Trust and transparency
Every water level, every distance and every name on this site has a source you can check. Here I show what I take from where, and under which licence.
Stan Wody is built on open data – Polish and European – together with official measurements published live. I rely on sources that are free, non-commercial and well established: they give independence from closed providers and let me say openly where every piece of information comes from. Data that I process, I keep on my own servers, so the map works even when a source happens to be unavailable.
Below: what I take from which sources.
Levels, flows and water temperature come from IMGW-PIB (the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management) – from the public API and from IMGW's hydrological service. The readings are updated on an ongoing basis and are indicative only; the final decision to set off is always yours.
© IMGW-PIBThe network of waters, the lakes and the facilities start with OpenStreetMap, and I supplement and verify them with the official BDOT10k topography from GUGiK (including the course and widths of channels). This combination gives a fuller and more accurate network than either source on its own.
OpenStreetMap (ODbL) · BDOT10k / GUGiKOn the map you can turn on a photographic base layer. The sharp aerial imagery of the whole of Poland is the GUGiK orthophotomap (Geoportal), and the backdrop beyond the country's borders is filled in with Sentinel-2 satellite imagery (the European Copernicus / ESA programme, the cloudless EOX mosaic). Both sources are open and free.
Orthophoto © GUGiK · Sentinel-2 cloudless (EOX) / Copernicus (ESA)Names of locks, weirs and dams, along with links to the encyclopaedia, I pull from Wikipedia and Wikidata – so that on the map, instead of "feature from OpenStreetMap", you see for example "Guzianka Lock" with a link to its description.
Wikidata (CC0) · Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)The photographs come from Wikimedia Commons and CC0 services (StockSnap, rawpixel), exclusively under free licences or in the public domain. For every photo I credit the author, the licence and the source.
Wikimedia Commons – licences given with each photoI pull the forecast for temperature, wind and precipitation from Open-Meteo – wind matters especially on large, open lakes. You can see it for a route you've plotted on the map.
Open-Meteo – CC BY 4.0Sign-in is handled by Supabase. Account data and content are stored in Cloudflare D1 – this database runs in the European Union. Photos go to Cloudflare R2.
Supabase · CloudflareI confirm facts in the sources. Distances, portages, rental places, nature and history are based on the materials I cite above. If I'm not sure of something, I check it or say plainly that I don't know.
I write plainly about risk. The presence of water on the map doesn't mean you can, or should, paddle there. For routes and obstacles I flag what to watch out for – weirs, portages, waves on lakes in the wind, sections for the experienced.
Data can go out of date. Community and official maps change – new landings appear, others vanish. I plan regular data refreshes and a way for people who know the water first-hand to report corrections.
I collect statistics anonymously and in aggregate. What interests me is which routes are read most often and what turns out to be useful – not who specifically is visiting.
By default I don't use cookies and don't collect personal data – to read the texts, browse the map and check water levels, you don't need to log in or provide anything. An account is entirely optional.
An account requires an email address – that's where the sign-in link is sent, so there's no password here to be stolen. Beyond that, an account only holds what you save yourself: trips, favourite routes and a profile. Favourites are for your eyes only. Trips, posts and profile are visible to other logged-in members – just as you see their entries. The community is closed: without an account you don't see it at all.
I don't profile anyone and I don't sell this data to anyone – and I don't intend to. You can delete your account at any time, along with everything on it.
I respect the "Do Not Track" setting. If your browser has the do-not-track request switched on, I don't count your visit at all. Newsletter sign-up is voluntary and requires confirmation.
A free Polish mapping service based on OpenStreetMap. Beyond a road map it offers an orthophotomap, topographic maps and a 3D view, hydrological data and flood risk, a weather forecast and air quality.
streetmap.pl – data including OpenStreetMap and GUGiK