[OSM-legal-talk] moving up the stack

[Tom Chance]

Ahoy,

On Tuesday 06 March 2007 18:31:47 SteveC wrote:
> A few people have put forward the view about companies/individuals
> wanting to make use of the geodata and it being FLOSS, but derived
> cartographic work not so. It seems to me that this is an argument of
> whether OSM is a complete end-to-end solution from GPS tracks to
> finished maps all under one license, or whether it limits itself to
> "just the data, ma'am".
>
> I'd always though that OSM would push people 'up the stack' and in a
> sense this is an example. Instead of worrying about buying data from
> someone, Carl the Cartographer could instead concentrate on the pretty
> map. What I don't understand here, is why should we limit ourselves to
> just one rung up the stack?
>
> The model seems to be, nobody will publish my CC-BY-SA map/atlas, Carl
> the Cartographer needs ownership. Surely if Paul the Publisher won't
> publish it then Eric the Entrepreneur will?

Oh, absolutely. I'm sure there's plenty of potential for entrepreneurs to 
thrive off a share-alike licensed OSM project. It just takes a bit of 
imagination, as happened with free software and more recently with business 
people looking to capitalise on Creative Commons licensing of the arts. We 
spread freedom and innovation beyond our cartography club.

Don't forget government and the "third sector" (UK jargon for charities, NGOs, 
community groups, and anyone else who isn't primarily commercial or 
government) either. Cara the Councillor may be interested in producing maps, 
with her constituents, for planning applications and transport design. Roger 
the Rambler may get his local walking group behind an effort to map and 
photograph their favourite walks.

OSM will undoubtedly make some business models less profitable or even 
redundant. But I don't foresee us having any trouble gathering the data, and 
there are/will be plenty of ways to finance further use whether it's 
producing walking guides or route planning web sites. Cheap and unfettered 
access will also help social/financial entrepreneurs innovate in unexpected 
ways - I have lots of ideas up my sleeve if only I had the time!


If it really seemed like a share-alike license shot OSM in the foot, that it 
prevented the data from being gathered and prevented people from using it in 
interesting ways, I'd be worried. Fortunately I see no such reason to 
worry :-)

Kind regards,
Tom

-- 
The struggle against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting
 - Kundera