[Osmf-talk] ArcGIS Online & OSM

[sotm at livingwithdragons.com]

I understand the system used is:
If a sysadmin notices a high peak in server load/traffic, they 
investigate the cause.
If it is a 3rd party app/website then they will contact the 
developer(s)/owner(s) and ask that they sort something out. The system 
admins are(can be) friendly people and I'm sure they would point to 
relevant wiki pages if needed, or even a hire-able OSM 
Consultant/Developer(it was mentioned freelance, but companies are just 
as good).
But if the 3rd party doesn't reply within a reasonable time(and that is 
based on monitoring of the OSM servers are coping) then the website/app 
will be blocked until further notice and their users will see bad tiles.

It's good the bad tiles say contact us rather than the developer because 
we couldn't contact the developer, and we can point them to a 
replacement app that is stil maintained.

One of the early e-mails in this thread mentioned rumors of OSM and ESRI 
having an agreement. It's very hard (I would say impossible due to some 
conflicting contributors) to have an agreement with "OSM". You could 
have an agreement with the OSM Foundation, but that exists to protect 
(and serve?) OSM and is not OSM. ESRI might have an agreement, or 
discussions with some OSM fan to serve tiles from their own server, 
bypassing all these problems.

Finally, the OSM(F) Servers aren't seeing a heavy load yet. But my inbox 
is. I don't think thiss has to be discussed on the foundation mailing 
list and I would suggest moving it to talk or professional mailing lists 
(which I manage at a barge pole's distance from me). The foundation list 
is supposed to be low-traffic and used for important issues such as if 
we need to run a vote on what colour the OSMF board room should be painted.

Gregory Marler
http://www.livingwithdragons.com

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?
>
> 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.
>
> -Kate
> user:wonderchook
>
>
> On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 7:30 AM, Richard Fairhurst <richard at systemed.net> wrote:
>   
>> Andrew Turner wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> The current situation of showing a *User* that "You've been blocked,
>>> ask on IRC" is detrimental to the project. So a better arrangement and
>>> understanding needs to be conveyed. The wiki page on policy reads
>>> clearly, but never explains why the Unauthorised message would appear.
>>> Just hoping that with the many companies using the system there is
>>> expectation management all around.
>>>       
>> The tile is there as a last resort. If the app provider follows the
>> tile usage policy, it should never appear. It's there in case the app
>> provider decides wilfully to ignore the policy, despite
>> representations from OSM sysadmins - which has actually happened. In
>> that case, our only route is via the end-users.
>>
>> I believe there are also technological restrictions in place against
>> abuse which are, for fairly obvious reasons, not documented. ;)
>>
>> I agree that, on a broad level, OSM's communications with (and
>> expectations of) the corporate world could perhaps be improved. It
>> would be interesting to hear opinions on this, especially at the SOTM
>> business day, and whether OSMF should take a lead.
>>
>> cheers
>> Richard
>>
>>
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>>     
>
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