License & attribution.

This is an English convenience translation; the German version of this page is the binding one.

Plain-English summary

WAVOA the app is ours — code, brand, meteogram visualisations, sport-aware globe styling, color thresholds, recommendation logic. The forecast model data, map tiles, satellite imagery, and the open-source libraries that make the whole thing run all have their own licenses. They're all listed below in the order you'd encounter them, with attribution where required and a link to the upstream license where the original is canonical.

If you're a researcher, a journalist, or a fellow developer wondering what you can do with material you find inside WAVOA — start here, then use the contact form if anything below isn't clear.

WAVOA app & website

The WAVOA mobile apps (iOS, Android), the WAVOA website (wavoa.app), and every original asset they ship — code, layouts, copy, sport-aware color thresholds, the meteogram chart styling, the firing-rail rating logic, the globe's sport-tier markers, our logo, brand mark, and product screenshots — are © Michael Stadler 2026, all rights reserved. Your right to use them is a personal, non-transferable, non-exclusive license granted under the Terms of service.

Specifically, you may not redistribute, sublicense, or rebrand WAVOA forecasts; reverse-engineer the apps beyond what EU Directive 2009/24/EC Article 6 explicitly permits; scrape our forecast API; or use WAVOA outputs to train a competing forecasting model. Personal, non-commercial use of the app and the website's public pages is welcome.

Forecast model data

Every wind, gust, wave, swell, period, temperature and tide value WAVOA shows comes from one of 16 numerical weather prediction models — 17 upstream feeds, since the ICON tab stitches two DWD nests into one curve and NBM's mainland and Hawaii domains fold into one tab — served end-to-end without field-mixing. We re-host the model outputs internally for performance, but never modify the model fields themselves.

• ECMWF — IFS and AIFS. © European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, used under the ECMWF Open Data terms (CC BY 4.0). AIFS is ECMWF's data-driven machine-learning model, disseminated on the same open tier. ECMWF model data is governed by ecmwf.int/en/terms-use; redistribution requires their written consent.
• NOAA — GFS, HRRR, and the National Blend of Models (NBM). United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Public domain as US Federal Government works; attribution requested but not required: noaa.gov/open-data-dissemination.
• DWD — ICON-Global (13 km), ICON-D2 and ICON-EU. © Deutscher Wetterdienst. Model output is provided under a CC BY 4.0 attribution licence: dwd.de/opendata.
• Météo-France — AROME, ARPEGE, AROME-OM Caribbean and AROME-OM Indian Ocean. © Météo-France, used under the French Open Licence 2.0: meteo.data.gouv.fr.
• ECCC — HRDPS (High Resolution Deterministic Prediction System). © Environment and Climate Change Canada, used under the Meteorological Service of Canada open data terms and the Open Government Licence – Canada: eccc-msc.github.io/open-data.
• MeteoSwiss — ICON-CH1 (1.1 km). © Bundesamt für Meteorologie und Klimatologie MeteoSchweiz, under MeteoSwiss open data terms. The finest grid in the app.
• ItaliaMeteo — ICON-2I (2.2 km). © ItaliaMeteo / ARPAE, national open data with attribution.
• DMI — DINI (2 km). © Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut, CC BY 4.0: opendatadocs.dmi.govcloud.dk.
• SMN Argentina — SMN-WRF (4 km). © Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, Argentina, national open data.
• Copernicus Marine Service — global wave model (9.2 km). Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information. Wave height, peak period, direction and the separated swell partition.
• Open-Meteo — marine layer. Waves, swell components, tide, sea-surface temperature and surface current on a model-agnostic layer, aggregated from the national wave models and served under CC BY 4.0: open-meteo.com. NOAA WaveWatch III and NOAA sea-surface temperature (public domain) fill any gaps.

Wind data on a given screen is always from one model — the one labelled on the tab. We never blend models on the NOW card. NBM is a labelled exception rather than a violation: it is NOAA's own pre-blended, bias-corrected product, shipped as its own tab and never mixed into another model's curve. The “spread” visualisation in Compare is the closest we get, and it explicitly shows each model as a separate trace.

Live observation data

Alongside the forecast models, WAVOA reads nine networks of live measured observations. Each is polled on the operating agency's own public API on a 30-minute cycle, matched to a spot within 15 km (30 km for buoys), and displayed with its true age. Full detail on retrieval and station matching lives on the forecast models page.

• NOAA — NDBC buoys, CO-OPS coastal stations, and METAR bulletins. Public domain as US Federal Government works. Buoy network: ndbc.noaa.gov. Tide and coastal met stations: tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov.
• ECCC — SWOB (Surface Weather Observations). © Environment and Climate Change Canada, Open Government Licence – Canada.
• JMA — AMeDAS. © Japan Meteorological Agency, used under the agency's open data terms: jma.go.jp.
• Hong Kong Observatory. © The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, used under the HKSAR open data terms: hko.gov.hk.
• DMI — Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut. © DMI, used under the DMI Open Data terms: opendatadocs.dmi.govcloud.dk.
• Météo-France — coastal observation network. © Météo-France, French Open Licence (Etalab) 2.0.
• KNMI — Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut. © KNMI, used under the KNMI Data Platform open terms: dataplatform.knmi.nl.

Observations are retained for 10 days and displayed for 7. They are always presented as measurements, visually separated from model output — we never show a station reading as a forecast, or a forecast as a measurement. We don't redistribute raw observation feeds.

Map data & basemaps

• MapLibre GL JS — the rendering engine for the live spots map. BSD 3-Clause license: maplibre.org. Source: github.com/maplibre/maplibre-gl-js.
• CARTO — Dark Matter basemap — style code under BSD 3-Clause and visual design under CC BY 4.0. Hosted tile access has separate CARTO service terms. © CARTO / © OpenStreetMap contributors. See the style licence and CARTO basemaps.
• OpenStreetMap data — the underlying tile geometry on the Carto basemap. Open Database License (ODbL); © OpenStreetMap contributors: openstreetmap.org/copyright.
• NASA Blue Marble (Next Generation) — the satellite Earth texture wrapped onto the hero globe and the “sport-aware globe” teaser on the features page. Public domain (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Reto Stöckli): visibleearth.nasa.gov/collection/1484/blue-marble.
• Earth topology bump map — derived from NASA SRTM elevation data, public domain: jpl.nasa.gov/srtm.

Open-source software

WAVOA uses the open-source libraries listed below. For questions about dependencies or attribution, contact us.

The mobile apps depend on additional libraries; their full SBOM ships inside the app under Profile → About → Open-source licenses, generated at every build.

Trademarks

• WAVOA and the WAVOA brand mark are trademarks of Michael Stadler. Don't use the name or logo for products or services that could be confused with ours, and don't modify the logo (no recolouring, stretching, drop-shadowing, or adding text).
• Apple Watch, watchOS, App Store, the App Store badge, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPad, iOS, and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the US and other countries. Apple device imagery and badges are used to present WAVOA under Apple’s Marketing Resources guidelines.
• Google Play, the Google Play badge, Android, and the Android robot are trademarks of Google LLC. The badge is used per Google's brand guidelines.
• ECMWF, NOAA, DWD, Météo-France, ECCC, JMA, the Hong Kong Observatory, DMI and KNMI are registered marks or official names of their respective organisations. Used factually, with attribution above, to identify the source of forecast and observation data.
• Garmin, Suunto, Polar, COROS and Strava are trademarks of their respective owners. The names and marks identify compatible recordings or export destinations; they do not imply sponsorship or an official partnership.
• Mapbox is mentioned in our marketing copy as the canonical name for vector-tile map technology; we currently use MapLibre and Carto, both built on the open-source standards Mapbox helped pioneer. Mapbox is a trademark of Mapbox Inc.

Brand assets

Want to mention WAVOA in a blog post, a comparison review, or a press article? Yes please.

• Press kit (logos in light/dark, app icon at 1024 px, six product screenshots, two short marketing one-liners): request via the contact form and we'll send a zip within one business day.
• Screenshots from the website are fine to use unaltered for editorial coverage — credit “wavoa.app”.
• The app icon may only be used to identify the WAVOA app — never as a generic weather symbol or in a list of competitors' logos without explicit written permission.
• Full logo (SVG) · Symbol with tagline (SVG) · Symbol only (SVG)
• The forecast graphics (meteogram, NOW card, Compare chart) may be screenshotted and shared on social media, but not redistributed at scale or sold.
• The WAVOA wordmark uses Comfortaa Bold. Install the variable TTF for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and other design apps. Download Comfortaa · SIL OFL 1.1

DMCA & IP complaints

If you believe content on WAVOA infringes your copyright, send a DMCA takedown notice via the contact form (topic “DMCA / copyright”) with the six standard elements:

1. Your physical or electronic signature.
2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed.
3. A precise URL or screenshot showing where the infringing material lives on WAVOA.
4. Your contact information (name, email, address, phone).
5. A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorised.
6. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the notification is accurate and that you are the rightsholder or authorised to act on their behalf.

We aim to remove infringing content within 48 hours of a valid notice. We file counter-notifications and operate the same process under the EU Directive 2001/29/EC for European rightsholders.

License questions

Anything not covered above — questions about a specific dependency, a custom OEM/API license, embedding our forecast data into your own product, or a research-paper attribution request: use the contact form with topic “Legal & licensing”. Real human, German, English, or Spanish, replies within five business days.

← Terms of service  ·  Help →