Terms of Use
Wattlas is a free, public map of the North American electric grid with an AI assistant that helps you explore it. It is operated by Simple Thread, LLC (“we”, “us”). By using the site you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use it.
The data
Everything on the map is compiled from public sources: government datasets, OpenStreetMap, NASA imagery and the other sources listed under Data in the map's footer. We process and combine them, and processing introduces errors of its own. The data is provided as is. It may be incomplete, out of date or wrong; positions, capacities, voltages and ownership are approximate; small facilities and lower-voltage lines may be missing, and some countries are covered less completely than others.
Wattlas is for information and exploration. Do not rely on it for operational, safety, engineering, legal, financial or investment decisions. Check the original sources for anything that matters.
The assistant
The ask box is answered by an AI language model, accessed through OpenRouter. It works from the data loaded in the map, and it can misread that data, miscount, or state things that are not in it. Treat its answers as pointers to check, not as facts. Do not enter personal, confidential or sensitive information in the ask box; see the Privacy Notice for where that text goes. The assistant is rate-limited and may be unavailable or paused at times.
Acceptable use
Personal, educational, research and journalistic use is welcome. You agree not to:
- access the site or the assistant with automated tools, scrapers or bulk requests, or attempt to circumvent rate limits, bot checks or other protections;
- attempt to extract the assistant's instructions, or use it for anything other than questions about the map and the electricity grid;
- probe, disrupt or overload the service, or use it for any unlawful purpose.
We may limit, suspend or block access at our discretion, without notice.
Data licenses and attribution
The underlying data remains under its own licenses: the Open Database License (ODbL) for OpenStreetMap-derived data including the basemap, Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) for several datasets, the Open Government Licence – Canada for Natural Resources Canada data, the Copernicus WorldDEM-30 license for elevation and slope, and the public domain for US government and NASA sources. If you reuse data obtained through Wattlas, those licenses govern it, including their attribution and share-alike terms, and the Data link in the map's footer lists each source. The Wattlas name and the site's design belong to us; the underlying data does not.
The published transmission-lines layer combines EIA data with OpenStreetMap lines selected by comparison against it, and the substations layer combines HIFLD data with OpenStreetMap substations selected, and names and voltages filled, the same way. That makes each a derivative database: we offer those layers as a whole under the ODbL. EIA's lines remain public domain in their own right, and EIA publishes its own copy. HIFLD's substations are not wholly public domain: HIFLD credits OpenStreetMap as the source of some of them.
The published power-plants layer is a derivative database too: it adds OpenStreetMap plants in Canada and Mexico selected by comparison against NRCan and WRI data, so we offer that layer as a whole under the ODbL. The NRCan (Open Government Licence – Canada) and WRI (CC BY 4.0) data in it keep their own licenses and attribution.
You may share screenshots and other images of the map, including commercially, as long as each one credits Wattlas with a link or the address wattlasapp.com, keeps the data credits shown on the map (for OpenStreetMap-derived data the ODbL requires this), and is not altered to remove or obscure them.
No warranty; limitation of liability
The site and the assistant are provided as is and as available, without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose and uninterrupted availability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we are not liable for any loss or damage arising from your use of the site or reliance on its data or the assistant's answers. Where the law does not allow a limitation, it applies to the extent it does.
For elevation and slope: “The organisations in charge of the Copernicus programme by law or by delegation do not incur any liability for any use of the Copernicus WorldDEM-30”.
Changes
We may update these terms. The effective date above changes when we do, and continued use after a change means you accept it.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.
Contact
Questions about these terms: hello@simplethread.com.