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 freely licensed for reuse and modification, such as under Creative Commons licenses.
  • Come from trusted organizations, including government agencies, NGOs, and open-data publishers.
  • Can be used commercially and educationally, often with attribution and without alteration.

Some of our charts come from sources like Statista, which generously permits educational question-building based on their visualizations (as long as the original chart is not manipulated). Others are from public repositories where both the chart and underlying data are 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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art Logo

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
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Logo

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
OpenStreetMap (OSM) Logo

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
Our World in Data Logo

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
Smithsonian Open Access Logo

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
Statista Logo

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
Statistics Canada Logo

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
WHO – ICD and International Classifications Logo

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.