[Openstreetmap] Re: update

[Andy Robinson]

Petter Reinholdtsen wrote:
>Sent: 10 February 2006 14:03
>To: openstreetmap at vr.ucl.ac.uk
>Subject: [Openstreetmap] Re: update
>
>
>[Andy Robinson]
>> The only way to generate revenue as the volume of data grows is in
>> some way to charge for the volume extracted.
>
>I'm not sure if this is one of your assumptions, but I believe this
>statement is incorrect.  There are several other ways to generate
>revenue.  One example is sponsoring as you too mention, another is to
>sell spin-off products, a third is to provide the data in one format
>for free and let those wanting a customized format to pay to have it
>generated.  My point is that there are _several_ ways to generate
>revenue.

Sorry, I was too flippant in simplifying the funding options.

Sponsorship: Absolutely, sponsorship would be a great way to fund the
project. What I doubt though is that there is a big sugar daddy out there
who is prepared to take the project on as a whole without something in
return. We should though seek out sponsorship and grant opportunities,
especially for the community and social benefits that OSM strives towards.

Spin-off Products: I think this is probably the best way to raise funds,
especially in the short term, however if OSM simply does what others can do
with free OSM data then why would they necessarily buy from OSM, especially
if an unconnected commercial venture has the capital available to develop a
better output product than OSM can. Would we not want to protect this
potential revenue stream in some way?

Free and paid for services: If you mean ultimately a Google-ish like model
of a basic free map and with premium services then would OSM be any
different than Google say in what it actually offers. I think there will
always be others out there who can find better uses for the OSM database
than OSM itself can. Just look at what's happening with the Google API's.
What would be possible even now with Google's API's if free OSM data
replaced the Teleatlas etc base data. Enhanced layers are all well and good
provided they are sufficiently interesting for people to pay for them, and
sadly I suspect that others might be able to do a better job of this than
OSM itself can (commercial or non-commercial).


>I want the OSM data to be free as in speech, and free as defined in
>the Debian Free Software Guidelines.  I want the OSM data to be free
>for both commercial and private use, because I believe that is the way
>we can have the largest effect on the society.  I want OSM and free
>map data to help as many as possible to realize the advantages of
>maps, and excluding commercial users is limiting our effect on
>society. :)
>

It really would be great to have this sort of impact on the global
community. Alas though it needs to fund itself to realize the dream so I
think some compromises are inevitable.

I'm enjoying the discussion :)

>
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Andy

Andy Robinson
Andy_J_Robinson at blueyonder.co.uk