USGS EarthExplorer

public-domain commercial OK Credit: Not required verified 78d ago Go to source

Official USGS/EROS portal for Landsat, SRTM, and other Earth archives. USGS-authored scientific content is U.S. public domain — strong source for SRTM/3DEP-style heightmaps and satellite textures. Expect GIS reprojection/downsample before runtime use.

At a glance

Licence: public-domain what it means
Commercial use: commercial OK
Credit: Not required
Status: active: Licence spot-checked at the source; the entry carries dated evidence.
Verified: 2026-08-24 (78d ago)
Formats: GeoTIFF, DEM, various

Go to source

Link to this entry

Markdown:

[![Licence read by Free Game Dev Assets](https://tmhsdigital.github.io/Free-Game-Dev-Assets/badge/usgs-earth-explorer.svg)](https://tmhsdigital.github.io/Free-Game-Dev-Assets/entry/usgs-earth-explorer/)

HTML:

<a href="https://tmhsdigital.github.io/Free-Game-Dev-Assets/entry/usgs-earth-explorer/"><img src="https://tmhsdigital.github.io/Free-Game-Dev-Assets/badge/usgs-earth-explorer.svg" alt="Licence read by Free Game Dev Assets" /></a>

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Notes

Free account may be required for downloads. Portal had scheduled maintenance notices in Jul 2026.
Third-party / copyrighted embeds on USGS pages are marked separately — those need permission; do not assume every EarthExplorer hit is PD.
SRTM 1″ media on USGS is explicitly labeled Public Domain. For reprocessed global DEMs prefer NASADEM (LP DAAC).

Evidence

Live USGS Copyrights and Credits (2026-08-24): USGS information/products “are considered to be in the U.S. Public Domain” (with noted exceptions for third-party material).
Live EROS SRTM page / media: “Sources/Usage: Public Domain.” (SRTM product page returned 403 on 2026-08-24; copyrights page is the grant used.)

USGS EarthExplorer

At a glance

Notes

Evidence

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