This belongs back on talk with a new header. OSM states that it is a free map, free to edit and free to use Whether the database should contain imported stuff, traced stuff, or only personally surveyed stuff is a very big issue and any intent now to alter the basic rules of inputting should be back on Talk.
On Tue, 28 Sep 2010 13:03:15 +0200 Frederik Ramm <frede...@remote.org> wrote: > Hi, > > Francis Davey wrote: > > My suggestion - which I believe has been/is being chewed over by the > > LWG - is that the CT's make an alternative arrangement for > > contributors who want to contribute material that is licensed under > > some other licence. > > Any future license change would then be constrained to the common > denominator of all these licenses *or* risk repeating all the data > loss whining that we're seeing now. > > The question I am asking myself is: Is the ability to import as much > government data as possible really worth the hassle? And my personal > answer is a clear no; because to me, the value of imported data is > very small, almost neglibile compared to data contributed by members. > > I am not against imports in general; I believe there are some > isolated cases where a government or other dataset has really helped > the project. But I don't see any individual import, or the ability to > import data at all, as crucial for OSM's success. > > I am especially surprised about the mood in the UK community. The UK > is where OSM started because David didn't want to be bossed around by > Goliath any longer; it is this "let's show the OS what a bunch of > hobby mappers can do" attitude that has given OSM much of its energy > in the early days. But today, it seems to me that half of the UK > community is of the opinion that OSM is dead if it cannot use OS > "open" data. If that had been the mood from day one, OSM would never > have started at all. > > I firmly believe that collecting third-party geodata into an user > editable pool is NOT the main purpose of OSM, and even detracts us. > > Thus, I would never accept future liabilities in return for being > allowed to import a third-party data source. > > Bye > Frederik > _______________________________________________ talk mailing list talk@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk