[Openstreetmap] The bigger picture

[Richard Fairhurst]

Quoting Tom Carden <tom at tom-carden.co.uk>:

> I don't think that's what CC-SA means.  I think it means that I can
> sell things if I want to, so long as *reuse* is permitted as it was
> for the original dataset.  In other words, if I produce a derivative
> of a CC-SA licensed work, I am obliged to distribute my work under
> that same license.  Doesn't stop me selling it, it just means I have
> to let other people produce derivatives of my work.

But that's the problem, isn't it?

If we produce a lovely colourful map of the UK, with motorways (from 
OSM), hill
shading (from SRTM), built-up areas (from DCW/VMAP0) and all, we have to
licence it under CC-SA. We can sell it, true, but the first person who buys it
will just post it up on their FTP space for free download, and then we're no
further along the way of funding OSM.

To my mind, this is an unintended consequence of CC-SA as applied to 
OSM. OSM is
about geodata - not cartography, not websites, not books, not anywhere 
else you
might want to place a "map". But CC's ShareAlike doesn't differentiate.

I would (personally) be happier with a modified ShareAlike where the CC clause
is replaced with something like this:

"Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this geodata, you must
release the resulting geodata under a licence identical to this one."

cheers
Richard