[Osmf-talk] ArcGIS Online & OSM

[Tom Hughes]

On 05/05/10 15:51, Kate Chapman wrote:

> I think that the tile usage policy is a bit unclear though.  Meaning
> it does not say "download x number of tiles" and you will be blocked.
> If I talk to ESRI and point them at it is it clear whether or not they
> can use the tiles in the way that they are?

Total number of tiles is rarely the issue - the rate of access is much 
more important.

So saying 5000 per day doesn't help as that covers both the person that 
downloads 5000 between 0000 and 0001 each day and then does nothing for 
the rest of the day and the person that downloads one every 20s or so 
all day.

The real answer is that the usage policy is "don't do anything which 
causes service to degrade and us to come looking for the cause" and 
everything else is just an attempt to provide some sort of guidance as 
to what pattern of usage is unlikely to cause a problem.

> There are NGOs using OSM data with some of these apps in the field,
> when they go down it makes us look terrible.  I realize that
> humanitarian uses is not the only use for OSM, but in reality is
> becoming a frequent use of OSM.

Only ONE application has ever been served that special abuse tile as far 
as I am aware. That was an application (well actually a library that was 
mostly used by one application) that quite deliberately chose to ignore 
the usage policy and was actively obstructive when we attempted to 
contact them.

Tom

-- 
Tom Hughes (tom at compton.nu)
http://compton.nu/