Using Our Maps

Some of the maps and graphics appearing on Political Geography Now can be used for free if you link back to our site, while others require our permission. Please continue reading for details.


Classroom Use

At PolGeoNow we believe that copyright should not restrict the limited re-use of content in a classroom setting. If you are a teacher or other educator, you automatically have our permission to use any map created by PolGeoNow in your classroom or curriculum, provided that (1) it is clearly credited to PolGeoNow, with a link to our website if at all possible, and (2) you are not posting it on a website accessible to the general public. 

This does not apply to commercial distribution of our maps to multiple classrooms, in which case you are subject to the requirements outlined below. And please also note that if there are other authors credited in the map caption, they may have different ideas about whether you can use the maps. In most such cases, their terms will be clarified in a Creative Commons (CC) license linked to in the map caption (see below for more explanation).


Non-classroom Use

To find out the usage rights for a particular graphic, check the caption underneath it. You should see one of these designations:

"All rights reserved" or "Contact us to use this map"
These maps are copyrighted works of PolGeoNow. We might let you use one of them, but you need to email us and get permission first.

CC BY-SA
Maps or graphics with this designation can be used for free under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. This means you can use them for free, even commercially, as long as you properly credit them. This means mentioning our site and including a link to www.polgeonow.com. You should also include a link to the CC BY-SA license, and mention the name of the original author(s) as indicated in the caption (most of these are built from blank maps created by other people).

CC BY-NC-SA
These maps are available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license. This means you're free to use them without our permission for non-commercial purposes, as long as you properly credit them. This means mentioning our site and including a link to www.polgeonow.com. You should also include a link to the CC BY-NC-SA license so others know they can use it too. If you want to use one of these maps for commercial purposes, you can email us to ask for permission.

Public domain
A graphic labelled as "public domain" can be used any way you want, because it isn't copyrighted at all. You don't even have to provide credit to us - most of these are things like country flags that we didn't make anyway - though it never hurts to mention your source!

(License terms not specified)
If a map does NOT include any other license terms in the caption, you should assume you need our permission to use it. You can email us for more information or to request permission.



If you still have questions about using our maps, send us an email and we'll be happy to help!