Some smart elements draw themselves from your own values, and some draw on work that belongs to somebody else. The second kind carries a credit. This guide says which elements those are, where the credit shows up, and the part that matters most: it is not on the printed item unless you put it there.
Which elements owe one
City Map and Route Map render real geography from OpenStreetMap, styled through OpenMapTiles. That data is free to use and carries an attribution condition, which is why a credit exists at all.
Travel Map is a map too, but it owes nothing. It draws country shapes from Natural Earth, which is in the public domain, and fetches no map tiles.
The exception is a travel map whose legs follow real roads. That route comes from OpenStreetMap, so the map draws “© OpenStreetMap contributors” in its own corner. Unlike the on-screen credit line described below, that one is part of the map, so it is on the printed item too.
Avatars are the other case, and only some of them. The style sets are licensed individually; the ones under CC BY name their artist, and the maker shows that credit under the style name. The rest need nothing.
Everything else on the list is computed. A star map is worked out from a date, a time and a place. A moon phase, a calendar, a QR code and a barcode are all generated from what you or the shopper typed, so there is nobody to credit.
Where the credit appears
In the Design Studio it sits in a reserved strip below the canvas. It deliberately stays put while you pan and zoom, because it belongs to the workspace rather than to the poster.
In the customizer it appears once beneath the shopper’s preview, for the same reason and in the same words.
The print file is the one that surprises people. The credit is not a layer in your design, so nothing carries it into the render. What comes out is your artwork, at print size, with no credit line on it. See from design to print file.
The race-course note is not a credit
A route map built from a race preset shows Course route derived from OpenStreetMap in the properties panel. That is a note to you about where the course line came from, and about what it is not: a landmark-accurate route rather than a certified course. It is not a credit line, and it is not on the canvas or in the file.
Common questions
Can I hide the credit line in the editor?
No, and there is little reason to. It sits in its own strip below the canvas rather than over your artwork, so it does not cover anything you are working on.
Will my shopper see it?
Yes, once, under the preview in the customizer. It is small and it does not sit on the product image.
Is the credit in the print file?
No. It is not a layer, so nothing draws it into the render. Add a text layer if you need it on the item.
Which avatar styles need crediting?
The ones licensed CC BY. The maker shows the credit under the style name for exactly those; the rest show none.
Do I need a licence of my own to sell map posters?
That depends on the data licence and your market, and it is a question for your own advice rather than for Composerie. What the product does is described above, so you can answer it against the facts.
Next
Read what smart elements are for the whole family, or City Map for the element most affected by this.