[OSM-talk] License plan

[Tobias Knerr]

Gustav Foseid wrote:
>> This could potentially alienate anyone who wonders why they are doing
>> surveying for free so that cartographers can sell all-rights-reserved
>> map images based on their data.
> 
> It could, potentially, even if I agree with Richard. I think it is important
> to explain why this change is to the better in the majority of the cases.
> [...]
> With the ODbL, the image of the map does not have to be free, but the data
> have to be shared. This means that the design elements are proprietary, but
> the data are easily available.

I agree. However, judging from some feedback on the German forums (where
I have explained exactly this situation), it seems that some users are
not going to accept the possibility of creating produced works under
non-free licenses, pointing out that the added value might not even be
because of a change to the data, but the (unpublished) tools creating
the images, thus nothing of use would be contributed back to the "free
world" with ODbL.

I don't think explaining that data is more useful for us than images
will help (I've already tried that), because that won't stop them from
demanding both.

Tobias Knerr