About this site
Where this data comes from
CanI.fish is built on open data. This page names every source, the licence it carries and what that licence asks of us — because an attribution that is vague is not an attribution.
The map you see, and the data we hold, are two different things
The roads, rivers and villages underneath are OpenStreetMap’s work, used under the Open Database Licence and credited in the corner of every map here.
Fishing boundaries in this database are drawn by contributors and editors, not taken from OpenStreetMap. Every stored shape records where it came from, and any shape derived from OpenStreetMap is marked as such and carries the ODbL share-alike terms with it.
Drawing a stretch on top of a map is not copying the map. Tracing one off it would be, which is why every shape we store records where it came from and why an editor states that before a boundary is published.
The sources
OpenStreetMap
The map underneath everything: roads, rivers, woods, buildings and place names, served as tiles.
Licence: Open Database Licence 1.0 (ODbL)
What it asks of us: Credit OpenStreetMap wherever their map is shown. It is named in the corner of every map on this site, and again below.
Ordnance Survey Open Names
Every settlement, hamlet and named place in and around Oxfordshire, so that searching for a village finds the water near it.
Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0
What it asks of us: Carry the words "Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026" wherever the data is used.
postcodes.io
Turning a postcode into a point on the map. Built on the ONS Postcode Directory, which is itself OGL.
Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 · MIT (the service)
What it asks of us: Credit ONS, OS and Royal Mail for the postcode directory. No key, no metering, and every answer is cached here so the service is asked once per postcode.
Environment Agency
Rod licence rules and the close season dates this site quotes. We link to GOV.UK rather than restating a price.
Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0
What it asks of us: Attribute the source and never present their rules as ours.
Environment Agency real-time data API (Beta)
River levels, flows and active flood warnings on the waters where a moderator has picked a gauge. Fetched on a schedule and cached — never per page view, and never turned into a verdict about whether a river is safe or worth fishing.
Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0
What it asks of us: Carry the words "This uses Environment Agency flood and river level data from the real-time data API (Beta)." wherever a reading is shown. It is printed on every conditions panel and again here.
Built, not yet in use
These are wired in and inactive. They are listed so that this page never credits a source the site is not actually using.
Protomaps
The build that turns OpenStreetMap into a single tile file we host ourselves, so no tile request is metered or logged by a third party.
Contains OS data
Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
If you believe we have credited something incorrectly, or used data in a way its licence does not allow, please tell us — we will fix it.