Wikimapia terms reference
Welcome to Wikimapia (collectively, including all Content available through the WikiMapia.org domain name and it's services, "we", the "WikiMapia" or "Service"). By accessing or using our services, you (the "User") signify that you have read, understand and agree to be bound by these Terms of Use ("Terms of Service", "Agreement"), without regard as to whether you are a registered member of Wikimapia. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete portions of this Agreement at any time and without further notice. It is your responsibility to regularly check this page to determine if there have been changes to these Terms of Use and to review such changes.
PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY AS THEY CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, REMEDIES AND OBLIGATIONS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS, AND A DISPUTE RESOLUTION CLAUSE THAT GOVERNS HOW DISPUTES WILL BE RESOLVED.
These Terms of Use apply to members and non-members alike. In order to use the Service, you must accept these Terms of Service. You may do so by (a) registering for membership with the Service and/or Company or (b) by actually using the Service. If you do not agree to any of these terms, then please do not use the WikiMapia.
These Terms of Service, Privacy Notice and Copyright Notice apply to all users of the WikiMapia, including users who are also contributors of information, images and other materials or services on the Wikimapia. WikiMapia may contain links to third party websites that are not owned or controlled by WikiMapia. WikiMapia has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party websites. In addition, WikiMapia will not and cannot censor or edit the content of any third-party site. By using the Service, you expressly relieve WikiMapia from any and all liability arising from your use of any third-party website. Accordingly, we encourage you to be aware when you leave WikiMapia and to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each other website that you visit.
A. WikiMapia permits the submission of information submitted by you and other users ("User Submissions", a part of "Wikimapia Data") and the hosting, sharing, and/or publishing of such User Submissions. You understand that whether or not such User Submissions are published, WikiMapia does not guarantee any confidentiality with respect to any submissions.
B. You shall be solely responsible for your own User Submissions and the consequences of posting or publishing them. In connection with User Submissions, you affirm, represent, and/or warrant that:
a. you own or have the necessary licenses, rights, consents, and permissions to use and authorize WikiMapia to use all patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights in and to any and all User Submissions to enable inclusion and use of the User Submissions in the manner contemplated by the Wikimapia and these Terms of Service;
b. you have the written consent, release, and/or permission of each and every identifiable individual person in the User Submission to use the name or likeness of each and every such identifiable individual person to enable inclusion and use of the User Submissions in the manner contemplated by the Wikimapia and these Terms of Service.
To grow the commons of free knowledge and free culture, all users contributing to Wikimapia project are required to grant broad permissions to the general public to re-distribute and re-use their contributions freely, as long as the use is and the same freedom to re-use and re-distribute comply with Wikimapia Terms of Service.
Also, by submitting the User Submissions to WikiMapia, you hereby grant WikiMapia a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the WikiMapia and WikiMapia's (and its successor's) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the WikiMapia (and derivative works thereof) in any formats and through any services. You also hereby grant each user of the WikiMapia a non-exclusive license to access your User Submissions through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such User Submissions as permitted through the functionality of Wikimapia and under these Terms of Service.
C. In connection with User Submissions and using of the site, you further agree that:
a. you will not publish falsehoods or misrepresentations that could damage WikiMapia or any third party;
b. you will not submit material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially, ethnically or politically offensive, or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, violate any law, violate any rights of others, or is otherwise inappropriate;
c. you will not submit material that is copyrighted, protected by trade secret or otherwise subject to third party proprietary rights, including privacy, personal information and publicity rights, unless you are the owner of such rights or have permission from their rightful owner to post the material and to grant WikiMapia all of the license rights granted herein;
d. you will not post advertisements or solicitations of business;
e. you will not submit false information intentionally;
f. you will not vandalize or corrupt information on WikiMapia;
g. you will not impose an unreasonable load on WikiMapia's infrastructure or interfere with the proper working of WikiMapia;
h. you will not impersonate or defame another person, company, organization, etc;
i. you will not publish information about government secret locations;
j. you will not use the Wikimapia services in any unlawful manner or in any other manner which could damage, impair, or overburden the Service;
k. you will not violate the terms of this Agreement and any applicable Usage Rule;
l. you will not mislead or attempt to mislead users.
D. WikiMapia does not endorse any User Submission or any opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein, and WikiMapia expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with User Submissions. WikiMapia does not permit copyright infringing activities and infringement of intellectual property rights on its Service, and WikiMapia will remove all Content and User Submissions if properly notified that such Content or User Submission infringes on another's intellectual property rights. WikiMapia reserves the right to remove Content and User Submissions without prior notice. WikiMapia will also terminate a User's access to its Service, if they are determined to be a repeat infringer. A repeat infringer is a User who has been notified of infringing activity more than twice and/or has had a User Submission removed from the Service more than twice. WikiMapia also reserves the right to decide whether Content or a User Submission is appropriate and complies with these Terms of Service for violations other than copyright infringement and violations of intellectual property law, such as, but not limited to, pornography, obscene or defamatory material, or excessive length. WikiMapia may remove such User Submissions and/or terminate a User's access for uploading such material in violation of these Terms of Service at any time, without prior notice and at its sole discretion.
E. You understand that when using WikiMapia, you will be exposed to User Submissions from a variety of sources, and that WikiMapia is not responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, safety, or intellectual property rights of or relating to such User Submissions. You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to User Submissions that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against WikiMapia with respect thereto, and agree to indemnify and hold WikiMapia, its Owners/Operators, affiliates, and/or licensors, harmless to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters related to your use of the site.
F. All User Submissions of all users and all Wikimapia Data are freely available for commercial and non-commercial use under Creative Commons license Attribution-ShareAlike through WikiMapia website, WikiMapia API and other current or future WikiMapia services.
G. Public use of Wikimapia Data and it's derivatives requires special conditions:
a. Link to Wikimapia data original url, if viewed from any web browser
b. Mention of "Wikimapia.org" (with a link to http://wikimapia.org, if viewed from any web browser)
I. In addition, WikiMapia provides an "map on your page" feature, which you may incorporate into your own personal websites for use in accessing the information on Wikimapia. WikiMapia reserves the right to discontinue any aspect of the WikiMapia at any time.
YOU AGREE THAT YOUR USE OF WikiMapia SHALL BE AT YOUR SOLE RISK. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WikiMapia, ITS MANAGERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN CONNECTION WITH THE SERVICE AND YOUR USE THEREOF. WikiMapia MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS SITE'S CONTENT OR THE CONTENT OF ANY SITES LINKED TO THIS SITE AND ASSUMES NO LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR SERVICE, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR SERVICE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR SERVICE BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF THE USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA WikiMapia . WikiMapia DOES NOT WARRANT, ENDORSE, GUARANTEE, OR ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE ADVERTISED OR OFFERED BY A THIRD PARTY THROUGH THE WikiMapia OR ANY HYPERLINKED WEBSITE OR FEATURED IN ANY BANNER OR OTHER ADVERTISING, AND WikiMapia WILL NOT BE A PARTY TO OR IN ANY WAY BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING ANY TRANSACTION BETWEEN YOU AND THIRD-PARTY PROVIDERS OF PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. AS WITH THE PURCHASE OF A PRODUCT OR SERVICE THROUGH ANY MEDIUM OR IN ANY ENVIRONMENT, YOU SHOULD USE YOUR BEST JUDGMENT AND EXERCISE CAUTION WHERE APPROPRIATE.
IN NO EVENT SHALL WikiMapia, ITS MANAGERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM ANY (I) ERRORS, MISTAKES, OR INACCURACIES OF CONTENT, (II) PERSONAL INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, OF ANY NATURE WHATSOEVER, RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF OUR SERVICE, (III) ANY UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO OR USE OF OUR SECURE SERVERS AND/OR ANY AND ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION AND/OR FINANCIAL INFORMATION STORED THEREIN, (IV) ANY INTERRUPTION OR CESSATION OF TRANSMISSION TO OR FROM OUR SERVICE, (IV) ANY BUGS, VIRUSES, TROJAN HORSES, OR THE LIKE, WHICH MAY BE TRANSMITTED TO OR THROUGH OUR SERVICES BY ANY THIRD PARTY, AND/OR (V) ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ANY CONTENT OR FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND INCURRED AS A RESULT OF YOUR USE OF ANY CONTENT POSTED, EMAILED, TRANSMITTED, OR OTHERWISE MADE AVAILABLE VIA THE WikiMapia SERVICE, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE FOREGOING LIMITATION OF LIABILITY SHALL APPLY TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW IN THE APPLICABLE JURISDICTION.
YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WikiMapia SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR USER SUBMISSIONS OR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE, OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY AND THAT THE RISK OF HARM OR DAMAGE FROM THE FOREGOING RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU.
The SERVICE is controlled and offered by WikiMapia from its facilities in the United States of America. WikiMapia makes no representations that WikiMapia services are appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use WikiMapia from other jurisdictions do so at their own volition and are responsible for compliance with local law.
4. Modifications
We may modify these Terms at any time with or without notice. You shall assume all responsibility for reviewing this Agreement periodically at http://wikimapia.org/terms_reference.html so that you will be apprised of any changes. If you continue to use the Wikimapia after we post or provide notice about changes to these Terms, you are signifying your acceptance of the new terms. If you disagree with any changes to this Agreement, you must discontinue your use of the Wikimapia Services and all rights and licenses granted to you under this Agreement terminate immediately. Each Application and certain services or features of the Wikimapia services may be subject to additional terms, licenses, documentation, usage rules and restrictions, which will be binding on you if you elect to use such services. If you do not agree to the Terms of Use of a particular Application or any Wikimapia service, then do not use such Application or service.
5. Electronic Notices
YOU AGREE TO TRANSACT WITH US ELECTRONICALLY. WE MAY PROVIDE NOTICES TO YOU ELECTRONICALLY (1) VIA E-MAIL IF YOU HAVE PROVIDED US WITH A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS OR (2) BY POSTING THE NOTICE ON A WEBSITE DESIGNATED BY US FOR THIS PURPOSE. The delivery of any Notice is effective when sent or posted by us, regardless of whether you read the Notice or actually receive delivery. You can withdraw your consent to receive Notices electronically by discontinuing your use of the Wikimapia services.
6. Injunctive Relief
You acknowledge and agree that, notwithstanding any other provisions of this Agreement, your breach or threatened breach of this Agreement may cause us irreparable damage for which recovery of money damages might be inadequate and that we, therefore, may seek timely injunctive relief to protect our rights under this Agreement in addition to any and all other remedies available at law or in equity.
7. No Support
We have no obligation to provide support services for the Applications or Wikimapia services, although we may do so in our sole discretion. We are under no obligation to provide you with any error corrections, updates, upgrades, bug fixes and/or enhancements of the Wikimapia services. This Agreement does not grant you any right to any version enhancement update, or to a continuous availability of the Wikimapia services.
8. Term, Termination
Unless otherwise provided in a separate agreement between you and us, (a) we may terminate this Agreement at any time, in our discretion, and with or without notice to you; and (b) you may terminate this Agreement by ceasing use of the Applications, including without limitation by removing any and all code from your Mapping Products enabling your use of the Wikimapia services. You agree that once the Agreement is terminated, your right to use the Services and all Applications is terminated immediately. Cancellation terms for any Application or other Wikimapia services subject to a fee will be set forth in the applicable Usage Rule. We shall not be liable to you for damages of any sort resulting from terminating this Agreement.
9. Non-assert
In consideration of the licenses granted herein, and other consideration provided by us to you under this Agreement, you covenant not to sue or otherwise assert any patent rights against us or any of our affiliates, suppliers or licensees for any alleged patent infringement during the term of this Agreement by any product or service that uses any Application.
10. No Duty To Monitor
You agree that we are not liable for content that is provided by others on the Wikimapia. We have no duty to pre-screen content, but we have the right to refuse to post or to edit submitted content. We reserve the right to remove content for any reason, but we are not responsible for any failure or delay in removing such material.
11. Third Party Sites, Advertisers
Wikimapia services may include links to third party websites, including links provided as automated search results. Some of these sites may contain materials that are objectionable, unlawful, or inaccurate. These links do not mean that we endorse these third party sites or services. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible or liable for any content or other materials on these third party sites. Any dealings that you have with advertisers found on the Wikimapia services are between you and the advertiser and you acknowledge and agree that we are not liable for any loss or claim you may have against an advertiser.
12. Right to investigate and to audit
You understand and agree that we reserve the right to use whatever technical and legal remedies available to us to prevent abuses to the Wikimapia services. We reserve the right to investigate or monitor in our own discretion and by any means we deem appropriate (a) your compliance with this Agreement and (b) any activity or conduct that we believe violates the terms of this Agreement. In addition to any other rights that we may have in this section and in the Agreement, we reserve the right to request an audit to investigate compliance with this Agreement.
13. Your Indemnity
You shall indemnify, hold harmless and, at our request, defend us and/or our licensors, officers, directors, employees, affiliates, agents and representatives from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, expenses and costs (including attorneys' fees and costs) relating to your breach of any provision under this Agreement or otherwise arising out of your use of the Wikimapia services, including, but not limited to, any claim related to infringement or misappropriation of intellectual property rights, which includes but is not limited to, infringement by your Mapping Product and/or any content contained therein (except to the extent such a claim is based solely on an unaltered Application). We shall give you prompt notice of any such claim made against us, and you and Wikimapia shall cooperate in the defense of any such claim, suit or proceeding, including appeals, negotiations and any settlement or compromise thereof, provided that we must approve the terms of any settlement or compromise, and such approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.
If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any User Submission or other content infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") by providing our Copyright Agent with the following information in writing (please consult your legal counsel or see Section 512(c)(3) of the Copyright Act to confirm these requirements):
A. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
B. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.
C. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material. Providing URLs in the body of an email is the best way to help us locate content quickly.
D. Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.
E. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
F. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.
Such written notice should be sent to us as follows to email: contact @ wikimapia . org
Please also note that under Section 512(f) any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material or activity is infringing may be subject to liability.
A. Non-Account Activity. You can have an access to WikiMapia information without having a WikiMapia Account.
B. Account-Related Activity. Certain other activities on WikiMapia—like using special administrative functions—require you to have a WikiMapia Account. We ask for some personal information when you create a WikiMapia Account, including your email address and a password, which is used to protect your account from unauthorized access.
C. Usage Information. We may record information about your usage, such as when you use WikiMapia, the contacts you communicate with, and the frequency and size of data transfers, as well as information you display or click on in WikiMapia (including UI elements, settings, and other information). If you are logged in, we may associate that information with your account.
D. Content Uploaded to Site. Any personal information that you voluntarily disclose online (on discussion boards, in messages and chat areas, profile pages, etc., except your email address, password and personally identifiable information) becomes publicly available and can be collected and used by others.
A. If you submit personally identifiable information to us through the WikiMapia Sites, we use your personal information to operate, maintain, and provide to you the features and functionality of the WikiMapia Sites, as well as provide special personalized features to you.
B. Your account name (not your email address) is displayed to other Users when you leave/modify information or send messages through the WikiMapia Sites and other Users can contact you through messages and comments. Any information (but not your email address, password and personally identifiable information) that you submit to the WikiMapia Sites may be redistributed through the internet and other services, and may be viewed by the general public.
C. We do not use your email address or other personally identifiable information to send commercial or marketing messages without your consent or except as part of a specific program or feature for which you will have the ability to opt-in or opt-out. We may, however, use your email address without further consent for non-marketing or administrative purposes (such as notifying you of major WikiMapia Site changes or for customer service purposes).
D. We use both your personally identifiable information and certain non-personally-identifiable information (such as anonymous User usage data, cookies, IP addresses, browser type, clickstream data, etc.) to improve the quality, design and security of the WikiMapia Sites and to create new features, promotions, functionality, and services by storing, tracking, and analyzing User preferences and trends.
E. We use cookies, clear gifs, and log file information to: (a) store information so that you will not have to re-enter it during your visit or the next time you visit the WikiMapia Sites; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) monitor the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns; (d) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, pages viewed, etc.; and (e) track your entries, submissions, and status in promotions, sweepstakes, and contests.
F. We cannot guarantee a person anonymity in case of serious violations of WikiMapia Terms of Service section C.
G. We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our services. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.
H. Wikimapia may terminate your account, delete your profile and any content or information that you have posted on the Service and/or prohibit you from using or accessing the Service for any reason, or no reason, at any time in its sole discretion, with or without notice.
You may, of course, decline to submit personally identifiable information through the WikiMapia services, in which case you can still make User Submissions and explore the WikiMapia Services, but WikiMapia may not be able to provide certain services to you. Some advanced WikiMapia features may, for authentication and other purposes, require special actions such as verifying your e-mail. The privacy notices of those services govern the use of your personal information associated with them.
If someone has created at Wikimapia services any submissions to impersonate, imitate, defame you, abuse your personal information and/or disrespect your privacy, you may submit an inquiry for removing inappropriate user submission to the email (contact @ wikimapia . org). Be sure to add your full name and a valid web address (URL) leading to the place where you found inappropriate user submission.
Last update: 24 May 2012