[OSM-talk] OpenMaps App Blocked By OpenStreetMap

[John F. Eldredge]

"ce-test, qualified testing bv - Gert Gremmen" <g.gremmen at cetest.nl> wrote:

> I am a user of your product, and I think you made a nice
> product. I also think that now your product is mature (250000+),
> it's time for you to supply your own tiles to your users.
> Not only would that allow a better service to us, but also
> makes it possible for us to download all zoom levels
> and to create a better map, as you may render more
> then one view on the world. (cycles, walking, skiing hills etc)
> 
> OSM provides free map data but:
> Free data is one, but free tile access is something else.
> 
> The download feature of openmaps is a paid extension to
> openmaps. 
> With the money it earns it may be easy to setup 
> your own servers...
> 
> A bit of negotiations with the community might even 
> lead to mutual load sharing, a win-win for all of us.
> 
> 
> 
> (Also Openmaps is not an editor, but merely a map viewer.
> For us to use it as an editor an additional fee
> needs to be paid.  I think that is strange.)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Gert Gremmen
> -----------------------------------------------------
> 
> Openstreetmap.nl  (alias: cetest)
>  Before printing, think about the environment. 
> 
> 
> 
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: Zsombor Szabó [mailto:zsombor at gmail.com] 
> Verzonden: Saturday, October 08, 2011 2:40 PM
> Aan: OSM Talk
> Onderwerp: [OSM-talk] OpenMaps App Blocked By OpenStreetMap
> 
> Dear OSMers,
> 
> we, the developers of OpenMaps, wrote a blog post about OpenMaps
> getting blocked by OpenStreetMap Mapnik tile servers:
> http://blog.izeize.com/2011/10/openmaps-app-blocked-by-openstreetmap.html
> 
> For convenience I pasted the whole text of the blog post below:
> 
> Earlier this week it came to my attention that OpenMaps' access was
> blocked to the OpenStreetMap "Mapnik" tile servers.
> 
> We suspect that the reason why it was blocked is a tool named the
> Download tool. The Download tool enables users to download an area of
> a map from a given map tile server, even custom ones. Users were using
> this tool to download map tiles from the OpenStreetMap "Mapnik" tile
> servers and with this behavior they were violating the tile usage
> policy of OpenStreetMap.
> 
> We are very sorry for causing such a problem for the OpenStreetMap
> project. To our defense, the tile usage policy wasn't available when
> we first introduced the Download tool in OpenMaps.
> 
> Today we submitted an updated version (v4.5.4) of OpenMaps to the App
> Store and are waiting for approval from Apple. The following
> modifications were made to the app:
> - Download tool is still present with a clear discouraging message
> that it should not be used in abusive behavior.
> - Maximum of 2 download threads.
> - Download disabled for 17, 18 and 19 zoom levels.
> - User agent of non-bulk downloading of map tiles was changed to
> "Op3nMaps(Not.Bulk.Download)/x CFNetwork/x Darwin/x" while the user
> agent for bulk downloading remains unmodified (OpenMaps/x CFNetwork/x
> Darwin/x).
> 
> This way browsing and bulk downloading users can clearly be identified
> on the server side and throttled or banned if necessary.
> 
> This is our short term solution for the problem, but the long term
> solution is clearly a vector based renderer. I previously alluded that
> it is coming on my twitter profile.
> 
> About OpenMaps:
> OpenMaps is a powerful iOS app based on maps and web services around
> OpenStreetMap. To date it was downloaded more than 250.000 times and
> as of 2011.09.07 it is the 7th most popular OSM editor.
> 
> 
> Best regards,
> Zsombor Szabo
> IZE, Ltd.
> http://izeize.com
> 
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There are multiple sites that render map tiles based upon the OpenStreetMap database.  Since these different renderers serve different purposes, they don't all render the same subset of data.  Having a single official set of tiles, rather than different sets for different purposes, would reduce the usefulness of the data.

-- 
John F. Eldredge -- john at jfeldredge.com
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria