EuroVelo GPX tracks go open data!
EuroVelo GPX tracks have been freely available to download since 2022 from main route pages and stage pages, and since 2023 from the EuroVelo route planner (after generating a route). As the network is not equally developed everywhere, users have the choice to download either the full route1 or only the developed sections. This feature is highly popular: 340,800+ downloads in 2023, with an increase of 124% compared to 2022 according to the Digital Statistics Report! 80% of GPX tracks downloaded include developed parts only and 20% full route, showing that users are more interested in developed sections of EuroVelo routes.
Until now, explicit permission from ECF or relevant NECCs was required for anything beyond strictly personal use, as this was the main point of implementing GPX tracks downloadable on EuroVelo.com. But the new feature raised interest from third parties in using our tracks. That is why the discussion was brought to the attention of NECCs.
Following a decision from the EVGM 2024, EuroVelo GPX tracks will be distributed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL). The ODbL is a license agreement intended to allow users to freely share, modify, and use a Database while maintaining this same freedom for others.
As the new License and disclaimer for the use of EuroVelo GPX tracks explains more specifically, the ODbL License implies that you are free:
- To share: copy, distribute and use EuroVelo GPX tracks.
- To create: produce works from EuroVelo GPX tracks.
- To adapt: modify, transform and build upon EuroVelo GPX tracks.
As long as you:
- Attribute: you must attribute any public use of EuroVelo GPX tracks, or works produced from EuroVelo GPX tracks, with the following notice: Contains information from EuroVelo GPX tracks downloaded from www.EuroVelo.com on (DATE), which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). For any use or redistribution of the EuroVelo GPX database, or works produced from it, you must make clear to others the nature of the license of the database and keep intact any notices on the original database.
- Share-Alike: if you publicly use any adapted version of this database, or works produced from an adapted database, you must also offer that adapted database under the ODbL.
- Keep open: If you redistribute the database, or an adapted version of it, then you may use technological measures that restrict the work (such as DRM) as long as you also redistribute a version without such measures.
The tracks available on www.EuroVelo.com are the reference for the itineraries of EuroVelo routes. Note that EuroVelo GPX tracks are provided by National EuroVelo Coordination Centres (NECCs) when in place, and other partners when it is not the case. The tracks are updated on a yearly basis. While ECF and NECCs make every effort to ensure the tracks and their levels of development are both current and accurate, errors or outdated information can occur, especially in countries with no NECC. National / Regional websites linked on www.EuroVelo.com, on country and country per route pages, may update their specific EuroVelo tracks more often than on a yearly basis.
The goal of EuroVelo GPX tracks going open data is to increase the visibility and accuracy of EuroVelo routes on varied platforms and to improve the tracks’ quality. Indeed, open data has often demonstrated that collaboration allows to identify mistakes and inaccuracies more efficiently.
Third parties are invited to contact the EuroVelo Management Team at [email protected] to explore collaborations. Individuals who would like to contribute to improved data on EuroVelo can consider contributing to OpenStreetMap as described in this article. More accurate and updated EuroVelo GIS data, provided by NECCs, would contribute to more relevant results to be included in the yearly EuroVelo Route Development Status Report.
Written by Florence Grégoire
1. This option is not available for routes crossing France, Spain or Portugal and including undeveloped sections, as per request of these countries’ National EuroVelo Coordination Centres.