I love Gary - I think it’s great that OSM is getting to the point that people will write 100 page critiques of it. We must be doing something right. :-)
I actually tried on the single point of contact issue, I think it’d be a great idea for OSM to have a 1-800 (or similar) number. Even manned by volunteers. But at the time, "companies are evil" and all that so it didn’t go anywhere. ODbL critique is the usual thing; people want to take OSM and merge it with other people’s datasets without giving back, perhaps for good reasons. That’s not an ambiguity, it’s the whole point. There are edge cases and complexities like geocoding, but as far as I can see some lawyers can work with it, cautious lawyers tend to make it a big issue. It’s a shame some organizations are trapped by cautious advice like that - I’ve worked in organizations with more positive advice around OSM and it means you can go a lot further. Best Steve > On Apr 30, 2015, at 6:29 PM, Nicholas G Lawrence > <nicholas.g.lawre...@tmr.qld.gov.au> wrote: > > http://geohipster.com/2015/04/27/gary-gale-dear-osm-its-time-to-get-your-finger-out/ > > <http://geohipster.com/2015/04/27/gary-gale-dear-osm-its-time-to-get-your-finger-out/> > > Anyone read this blog piece by Gary Gale? > Is it worth commenting on? > > “To my mind there’s two barriers to greater and more widespread adoption, > both of which can be overcome if there’s sufficient will to overcome them > within the OSM community as a whole. These barriers are, in no particular > order … licensing, and OSM not being seen as (more) conducive to working with > business.” > > 1) Gary criticises OSM for not having a single point of contact for business > to liaise with. > > Exactly why this is necessary is a mystery to me. If business wants to make > use of OSM data, they can download the planet file just like anyone else. If > business wants to contribute data, or donate equipment or sponsor events, > those things are also possible. > > 2) Gary criticises the ODbL for ambiguities in the share-alike clause. > > Maybe this needs clarification, but personally I think the share-alike clause > is a good thing. > > Fundamentally though, Gary seems to be under the impression that OSM has a > driving need to “compete” with other providers of geospatial data, and that > if OSM hasn’t “won the race” then it is failing somehow. Which I think > reveals a vast ignorance of the motivations of the majority of OSM volunteers. > > Anyway, I wondered if anyone else had seen the post. > > Cheers, > Nick > *********************************************************************** > WARNING: This email (including any attachments) may contain legally > privileged, confidential or private information and may be protected by > copyright. You may only use it if you are the person(s) it was > intended to be sent to and if you use it in an authorised way. No one > is allowed to use, review, alter, transmit, disclose, distribute, print > or copy this email without appropriate authority. > > If this email was not intended for you and was sent to you by mistake, > please telephone or email me immediately, destroy any hardcopies of > this email and delete it and any copies of it from your computer > system. Any right which the sender may have under copyright law, and > any legal privilege and confidentiality attached to this email is not > waived or destroyed by that mistake. > > It is your responsibility to ensure that this email does not contain > and is not affected by computer viruses, defects or interference by > third parties or replication problems (including incompatibility with > your computer system). > > Opinions contained in this email do not necessarily reflect the > opinions of the Department of Transport and Main Roads, > or endorsed organisations utilising the same infrastructure. > *********************************************************************** > > > _______________________________________________ > talk mailing list > talk@openstreetmap.org <mailto:talk@openstreetmap.org> > https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk > <https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk>
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