Introduction

By using this Atlas website and the Content available on and through it, you are agreeing to be bound by these Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. The Terms of Use form a legally binding agreement between you and the Atlas.

Content that you access through the Atlas website may also be subject to specific terms and conditions imposed by a Data Provider (Data Provider Terms). These Data Provider Terms may include certain licences to use the Content, such as Creative Commons licences. The Data Provider Terms form the legally binding agreement between you and the Data Provider. If there is any inconsistency between these Terms of Use and the Data Provider Terms then the Data Provider Terms will prevail, but only to the extent of the inconsistency.

We may make changes to these Terms of Use from time to time as reasonably required, including changes required by law, so please check the Terms of Use each time you visit the Atlas website.

Terminology

The ‘Atlas’ means the Atlas of Living Australia project and in the context of these Terms of Use, the Atlas is the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO – www.csiro.au) as the legal entity representing and responsible for the Atlas project.

You/user – means you as a website user, Content user, or Content provider.

Data Provider – means an individual or organisation that makes Content available on or via the Atlas website.

Atlas website – means the website with the URL www.ala.org.au (or any URL replacing it or containing it within the URL including but not limited to spatial.ala.org.au) and associated web services, internet publishing tools, software, tools etc.

Content – means contributions or content and includes, but is not limited to, multimedia such as videos, sound files, photos, other images, music; textual material such as reviews, annotations, comments, forum and blog postings, information; biodiversity related information such as species names, morphology, taxonomy, behaviour, habitat, annotations, occurrence/sighting data, geospatial/location data, records, metadata; databases, datasets.

Registration

To submit or use Content on the Atlas website or to utilise certain Atlas services or software you may be required to register to establish an account/user profile with the Atlas.

When registering, you must provide a genuine email address and a user name. The Atlas recommends that you register using a nickname or pseudonym as your login name. You must not impersonate another living person or registered user. The Atlas may refuse registration of users whose suggested login names are considered inappropriate (for example, offensive or insensitive) by the Atlas.

You will ensure that any registration information you give to the Atlas is accurate, correct and up to date.

The Atlas will not accept a registration that the Atlas suspects is being made by or on behalf of someone who has been suspended for violation of these Terms of Use.

In some cases, the Atlas may ask you to provide your real name or other identifying or contact details. The circumstances in which the Atlas will collect your personal information and how the Atlas stores and uses such personal information is outlined in the Atlas Privacy Policy.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your password(s). If you become aware of any unauthorised use of your account, you should notify the Atlas immediately on support@ala.org.au.

The Atlas may lock, restrict and/or delete your registration or account if you breach these Terms of Use. If you can establish that you have not breached these Terms of Use, we will re-enable your account. User accounts locked or de-activated for breach of these Terms of Use may also be re-enabled at the discretion of the Atlas director.

Contributing or uploading Content

You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post, display, upload etc on the Atlas website.

Nothing in these Terms of Use restricts you from using your Content elsewhere.

You warrant that you own or created the Content or have the necessary rights, licenses or permissions to make the Content available on the Atlas website.

You will make reasonable efforts to ensure your Content is accurate at the time you made it available on the Atlas website.

At the time of adding your Content you should nominate the type of licence which will apply to your Content and how data users can use it. You can select from a number of options, primarily Creative Commons licences. For more information see  FAQ Licensing or Creative Commons.

When you wish to contribute more detailed or extensive data sets, you should enter into a ALA Data Provider Agreement with the Atlas.

Where you have not identified any specific terms or licences or Data Provider Terms on the use of Content you contribute to the Atlas, then you grant to the Atlas a non-exclusive, worldwide, fee and royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable licence to:

a) reproduce, copy, store, cache, manage, display, publish, distribute, use, reproduce, adapt, modify or make derivatives of the Content including changing the Content into other formats and incorporating the Content into other works or collections;

b) upload the Content to the Atlas and  make available the Content and derivatives in accordance with these ALA Terms of Use and a Creative Commons – Attribution licence or an open source licence with substantially similar terms;

c) provide a copy of the Content to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility; and

d) internal handling by CSIRO and storage on multiple local and international servers (including third party servers) as necessary for the purpose of paragraphs a) to c) above.

In some cases Content may not be subject to copyright protection because copyright has expired or it does not qualify for copyright, eg individual species sightings, ideas, facts, names, styles, titles, slogans. Neither you nor the Atlas will seek to assert any intellectual property rights over this public domain Content. The Atlas and users will be free to use such public domain Content in any way, although attribution where appropriate is appreciated.

The Atlas may decide what Content is published on the Atlas website.

You must not submit Content that:

  • is defamatory, malicious, threatening, offensive, abusive, obscene, or otherwise unlawful or that violates laws regarding harassment, discrimination, racial vilification, privacy or contempt
  • is intentionally false or misleading
  • is an infringement of copyright or other intellectual property rights
  • seeks to promote or endorse commercial products or services or to solicit business
  • deliberately provokes other community members, or are inappropriate, repetitive or off topic
  • compromises your privacy or that of other contributors or that contain inappropriate personal information.

You must not contribute Content to a forum (including posting information or making comments) that compromises sensitive data or confidential information around a particular species or observation.

You should be aware that your Content may remain online indefinitely.

Using the Content

If you use or download Content from the Atlas website you:

  • recognise that it may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights and will respect those rights
  • agree to acknowledge, reference or attribute the relevant Data Provider (using any specific attribution wording they may have provided) in any derived information product, work or publication that is based on the relevant Content
  • will comply with any Data Provider Terms (see below) that the Data Provider may indicate regarding its use, eg personal use only, non-commercial use, not make derivatives etc
  • will not remove any identifier of ownership or terms of use that is associated with the Content or data record
  • respect any restrictions regarding the availability of the data, such as sensitive data.

Your use of Content may also be subject to Data Provider Terms. You must comply with these Data Provider Terms. Where they exist, Data Provider Terms will be available through the metadata with the Content or shown with the Content.

If you want to use Content otherwise than in accordance with the Data Provider Terms, you need the approval or permission of the Data Provider.

A single page on the Atlas website may be made up of many different datasets, each covered by a different licence. You are required to check to see which licence applies to any portion(s) of the page or Content record you wish to use and abide by any restrictions applicable to use of the Content.

You must not try to circumvent the security features of this Atlas website, or tamper with, hack into, or in some other way disrupts any computer system, server,  website, router or other device used to host this website or make it available.

This Atlas website and its Content are protected by copyright law. Copyright in this material resides with the Atlas or various other Data Providers as indicated.

The Atlas has accessed Content from many different sources. All reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that we have properly acknowledged/attributed the source of the Content and obtained the necessary permissions. If however you believe that we have not properly accessed your Content please contact support@ala.org.au and we will address your concerns.

Trade marks referred to on this site may be registered in some jurisdictions.  Where this site refers to any trade marks not owned by CSIRO, CSIRO does not thereby represent that it has an ownership interest in, or a licence to use, any such trade marks. All these trademarks cannot be used without the express written permission of the Atlas or the relevant third party.

Always check the information

Information at this site:

  • is information provided as part of CSIRO’s statutory role in the dissemination of information relating to scientific and technical matters;
  • is not professional, scientific, medical, technical or expert advice;
  • is not financial product advice;
  • is subject to the usual uncertainties of advanced scientific and technical research;
  • may not be accurate, current or complete;
  • is subject to change without notice; and
  • should never be relied on as the basis for doing or failing to do something.

Links to external websites:

  • The Atlas is all about bringing together biodiversity information from a host of sources around Australia and internationally. As such the Atlas provides links to a range of external websites.
  • Links and frames connecting this site with other sites are for convenience only and do not mean that CSIRO endorses or approves those other sites, their content or the people who run them.
  • The Atlas publishes links to external websites at its discretion, and reserves the right to remove user-posted links to external websites.

Linking to the Atlas website:

  • Links to, and frames of, this site are permitted but CSIRO reserves the right to prevent linking or framing by giving notice.
  • Please advise us of any links you make to the Atlas website.

Beware of security risks and computer viruses.

The world wide web exists across insecure, public networks and there is a risk that:

  • Transmissions to or from this site may be intercepted and modified by third parties; and
  • Files obtained from or through this site may contain computer viruses or other defects.

Disclaimer

Having regard to the above permitted uses, warnings and reminder to check the information, you must use your own judgement as to whether the content on this site is relevant and suitable for your intended purposes. As such, and to the extent permitted by law, CSIRO does not accept any liability to any person arising from using this site and/or any information or material on it. 

If you find any inaccurate, out of date or incomplete Content on the Atlas website, or if you suspect that something is an infringement of intellectual property rights, please let us know immediately by contacting support@ala.org.au or the Data Provider of the Content.

Personal information

Our Privacy Policy also forms part of the Atlas Terms of Use and it describes how we use your personal information when you use the Atlas website.

Whenever you give us personal information you are consenting to its collection and use in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

As a user of the Atlas website you must not use any personal information made available to you on this Atlas website for any purpose other than:

  • in the case of an individual who made a particular record, eg sighting/observation data, to verify the details of that record and/or to acknowledge them as the relevant creator, and
  • in the case of an individual administering a dataset, to contact them directly to request greater access, further information and/or support.

Email addresses on the Atlas website

The presence of email addresses on the Atlas website does not infer consent to send unsolicited commercial electronic messages (email) to those addresses.

General

These Terms of Use are governed by the law applicable to the Australian Capital Territory and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of that Territory.