Data credits
The data behind our maps and forecasts.
Falling into Fall is built on public and open data. The line under each map credits what its providers ask to see on the map itself. This page credits the rest.
Basemap
The relief, roads and place names under the foliage map are Esri map services. Powered by Esri.
- Shaded relief: Esri
- Place names and boundaries: Esri, Garmin, USGS, NPS
- Roads: Esri, HERE, Garmin, © OpenStreetMap contributors
Viewpoints, trailheads and other stops, and drive routes, use map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License.
Elevation
Where the satellite record has gaps, our foliage maps fill them from nearby ground at a similar elevation, and the national map's terrain trend is built from elevation too.
Our foliage maps are produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved.
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.
Terrain backdrop
The shaded terrain drawn while the relief loads comes from the Terrain Tiles dataset on AWS Open Data.
- United States 3DEP (formerly NED) and global GMTED2010 and SRTM terrain data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey.
- Global ETOPO1 terrain data U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- Canada terrain data contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Licence
- Mexico terrain data source: INEGI, Continental relief, 2016.
Forecast data
None of these ask for a credit on the map, and we're glad to give one here.
- MODIS daily surface reflectance (MOD09GA, MYD09GA), NASA and USGS LP DAAC. This season's color, from the latest satellite passes.
- MODIS 16-day vegetation indices (MOD13Q1), NASA and USGS LP DAAC. Typical peak dates, from more than two decades of imagery.
- gridMET daily climate, University of Idaho Climatology Lab. This year's temperatures against the normal, which move peak earlier or later.
- LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation Type, USGS LANDFIRE. Which ground carries trees that change color.
- National Land Cover Database, USGS. A second check on where that canopy grows.
- Forest Inventory and Analysis, USDA Forest Service. Which tree species grow where.
- SRTM elevation (SRTM GL1), NASA and USGS LP DAAC. Elevation for places and drives.
- PhenoCam Network, Northern Arizona University and the PhenoCam site teams. Forest camera images we calibrate and grade the forecast against.
- Nature's Notebook, USA National Phenology Network and its volunteer observers. Leaf-color observations we grade the forecast against.
- Cartographic boundary files, U.S. Census Bureau. State outlines.
Photo credits appear with each photo. Spot a missing credit? Tell us.