BIM360 API and licensing

[OrlyB_Symetri]

"Our Data Engineer is working on pulling some data out of our projects using Forge API. Does he need to take up a project license in order to access model data?"

[OrlyB_Symetri]

Hello, its been about two weeks now and no responses. Any replies are much appreciated! Thank you!

[mikako_harada]

It depends on the type of data and APIs you are interested in.  Currently there are some mixture in the ways we can access BIM 360 components by API.  There are 2-legged and 3-legged access.  The former does not requires user context as it is intended to be used as a company level integration like with ERP system; while the latter requires user context to access as a user.  If you are using Admin API, currently Admin API only has 2-legged (except recently added GET Project Users endpoint),  so no user context, or does not need to be a member.  If you are using Issues, RFI, Cost, and Model Coordination, they only supports 3-legged, so the user using API will need to be a member of the project.  Document Management supports both 2-legged and 3-legged. 
For more info. :   
https://forge.autodesk.com/developer/documentation
https://fieldofviewblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/bim-360-and-forge-overview/
https://fieldofviewblog.wordpress.com/forge/