[OSM-talk] Will Google ever use OSM data?

Anthony osm at inbox.org
Fri Nov 13 03:06:37 GMT 2009


On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 9:42 PM, John Smith <deltafoxtrot256 at gmail.com> wrote:
> That might be the case if the data is a single image, but if there is
> a base layer plus a data layer then what?

Ultimately it is made into a single image before it is displayed on
the monitor.  The fact that this is done by the client computer is
essentially irrelevant.

>> I'm also under the impression that the ODbL allows this, which would
>> mean they effectively *can* improve on the work without releasing the
>> improvements under a free license, they just have to put the
>> improvements in a separate layer.
>
> Which is probably why they didn't want to touch OSM data since it
> would be the base data and stuff would be added to it, rather than the
> other way round.
>

If the data were ODbL, and ODbL does indeed allow mashups, this is
easily circumvented.  Take the OSM data, delete everything but what
you're interested in (say, outlines of buildings in Grenoble), release
that edited file, and use that as your data layer.




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