[OSM-talk] License plan

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

OJ W wrote:
> Currently OSM surveyors do their thing in the understanding that
> cartographers will turn the result into something nice that they can
> use (and the surveyors know that they will benefit from this due to
> the map images being sharealike)

This is your assumption, not mine; I have never mapped anything thinking 
"hey, maybe someone else is going to make a nice map from this that I 
can then use". Not one single time. I don't know if that makes me an 
exception. Most people I talked to were enthusiastic about the data 
being collected, and were talking about cool things *they* could do with 
the data, but I might be moving in the wrong circles ;-)

> If the cartographers then devise a new license that says "my
> contributions are more important than yours, I should get exclusive
> rights over my additions to the map with a paintbrush while you
> shouldn't get exclusive rights over your additions to the map with a
> GPS" 

I don't like "more important".

I think that the designer is actually doing something *less* important 
in the grand scheme of things. (His work might make up 90% of the work 
that goes into his particular product, but for us, it is negligible.) 
The surveyors are directly working towards the declared aim of this 
project; creating a free world map. Everything a surveyor does (well 
unless he's malicious or extremely stupid) will further this goal; his 
work is important to us.

The cartographer goes off on a tangent; he does not help us in reaching 
the goal of a free world map; he is a *user* of the free world map and 
not a *creator*. It is nice if he makes his work available because it 
allows us to show off what can be done with our data (although if he at 
least attributes us that's also a good thing). But him releasing his 
work does not contribute to the free world map; or, turned the other way 
round, him keeping his work for himself does not slow us down in any way 
(because what would we do with his painted maps? trace our data off them?).

It all boils down to ideology. Forcing the cartographer to release his 
work means that we're not only about the free world map but also about 
free map images, free art installations, free t-shirt designs, free 
computer games, and so on. Concentrating on the data and ignoring the 
other stuff means, well, concentrating on the free world map.

I am a great believer in the principal goodness of men, and I sure would 
encourage everyone who takes anything from OSM, be it data, or just 
inspiration, to catch the spirit and give cool things away as well. But 
trying to *force* people to do so will, I believe, create unnecessary 
problems and friction and unease (witness inability to use CGIAR data by 
OpenCycleMap for example) and just make things worse for everyone.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"