[Talk-GB] OS OpenData Licence update (WAS: Finding Unmapped public rights of way)

[Rob Nickerson]

Robert W said:
>That being the case, please note that Ordnance Survey have recently stated
that their "OS OpenData licence is not forward compatible with the ODC-By
and ODbL".

Yes, they did, and that quote has gotten them in a lot of trouble. The Open
Government License (of which Ordnance Survey's OpenData licence is based)
was intended to allow fair and open re-use of public sector data. As you
are well aware Ordnance Survey added some text above the standard OGL that
played havoc with this. I have been working to raise this at the Open Data
User Group- a government funded group that reports into the governments
Data Strategy Board - and OS's quote was the trigger for action:


== Updated Open Government Licence ==
Version 2 of the OGL now makes it perfectly clear that OGL is compatible
with our licence:

"This means that when the Information is adapted and licensed under either
of those licences, you automatically satisfy the conditions of the OGL when
you comply with the other licence. The OGLv2.0 is Open Definition
compliant."

http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/2/


== ODUG's report on OS licensing ==
A quote from the report makes it pretty clear what they want:

"Ordnance Survey receives £20m of annual funding from government to release
OS OpenData under the Open Government Licence. Government intends this
funding to foster business use of OS data to fuel economic growth. However,
Ordnance Survey licensing restrictions limit the downstream use of OS
OpenData which contradicts the government’s intention."

http://data.gov.uk/sites/default/files/20130717%20OS%20Open%20Data%20Licensing.pdf

And on PROW data:
http://data.gov.uk/sites/default/files/20130717%20Public%20Rights%20of%20Way.pdf


== ODUG's latest Minutes ==
A couple more quotes:

"Ordnance Survey applies additional licensing restrictions to the OS Open
Data licence. This restricts the competitive landscape in which they
operate with partners and prohibits open re-use of the data. ODUG members
believe that OS should have an obligation to release their open data, which
is publicly funded, to be consistent with the terms of the Open Government
Licence. Following publication of the OS Benefits case it was agreed that
the ODUG should make a case to BIS and the Cabinet Office Transparency
Board for OS to accept the recommendations in the case."

"OS are also claiming that any data regarded as an interpretation of raw
data is exempt from FOI requests. The effect would be to block access to
public information data sets which have a geographical component of OS
derived data. ODUG does not accept this position, and agreed to work on
test cases to demonstrate the impact of this."

http://data.gov.uk/sites/default/files/minutes%2019th%20july%20final%20version.pdf



Bottom line = Feel free to use OS OpenData for OSM mapping :-D

Rob
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