Terms of Use
These Terms of Use (the “Terms”) govern your use of The Wheeler Atlas at thewheeleratlas.com and its related pages (the “Site”). The Site and the Atlas Shop are owned and operated by The Wheeler Atlas, LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company (“The Wheeler Atlas”, “we”, “us” or “our”). By using the Site you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you don’t agree, please don’t use the Site.
1. What the Site is
The Site is a free educational map of world history. We plan to keep it free with advertising; no ads are shown yet. It is meant for learning and general reference, including study for courses on History and Geography.
2. Accuracy
Historical borders, populations, religions, cultures, flags, development scores and trade routes are often uncertain, disputed or simplified, especially before the modern era. The map is an interpretation, not an authoritative record, and nothing on the Site is legal, political or professional advice. Do not rely on it for legal, territorial or academic claims without checking primary and scholarly sources. Corrections are welcome at [email protected].
3. Using the Site
You may view and use the Site for personal, educational and classroom purposes. Teachers and students may show it in class and use screenshots in coursework and presentations, as long as they credit “The Wheeler Atlas, thewheeleratlas.com”.
Videos and screenshots. You may screen-record the atlas, including in cinematic mode, and use the recordings in your own videos and posts, including monetised ones such as YouTube videos, as long as the on-screen thewheeleratlas.com watermark stays visible or you credit “The Wheeler Atlas (thewheeleratlas.com)” in the video or its description. You may not sell the recordings as stock footage or present the map as your own product.
You agree not to:
- disrupt, overload or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Site or the systems that host it;
- scrape or bulk-download the Site by automated means, except as the data licenses below allow;
- remove or obscure copyright, license or attribution notices, or the on-screen watermark in recordings;
- present the Site or its content as your own product, or imply that we endorse you or your work;
- interfere with any advertising shown on the Site;
- use the Site in a way that breaks the law.
4. Content, licenses and trademarks
Different parts of the Site are under different licenses, as set out on the Credits & Licenses page and in LICENSE.md. In short:
- The historical border data, and the religion, culture and development layers built on it, are licensed under the GNU GPL v3.0. You may reuse them under that license. Nothing in these Terms limits your rights under the GPL or any other open license listed on the Credits page.
- Public-domain base data (Natural Earth, NOAA, NASA) remains public domain, and third-party material such as modern flag artwork (MIT) and climate data (CC BY 4.0) stays under its own license.
- Everything else, including the atlas software, design, original data and text, is © The Wheeler Atlas, LLC. All rights reserved. Commercial reuse, republishing or redistribution needs our written permission, apart from the uses described in section 3. Write to [email protected] about licensing.
- Merchandise artwork. The logo, the wordmark, the Atlas Engraving artwork (the globe-and-wave and ship's-wheel designs) and the designs on our apparel, caps, mugs, stickers and totes are © The Wheeler Atlas, LLC and may not be copied, printed or sold by anyone else. The maps on our era posters, classroom posters and 1914 desk mat are drawn from the GPL border data; to the extent a map print is based on that data it is available under the GPL (the Credits page explains how to get the source), but that gives no right to use our name or logo.
- Trademarks. “The Wheeler Atlas”™ and the Compass Helm logo™ are trademarks of The Wheeler Atlas, LLC. The W-arrow in the logo is used under license from the Wheeler Yacht Company. You may not use these marks, or anything confusingly similar, on products, websites or accounts without our written permission, except to refer to us accurately, as in the credit described in section 3. The open licenses above cover data and code only, not these marks.
5. Advertising and third-party links
The Site does not show ads yet. When ads are switched on, they will be served by third parties such as Google AdSense, and we will update the Privacy Policy first. The Site also links to other websites such as Wikipedia. We don’t control and aren’t responsible for third-party ads, websites, products or services, and a link or ad is not an endorsement. See the Privacy Policy for how advertising cookies work.
6. Merchandise
Products in the Atlas Shop are sold by The Wheeler Atlas, LLC. Our print partner, Fourthwall, Inc., runs the checkout, takes payment, collects any sales tax, prints and ships each order, and handles returns, refunds and exchanges under the terms and policies shown at its checkout, which also apply to your order. To place an order you must be at least 18, or the age of majority where you live, or have a parent’s or guardian’s permission. Product photos are previews; colours and print placement can vary slightly. Prices may change, and the price shown at checkout applies. For help with an order, contact Fourthwall support or write to us at [email protected].
7. Feedback
If you send us corrections, suggestions or other feedback, you allow us to use it to improve the Site without payment or obligation to you. Please don’t send anything confidential.
8. Copyright complaints
We respect intellectual property. If you believe something on the Site infringes your copyright, email [email protected] with: (a) your name, address, phone number and email; (b) a description of the copyrighted work; (c) the material you believe infringes it and where it appears on the Site; (d) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorised by the owner, its agent or the law; (e) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that your notice is accurate and that you are the owner or authorised to act for the owner; and (f) your physical or electronic signature. We will review notices promptly and remove material where appropriate.
9. No warranty
THE SITE AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ACCURACY, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. We don’t promise that the Site will be uninterrupted, error-free or free of harmful components. We may change, suspend or remove the Site or any part of it at any time.
10. Limitation of liability
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, NEITHER THE WHEELER ATLAS, LLC NOR ITS MEMBERS, MANAGERS, OFFICERS OR AGENTS WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF OR RELIANCE ON THE SITE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM RELATING TO THE SITE IS LIMITED TO US $50. Some jurisdictions don’t allow these limits, so they may not apply to you.
11. Indemnity
If you break these Terms or misuse the Site, you agree to cover the reasonable costs, including legal fees, that we incur as a result, to the extent the law allows.
12. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, USA, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Chatham County, North Carolina, except where the law of your country of residence requires otherwise.
13. General
These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the Site. If any part of these Terms can’t be enforced, the rest still applies. If we don’t enforce a term right away, we haven’t given up the right to enforce it later.
14. Changes
We may update these Terms. The date at the top shows when they last changed. If you keep using the Site after a change, you accept the new Terms.
15. Contact
The Wheeler Atlas, LLC · [email protected]