[OSM-legal-talk] License question, user clicking on map

[Erik Johansson]

On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 12:16 AM, Olov McKie <olov at mckie.se> wrote:
> I work for a library where we are building a new version of an application to handle all sort of collections, for example books, letters, images, music sheets, etc. The application will store metadata and digitalized versions of the works. To know where an item was created, a letter sent from / to, etc we need to store places and information about them. The information we normally store about a place is name, alternative names, names translated to different languages, etc. A place might be a historic one that no longer exists.

[..]
>  We will not be able to share the complete db under the ODbL as the works have all
>  kinds of licenses that are incompatible with the ODbL.

Hej Olov, this is an interesting project.

You are going to produce some pretty awesome data, spend countless
hours of work, money and publish it for free, and then when the
project is over it will bitrot because of license issues.. This is a
perfect example of where a hardline stance on license will serve you.
Sure there are projects in OSM that can benefit of those historical
names, but I'm saying this for you, don't waste effort unless you know
what will happen to the data.

Go and talk with the nice folks at:
http://www.creativecommons.se/ (in Gothenburg I think)
http://se.wikimedia.org/ (offices in Stockholm so you can probably pop by)


> 1. If we present an OSM map to the user let them click on the map and

OSM doesn't allow to inclusion of data from Google maps that was
entered this way. But lots and lots of people do it e.g. Wikipedia, so
it's up to you, but it's not unproblematic.


> 2. If we use the overpass API to find possible matches for a placename entered by a user,

The question you have to ask is it ok under ToS of Google Maps
"address searching" (geocoding). Well except that part where you are
not allowed to use Google products behind a firewall.


So I do not agree at all with Alex Barth on this, but I've been wrong before.


Lycka till, och ge inte upp!
Erik Johansson