Hi, Frankie Roberto wrote: > Are there any "terms of use" for either the XML API or the > Mapnik/Osmarender map tiles?
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tile_usage_policy Nothing official, just a draft. > eg if someone wants to embed the our Mapnik tiles on their website (eg > using OpenLayers), can they do so? Does it depend on > commercial/non-commercial? Bandwidth required? Some time last year the OSMF decided that they wanted to scale down and ultimately disallow extra-project accesses to the tile server but they changed their minds. You'll find the topic mentioned in various OSMF board meeting minutes. > Personally, I think that providing a reliable tile server (containing a > well designed map for good all-round use) that anyone can use, so long > as they give appropriate attribution, is something OSM should support > and promote - even if other commercial and non-commercial services > (Cloudmade, etc) are available. Personally I find it excellent that someone who wants reliable heavy duty access (e.g. Wikipedia) sets up their own server to their liking. Why should we try and take their traffic, and anyone else's - what's in it for us? > However I don't know whether this crosses some major ideological > division within the community?? Problem is that you create expectations that are difficult to fulfil by hobbyists with the haphazard setup that we have. If you want a reliable tile server, you need a proper computing centre with fallback hardware and all that, and admins paid for being woken up at 3am if something goes wrong. This costs a lot of money which we would have to acquire and *not* spend for other things like supporting mapping in developing countries. - So, again: Why not let those who want to use the tiles and who require reliability pay for them? Bye Frederik _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
