Thank you for your post Frederick! I've been lurking on this discussion for awhile and you just summed up exactly my thoughts on it.
> Hi, > > OJ W wrote: >> Currently OSM surveyors do their thing in the understanding that >> cartographers will turn the result into something nice that they can >> use (and the surveyors know that they will benefit from this due to >> the map images being sharealike) > > This is your assumption, not mine; I have never mapped anything > thinking > "hey, maybe someone else is going to make a nice map from this that I > can then use". Not one single time. I don't know if that makes me an > exception. Most people I talked to were enthusiastic about the data > being collected, and were talking about cool things *they* could do > with > the data, but I might be moving in the wrong circles ;-) > >> If the cartographers then devise a new license that says "my >> contributions are more important than yours, I should get exclusive >> rights over my additions to the map with a paintbrush while you >> shouldn't get exclusive rights over your additions to the map with a >> GPS" > > I don't like "more important". > > I think that the designer is actually doing something *less* important > in the grand scheme of things. (His work might make up 90% of the work > that goes into his particular product, but for us, it is negligible.) > The surveyors are directly working towards the declared aim of this > project; creating a free world map. Everything a surveyor does (well > unless he's malicious or extremely stupid) will further this goal; his > work is important to us. > > The cartographer goes off on a tangent; he does not help us in > reaching > the goal of a free world map; he is a *user* of the free world map and > not a *creator*. It is nice if he makes his work available because it > allows us to show off what can be done with our data (although if he > at > least attributes us that's also a good thing). But him releasing his > work does not contribute to the free world map; or, turned the other > way > round, him keeping his work for himself does not slow us down in any > way > (because what would we do with his painted maps? trace our data off > them?). > > It all boils down to ideology. Forcing the cartographer to release his > work means that we're not only about the free world map but also about > free map images, free art installations, free t-shirt designs, free > computer games, and so on. Concentrating on the data and ignoring the > other stuff means, well, concentrating on the free world map. > > I am a great believer in the principal goodness of men, and I sure > would > encourage everyone who takes anything from OSM, be it data, or just > inspiration, to catch the spirit and give cool things away as well. > But > trying to *force* people to do so will, I believe, create unnecessary > problems and friction and unease (witness inability to use CGIAR > data by > OpenCycleMap for example) and just make things worse for everyone. > > Bye > Frederik _______________________________________________ talk mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
