[Imports] Import request - Piemonte and Torino

Paul Norman penorman at mac.com
Wed Dec 5 22:51:39 GMT 2012


> From: Mayeul Kauffmann [mailto:mayeul.kauffmann at free.fr]
> Subject: Re: [Imports] Import request - Piemonte and Torino
> 
> Hi,
> CC-BY license says that users need to follow the specific way in which
> the right holder asks to do the attribution. I am aware of a large
> Piedmonte database under CC-BY which specifically requires attribution
> ON THE MAP ITSELF (i.e. on the derived map), something OSM does not
> comply with.

CC BY 3.0 requires that the notices be "reasonable to the medium." OSM provides attribution via a listing on http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contributors. For major contributions there's a listing on osm.org/copyright but there are a total of under 10 of these listed world-wide. This method has its flaws, but it's what we have for now.

If the rights holder considers this to be reasonable to the medium then the data is fine.  Absent any kind of statement, it becomes a question of what is reasonable to the medium. If you look at commercial map providers it is conventional for desktop maps to have attribution in the bottom-right corner stating the data sources used in the area. For example MapQuest "(C) MapQuest - Portions (C)2012 NAVTEQ" near my home but "(C) MapQuest - Portions (C)2012 'Map data (C) OpenStreetMap and contributors, ODbL.'" Similar functionality is found in Bing imagery and Google imagery.

The problem is OSM cannot guarantee this kind of attribution we currently have no technical means of producing it. Without a court case we're not likely to get an conclusive answer. Because no one wants a court case practice is to not use CC BY data where the rights holder considers listing on a wiki page insufficient.

If you ask the rights holder and explain that this is the only reasonable attribution for a collaborative map and it is regarded as sufficient by national mapping agencies or national governments in Australia, Canada, Chile, Austria, Denmark, France, Switzerland, UK, Israel, New Zealand, etc you are likely to get a positive response. It might also help to give examples from your region.

When asking for permissions from governments it is often hugely helpful to explain how other governments have granted the same permissions or given the same interpretations. When you can point a two page listing of the agencies who are on the wiki page and satisfied with it makes them a lot more inclined to say yes.




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