[OSM-talk] Implications of using aggregated/statistical data from both licenses (ODbL and CC-by-SA) for OSMdoc?

[Lars Francke]

I've just listened to the podcast, I've read a lot of the mails on the
mailing lists in the last few days, I've read quite a few discussions
about it on IRC, the proposal document, parts of the license, the
human readable form of the license and a lot of the Wiki pages.

The more I read the less I know. So I'd like to take the LWG up on the
offer (the one I just heard in the Podcast) and ask what the
implications would be for me as the developer of OSMdoc if OSM were to
switch to ODbL (I'm assuming that at least parts of the OSM data would
have to be made unavailable from the ODbL dataset after the switch).

At the moment I'm displaying statistical data about a snapshot of the
OSM data. If it'd stay that way it would be very easy for me to switch
from one license to the other as the data wouldn't depend on data from
the CC by-SA set. But I'm currently rewriting the tool to account for
historical statistics. One example would be a feature that has been
requested quite often: How many users have used a tag. This means I
have to incorporate the history of all elements into my numbers. I
wouldn't want to lose the data if we switch but the number is clearly
derived from both databases (the ODbL database and the CC by-SA dump).
This is only one example. The new version uses historic data all over
the place and I've been working very hard these last few weeks/months
to get this far and to get the data so I wouldn't want to throw
everything "pre ODbL" away as it would alter the meaning of the
statistics.

What would the license change mean for me? What do I have to do to comply?

I don't even know which of these categories I belong to (taken from
the ODbL text):
“Collective Database” – Means this Database in unmodified form as part
of a collection of independent databases in themselves that together
are assembled into a collective whole. A work that constitutes a
Collective Database will not be considered a Derivative Database.
“Produced Work” – a work (such as an image, audiovisual material,
text, or sounds) resulting from using the whole or a Substantial part
of the Contents (via a search or other query) from this Database, a
Derivative Database, or this Database as part of a Collective
Database.
“Derivative Database” – Means a database based upon the Database, and
includes any translation, adaptation, arrangement, modification, or
any other alteration of the Database or of a Substantial part of the
Contents. This includes, but is not limited to, Extracting or
Re-utilising the whole or a Substantial part of the Contents in a new
Database.

1) Collective Database?
What does "modify" mean?
Again from the ODbL: “Database” – A collection of material (the
Contents) arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually
accessible by electronic or other means offered under the terms of
this License.

I don't change any of the content of the database. I just parse the
provided XML and write the content into my own database (but I parse
the timestamp strings to longs, leave out usernames, etc. -
modification?).

2) Produced Work? Certainly. At least I think so....but...I don't
know. I provide a viewable version of the derivative database I
produced and in all probabilty there will be charts/graphs/etc. based
on this database.

3) Derivative Database? I think so.

As a short personal opinion about the license debate I'd like to add
that I've pretty much given up on understanding the license (and its
implications) despite the continued efforts by all those involved.
Please understand that this is not criticism about ODbL, CC by-SA, the
LWG or anyone else involved in this license change. I know that a lot
of people are working hard on this (on the "Yes" and on the "No"
side). But I have the feeling that the "normal" user can't really
understand or follow the details of the discussion anymore. This is
even more true for those of us that don't speak english as a native
language.

I know that mine is probably an uncommon case but I couldn't find
anything on the Use Cases site that deals with the combination of CC
by-SA and ODbL data that'd be applicable to my use case. So any help
or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Lars