On 29/06/11 11:02, James Livingston wrote:
To your point, what happens when someone loads a .osm file into JOSM? First,
I'd claim that a .osm file is a database. Obviously not a relational database
that gets handled by SQL-using software, but still a database. I'd also claim
that the in-memory data structures of JOSM form a database too.
The ODbL saud "Database - A collection of material (the Contents) arranged in a
systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other means
offered under the terms of this License". I think the data structures JOSM uses to
view and edit certainly qualifies.
I agree - I would say any data structures would qualify. No program can
do anything useful without data arranged in a systematic or methodical
way. A hash table or linked list are just as systematic as relational
tables. As you say, ODbL (and the EU database directive) uses the term
much more widely than to mean things you can query with some dialect of SQL.
On 29/06/2011, at 4:25 PM, Frederik Ramm wrote:
If I use software that builds an in-memory data structure which you believe to
be a database in order to make a produced work, how would you suggest that I
fulfil my obligation to make such derived database available on request?
In ODbL you have an obligation to EITHER make the database available, OR
the "method" used to make it - so you could make your software's source
code available on request, if it's yours to do that with - or if it's
open source. That lets JOSM, Mapnik etc off the hook from having to
distribute copies of their internal derived databases.
If it's someone else's proprietary software (as ThomasB suggested), then
you probably can't publish either the source code or the database. So
one interpretation would be that, in that case you simply can't use data
from OSM with that software. (Assuming that the results of the software
are substantially from OSM and that you want to share them.)
However, since ODbL fails to define what it means by "method", you might
take a broader interpretation and tell the requester "my method was to
use software X". I don't know if this would stand up in court, but then
again, I very much doubt that demands for a derived database which has
been deleted would either.
Jonathan
--
Jonathan Harley : Managing Director : SpiffyMap Ltd
Email: [email protected] Phone: 0845 313 8457 www.spiffymap.com
Post: The Venture Centre, Sir William Lyons Road, Coventry CV4 7EZ
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