Our Approach to Chart Sourcing

Student learning with charts

At Chart-Ed, we believe that good questions begin with good data. Every chart we use—whether for building student questions, classroom prompts, or engaging activities—is selected with care. But just as important as the chart itself is our responsible and transparent use of it.

We prioritize charts that:

  • Are licensed for classroom and commercial reuse, with the specific permissions and restrictions of each source respected.
  • Come from trusted organizations, including government agencies, NGOs, and open-data publishers.
  • Can be used commercially and educationally, often with attribution and sometimes only without alteration.

Some of our charts come from sources like Statista, where CC BY-ND licensing permits commercial reuse of the original chart with attribution but does not permit us to distribute modified versions of the chart. Others are from public repositories where both the chart and underlying data may be open to interpretation, remixing, or adaptation.

Where possible, we also provide a snapshot of the license or usage terms, to ensure you can trust how the data is being handled. All logos and images used below are for reference only and are linked back to the source site for clarity.

Chart Sources We Reference

Below is a growing list of the chart sources we actively reference, along with a summary of how each allows us to use their charts for learning and classroom purposes.

MMO
culture

Metropolitan Museum of Art

CC0

The Met's Open Access initiative allows the use and adaptation of public domain artworks for any purpose, including commercial educational content.

✓ Commercial Use✓ Modification Allowed
culturecc0open-accessvisual
NCF
education

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

U.S. Public Domain

NCES publishes comprehensive education data and charts from U.S. federal surveys. These resources are in the public domain and free for any use.

✓ Commercial Use✓ Modification Allowed
educationpublic-domainus-governmentk-12
O
geography

OpenStreetMap (OSM)

Open Database License (ODbL)

OpenStreetMap offers editable, license-compliant map data under ODbL. It's widely used in educational applications for geospatial analysis.

✓ Commercial Use✓ Modification Allowed
geographyodblmapsgeospatial
OWI
global-data

Our World in Data

CC BY 4.0

Our World in Data offers open-source charts and datasets on global trends. Their license allows full reuse and adaptation in educational content.

✓ Commercial Use✓ Modification Allowed
global-datacc-byopen-dataglobal
SOA
culture

Smithsonian Open Access

CC0

Smithsonian Open Access provides millions of digital assets, including cultural visualizations, under a fully unrestricted CC0 license.

✓ Commercial Use✓ Modification Allowed
culturecc0imagesmuseums
S
data-portal

Statista

CC BY-ND 3.0

Statista provides visually polished infographics across many domains. We use these charts unmodified to support critical-thinking questions and interpretation tasks.

✓ Commercial Use⚠ No Modification
data-portalcc-by-ndcommercialcharts
SC
government

Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada Open Licence

Statistics Canada provides national datasets and visuals under its Open Licence, which supports adaptation and commercial use with attribution.

✓ Commercial Use✓ Modification Allowed
governmentcanadagovernmenteducation
WIA
health

WHO – ICD and International Classifications

CC BY-ND 3.0 IGO

WHO's International Classifications (e.g., ICD-11) are available under CC BY-ND 3.0 IGO, allowing unmodified commercial use with proper attribution.

✓ Commercial Use⚠ No Modification
healthcc-by-ndigohealth

This list is regularly updated as we add new sources and review existing partnerships. For questions about our sourcing approach, please contact us.

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