Data Sources & Attributions

Last updated: 11 August 2026

BeachScan combines open public data with our own models. Everything below is reproduced or derived under each provider's licence; values shown in the app (scores, shade timelines, shelter ratings) are BeachScan's own derived work and may differ from the source data.

Elevation & shade

• Croatia — State Geodetic Administration (DGU): 1 m LIDAR digital terrain model and 20 m INSPIRE elevation grid. Sadrži informacije tijela javne vlasti u skladu s dozvolom Državne geodetske uprave. (Contains public sector information in accordance with the licence of the State Geodetic Administration of the Republic of Croatia.) The source data has been modified: BeachScan computes derived shade and horizon values from the elevation model; raw elevation data is not redistributed.
• Slovenia — ARSO: 1 m LIDAR terrain model (DMR1), Slovenian Environment Agency.
• United States — USGS 3DEP: 1 m elevation program data, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Global — Copernicus DEM: © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA.
• Tree canopy: derived from the Meta & WRI global canopy height dataset (CC-BY 4.0), refined with vegetation indices (NDVI) computed from Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data).
• Building footprints: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Beaches & geography

• Beach locations and names: © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under the Open Database License (ODbL).
• Maps: © Mapbox, © OpenStreetMap contributors.
• Beach photos: community photos are uploaded by BeachScan users and moderated before publication. Contributors keep the copyright to their photos and license them to BeachScan for display (see our Terms of Service). Station and beach photos are also sourced from IZOR (Croatia), the Greek bathing water profiles at bathingwaterprofiles.gr (Special Secretariat for Water), and openly licensed imagery from Wikimedia Commons and Mapillary (CC BY-SA; author credit on the photo where shown). Where no photo exists, a satellite image is shown (© Mapbox © OpenStreetMap © Maxar).

Weather & marine conditions

• Open-Meteo: weather, marine, and air-quality forecasts (CC-BY 4.0).
• MET Norway: weather forecasts (NLOD / CC-BY 4.0).
• DHMZ: Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service — sea temperature and weather observations.
• AEMET: Spanish State Meteorological Agency observations.
• NOAA CO-OPS: U.S. tide and water temperature stations.
• JPL MUR SST: satellite sea-surface temperature (NASA/JPL, via NOAA ERDDAP).
• Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS): ocean colour and water-clarity products, E.U. Copernicus Marine Service information.
• Coastlines: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) — used to trace the over-water fetch behind each beach's wind shelter rating.

Tides

• EOT20 global ocean tide model: harmonic tidal constituents (Hart-Davis et al., SEANOE, CC-BY 4.0). Tide curves and high/low water times shown in the app are BeachScan's own harmonic predictions computed from this model for each beach position.
• IOC Sea Level Station Monitoring Facility (UNESCO/IOC) and NOAA CO-OPS: tide gauge observations used to validate those predictions.

Official warnings

• Meteoalarm / EUMETNET: official severe-weather warnings published as CAP feeds by the national meteorological services. Warnings are shown as issued by the responsible authority; BeachScan does not create or alter them.

Water quality

Bathing water classifications are shown where the responsible authority publishes them — currently live across Croatia and Greece, and partial in the other markets. Where no official rating exists for a beach, none is shown.

• European Environment Agency (EEA): EU bathing water quality classifications.
• IZOR: Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (Croatia) — coastal bathing water monitoring.
• Florida Healthy Beaches: Florida Department of Health beach water sampling.

Questions about data usage or licensing: privacy@beachscanapp.com.