Terms of Service

Effective 12 September 2026 · Plotcaster is operated by Click Clack Labs LLC, 418 Broadway, Ste R, Albany, NY 12207 ("we", "us").

1. The service

Plotcaster is a free web tool that turns photos, and map data for places you choose, into line drawings and dithered images for pen plotters, laser engravers and similar machines. It runs in your browser. By using it you agree to these terms.

2. Who can use it

You must be at least 13 years old to use Plotcaster. If you are under 18, or under the age of majority where you live, use it with the permission of a parent or guardian.

3. Your content

You keep every right you have in the photos you use and in the files you make. We claim no ownership of them and no licence to them, and we never receive them. You are responsible for having the right to use any photo you open, including one from a link, and for how you use the results.

4. Acceptable use

Don't use Plotcaster to infringe anyone's rights, to make anything that is unlawful where you are, or to attack, probe or overload this site. Don't suggest that we endorse you, your work or your products.

The map features rely on free public services with limited capacity, so use them the way a person making drawings would:

• don't use Plotcaster to collect map data, map tiles or elevation data in bulk, for example by scripting the tool or stepping across many areas;
• don't use it as a back end for another app or service;
• follow each service's own usage policy (section 7).

5. Machine safety

The tool makes files that drive physical machines. You are responsible for checking every file before it runs, for setting up and operating your plotter, laser, cutter or other equipment safely, and for any damage to equipment, materials, property or people. Plot times and path estimates are approximate.

6. Map data and credit

Roads, paths, buildings, rail and water come from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the Open Database License (ODbL). The Map style's contour lines, and the Ridgelines style, use elevation from Mapzen Terrain Tiles on AWS, which combine public elevation data such as SRTM, NED, EU-DEM and ETOPO1.

The drawing is yours, but the data licences ask for credit when you use a map drawing publicly: when you publish, exhibit, sell or give away a print, a file or a product made from one. The tool adds credits where it can:

• an SVG carries the credits for the data it shows: "© OpenStreetMap contributors (openstreetmap.org/copyright)" for roads, paths, buildings, rail and water, and "Elevation: Mapzen Terrain Tiles on AWS (SRTM, NED, EU-DEM, ETOPO1 and others)" for contour lines or ridgelines;
• a PNG from the tool doesn't carry them, so add them wherever you share it;
• Map and Ridgelines can plot a short credit line under the map (Credit line, on by default).

OpenStreetMap's attribution guidelines ask that a print carries the credit where credits normally go (beside the map, in a footnote or in the acknowledgements), with the address openstreetmap.org/copyright printed out. The plotted credit line doesn't include that address, so add it beside the print, in the caption or in the listing. On a physical product, put the credit on the packaging, at the point of sale and, where you can, on the item itself.

The elevation credit the tool writes is a short form. If your drawing has contour lines or ridgelines, also add the credits that the Terrain Tiles attribution list gives for the sources covering your area.

If you change or build on the map data itself and share the result, the ODbL lets you share it only under the same licence. For the full terms see openstreetmap.org/copyright and the attribution guidelines.

7. Other services

Place search (Photon, run by komoot), map data (the Overpass API at overpass-api.de, run by FOSSGIS, or at maps.mail.ru, run by VK, when the first is busy), the background map while you pick an area (the OpenStreetMap Foundation's tile servers) and elevation (Mapzen Terrain Tiles on Amazon Web Services) are free services run by others. They can be slow, limited or unavailable, and their own terms and usage policies apply to your use of them through Plotcaster. The privacy policy lists what each one receives.

8. Sample photos

The sample photos are credited in the editor. Tabby cat, Spiral staircase and Matryoshka dolls are public domain under CC0, from Wikimedia Commons. Lion, Peacock feather, Dandelion, Mountain peak and Roman bust are under the Unsplash License.

• CC0: you can copy, change and use the photo, and drawings made from it, for any purpose, including commercially, without asking. Don't suggest that the photographer endorses your work.
• Unsplash License: you can use the photo, and drawings made from it, for free, including commercially, without asking. It doesn't allow selling a photo without significant changes, or collecting Unsplash photos to build a similar or competing service.

Whether a drawing counts as a significant change is for you to judge. If you plan to sell work made from an Unsplash sample, read the licence first, or use your own photo.

9. Site content

The site's text, design, pictures and code are ours unless stated otherwise; open-source parts keep their own licences. You're welcome to share links and screenshots, but don't copy the site itself. The files in the free SVG library have their own, more generous terms: see the licence for the free SVG files.

The Draw style runs a drawing model from Informative Drawings by Caroline Chan, Frédo Durand and Phillip Isola (2022), under the MIT License, with onnxruntime-web by Microsoft, also under the MIT License. Their notices are in this licence file.

10. Copyright complaints

If you believe something on this site infringes your copyright, email [email protected] or write to Click Clack Labs LLC, 418 Broadway, Ste R, Albany, NY 12207, with:

• your name, postal address, phone number and email address;
• the copyrighted work you believe is infringed;
• the material on this site you believe infringes it, with its address on the site;
• a statement that you believe in good faith that the use isn't authorised by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;
• a statement that the information in your notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the copyright owner or authorised to act for them;
• your physical or electronic signature.

Plotcaster never receives the photos you use or the files you make, so we can only act on material this site itself publishes.

11. No warranty

Plotcaster is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We don't promise that the service will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that any output will meet your expectations. Map and elevation data can be incomplete or out of date.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Click Clack Labs LLC is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, profit, materials or equipment, arising from your use of the service. Where liability can't be excluded, it is limited to the amount you paid us to use Plotcaster, which is nothing. Nothing in these terms limits any liability that the law doesn't allow to be limited.

13. Changes

We may change or stop the service, or update these terms, at any time. When the terms change, the effective date at the top changes with them. If you keep using Plotcaster after a change, the new terms apply.

14. Contact

Click Clack Labs LLC · 418 Broadway, Ste R, Albany, NY 12207 · [email protected]