; pilot region for now); the map credit carries the year |
| DWD ICON-EU weather model | CC BY 4.0 | Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), ICON-EU; processed with Open-Meteo | Wind-direction sector assigned to flights; the wind breakdown of the thermal layer |
| Pilots' flights | Updraft | © Updraft | Take-offs and landings, thermal grid, skyways, region profiles |
| Noto Sans | OFL 1.1 | Noto Sans | Map labels |
| MapLibre GL JS | BSD-3-Clause | MapLibre GL JS | Map rendering in the browser |
The tiles are a produced work of OpenStreetMap data (ODbL); Updraft's flight layers are not merged into the same database as the OSM data.
Pilot data and privacy
Layers are derived only from the flights of pilots who consented. A pilot's name is not stored; the pilot is kept only as a one-way hash that cannot be reversed. The start and end of each flight and a pilot's private areas are masked.
A place, thermal cell, skyway or region value is shown only when data from enough different pilots stands behind it. Exact pilot counts are never shown; support is given as a level. There are no rankings of people and no risk-encouraging measures such as maximum altitude.
Safety
Updraft layers are for pre-flight planning and post-flight analysis; they do not replace in-flight navigation, airspace compliance or weather forecasts. The pilot decides.
Contact
[Contact address: to be published here once the data controller details are confirmed.]