OpenStreetMap licence?

OpenStreetMap licence?

Posted Nov 26, 2010 12:45 UTC (Fri) by epa (subscriber, #39769)
In reply to: OpenStreetMap licence? by kleptog
Parent article: Microsoft helping OpenStreetMap

Pretending it isn't copyrightable is right up there with pretending the world == America.

I completely agree with this and it is the point I was trying to make. Much of the justification for dropping CC-BY-SA in favour of the more complex ODbL is the assertion that 'copyright doesn't apply' for some reason. This is simply false.

I don't believe that listing the names of all contributors is necessary even under the strictest interpretation; it's not like the BSD advertising clause where there is some fixed text specified by the licence. You are right that a CC licence is quite restrictive in some cases, preventing a map from being included as part of a larger work unless that work is also CC-licensed. This is a good argument for offering a more liberal licence as an alternative. It does not argue for revoking CC-BY-SA permission altogether.

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