[OSM-talk] License plan

[Paul Wagener]

Thank you for your post Frederick!
I've been lurking on this discussion for awhile and you just summed up  
exactly my thoughts on it.

> 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