On 21 November 2010 13:18, Andrew Laughton <laughton.and...@gmail.com>wrote:
> In my opinion OSM will never recover to the same point that it is at today > if data is removed for the simple reason that most, if not all government > data will need to be removed, and there is no way that private mappers can > replace this as there are no physical markings on the ground, or water as > the case may be. > Much of this government data is of a kind that it can just be merged with the user-created OSM data, and doesn't need to be imported into the OSM database to have value. Arguably some of this data is actually better being outside of OSM to start with - as if there is no physical markings on the ground, then users can't modify it on any valid basis. If mappers can't usefully modify it, then why is it in OSM? > I am also kind of surprised at the attitude by some that seem to relish the > removal of data from OSM. There is no advantage to changing the license, > irrepearable damage if the license is changed. > Well, there are at least perceived advantages. I think it is hard to assume bad faith of *all* those involved and supporting the licence change. It is unfortunate that this changes probably have the least benefit in a country like Australia with no database right and strong copyright protection, simultaneously with having the most data impact. > People might remap areas for a different license, which on the face of it > is very petty, or they may simply add to data for a different mapping > project, which is inherently better due to extra data. > It is hard to believe that those red cities and towns are created entirely from data that can't be relicenced. I understand people are angry with the process, and people may choose to follow a fork. That is the nature of a community project. I would hope that if the licence change does take place, that regardless of whether people support a fork, leave the project, or elect to stay with the current OSM that they agree to re-licence their own data if they are able to. Play tough, sure - argue the best case, but at the end of the day I hope people don't choose to take their bat and ball. Ian.
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