# Sources

Waity reads the wait times that places and their operators publish on their own public websites and feeds, and turns them into one answer for agents. This page explains what kinds of data that is, and how Waity reads and measures it. Waity isn't affiliated with the places it covers, and they don't endorse it.

## Wait times

- **Emergency rooms and urgent care**: Waits that hospitals and health systems post for their ERs and urgent care centers, usually the time until a provider first sees you.
- **Airport security**: Security checkpoint waits that airports post, often as a range.
- **Border crossings**: Waits to enter the US by passenger vehicle, posted for each lane.
- **DMV offices**: Current waits that motor vehicle agencies post for their offices.

## How waits are measured

Every answer says what its number is: a median, an average over recent hours, an estimate or the longest current wait (`now.basis`), what it spans (`now.measures`), when it was posted (`now.measured_at`) and until when it can be used (`now.usable_until`). It says who posted it by kind, such as the hospital or the airport.

Operators measure differently, so Waity compares minutes only within one source. Each wait carries an opaque source id (`now.source.short`): equal ids mean the same publisher and method. A list that mixes sources says so.

## Usual waits

Usual waits and forecasts come from Waity's own history of posted waits and, where that history is still short, from typical waits that operators publish.

## Place details

- **Public datasets**: Lists of places, addresses and coordinates from public government data and the places' own websites.
- **OpenStreetMap contributors**: Some coordinates, under the Open Database License. https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

## How Waity reads

Waity reads only public pages and feeds, at a modest, steady rate, and asks only for what changed when a site supports it. Every request identifies itself as:

```
Waity/1.0 (+https://waity.ai/sources; ops@waity.ai)
```

If you run a site Waity reads and want it to stop, or want a place added, corrected or removed, write to [ops@waity.ai](mailto:ops@waity.ai).

## Using Waity data

Show "Data by Waity" and every attribution line that comes with an answer, as it comes. See the [Terms of Service](https://waity.ai/terms#using-data).