Using the data in a product
The questions people building a product ask us, with the answers we give by email: the same for everyone, with no separate agreements.
Can I use the data in a product I sell?#
Yes, on every plan, Free included, within the plan’s limits: apps, devices, websites and services, paid ones too. No separate agreement is needed: the terms of service apply.
A tailored agreement is only needed to resell the data as an API or feed for other people’s products, for an SLA or for volume beyond the Business plan. Terms of service.
One key per device, or one per product?#
One per product. Requests from all devices and all users count together on that key, from any IP: several servers or Cloudflare Workers too. A key inside an app or firmware can be extracted: to keep it safe, use it only from your server.
To size it: one device’s requests per minute × the number of devices. The X-FIA-Used-Month and X-FIA-Quota-Month headers of every response tell you where you stand.
Can I use my own server with a cache?#
Yes. A server of your own that fetches once and serves only your users or devices is fine: it isn’t redistribution, it lowers your requests and it’s lighter for us too. You can keep the data you received and what you derive from it, even after you stop using the API, as long as the attribution stays.
What you can’t do without an agreement is offer that data to others as an API or feed for their products.
What does the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence ask of me?#
One line where your product’s users see the data (in the app, on the device or in the manual, on the product page): “Flight data: FlyItalyADSB (flyitalyadsb.com), CC BY-SA 4.0”, with a link to flyitalyadsb.com. Share-alike covers the data and adapted versions of it, for example a dataset, a feed or an API built from ours: those go under CC BY-SA 4.0. It doesn’t cover your product: artwork, code, design and logic stay yours, and you don’t have to publish anything.
If space is tight, “Data: flyitalyadsb.com (CC BY-SA 4.0)” is enough. In an app, the name FlyItalyADSB linking to the site and “CC BY-SA 4.0” linking to the licence.
Flight data: FlyItalyADSB (flyitalyadsb.com), CC BY-SA 4.0Which plan do I need, and what happens over the limits?#
The plan depends on requests per minute, requests per month and radius: Free up to 500 km, Starter up to 1,000 km, Pro and Business with no radius limit, so the whole world in one request too. Requests over the limits get an error (429, or 403 for too large a radius), aren’t counted and aren’t billed. Moving to a paid plan keeps the same key. No plan includes an SLA: the service is best effort and the plans help cover the costs.
The feeder perk (Pro limits for free to whoever feeds the network) is for non-commercial use: it doesn’t cover products you sell. The plans.
Usage examples
| Pattern | Per minute | Per month | Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 device, every 30 s, 15 km around it | 2 | 86,400 | Free |
| 3 devices, every 30 s, 15 km | 6 | 259,200 | Free |
| 10 devices, every 30 s, 50 km | 20 | 864,000 | Starter |
| 90 devices, every 30 s, 15 km | 180 | 7,776,000 | Pro |
| Your server fetches the whole world every 30 s, for any number of users | 2 | 86,400 | Pro |
Plan limits
| Plan | Price (before tax) | Per minute | Per month | Maximum radius |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | free | 30 | 300,000 | 500 km |
| Starter | €9/month | 60 | 1,000,000 | 1,000 km |
| Pro | €49/month | 300 | 10,000,000 | whole world |
| Business | €249/month | 1,000 | 50,000,000 | whole world |
Limits are per key, from any IP; the Free plan also has a cap of 100 requests per minute per IP. Paid plans help cover the cost of servers and bandwidth; the key stays the same.
What’s in the data, and what isn’t?#
One record per aircraft in readsb’s aircraft.json format: ICAO hex, position, altitude, speed, track, vertical rate, squawk, category, the military/PIA/LADD flags, registration and type for about 99% of aircraft and callsign for about 98%. The picture refreshes every 2 seconds. There are no routes (departure and arrival airports), photos or schedules: for those you need another source.
Almost everything comes from the network’s receivers and our own multilateration; ADSBHub and OGN add about 1%. Fields and units.
Can’t find the answer?
Write to [email protected] with what you are building and how many requests you expect: we reply as soon as we can, with no guaranteed times. The most common answers end up on this page and in the FAQ.