OpenStreetMap contemplates licensing

Standards for copyrightability vary around the world. The UK is generally believed to admit copyrights for stuff the US won't. Under US law, a copy of a PD painting, no matter how skillful, laborious or judgement-requiring, does not permit of a new copyright. Likewise, a phonebook doesn't get a copyright, nor does the listing of cable companies. Only creative works get a copyright; and the whole point behind something like this is not a new creative work, it's a recording of the physical facts of the world in a mechanical manner.