I've just listened to the podcast, I've read a lot of the mails on the mailing lists in the last few days, I've read quite a few discussions about it on IRC, the proposal document, parts of the license, the human readable form of the license and a lot of the Wiki pages.
The more I read the less I know. So I'd like to take the LWG up on the offer (the one I just heard in the Podcast) and ask what the implications would be for me as the developer of OSMdoc if OSM were to switch to ODbL (I'm assuming that at least parts of the OSM data would have to be made unavailable from the ODbL dataset after the switch). At the moment I'm displaying statistical data about a snapshot of the OSM data. If it'd stay that way it would be very easy for me to switch from one license to the other as the data wouldn't depend on data from the CC by-SA set. But I'm currently rewriting the tool to account for historical statistics. One example would be a feature that has been requested quite often: How many users have used a tag. This means I have to incorporate the history of all elements into my numbers. I wouldn't want to lose the data if we switch but the number is clearly derived from both databases (the ODbL database and the CC by-SA dump). This is only one example. The new version uses historic data all over the place and I've been working very hard these last few weeks/months to get this far and to get the data so I wouldn't want to throw everything "pre ODbL" away as it would alter the meaning of the statistics. What would the license change mean for me? What do I have to do to comply? I don't even know which of these categories I belong to (taken from the ODbL text): “Collective Database” – Means this Database in unmodified form as part of a collection of independent databases in themselves that together are assembled into a collective whole. A work that constitutes a Collective Database will not be considered a Derivative Database. “Produced Work” – a work (such as an image, audiovisual material, text, or sounds) resulting from using the whole or a Substantial part of the Contents (via a search or other query) from this Database, a Derivative Database, or this Database as part of a Collective Database. “Derivative Database” – Means a database based upon the Database, and includes any translation, adaptation, arrangement, modification, or any other alteration of the Database or of a Substantial part of the Contents. This includes, but is not limited to, Extracting or Re-utilising the whole or a Substantial part of the Contents in a new Database. 1) Collective Database? What does "modify" mean? Again from the ODbL: “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 don't change any of the content of the database. I just parse the provided XML and write the content into my own database (but I parse the timestamp strings to longs, leave out usernames, etc. - modification?). 2) Produced Work? Certainly. At least I think so....but...I don't know. I provide a viewable version of the derivative database I produced and in all probabilty there will be charts/graphs/etc. based on this database. 3) Derivative Database? I think so. As a short personal opinion about the license debate I'd like to add that I've pretty much given up on understanding the license (and its implications) despite the continued efforts by all those involved. Please understand that this is not criticism about ODbL, CC by-SA, the LWG or anyone else involved in this license change. I know that a lot of people are working hard on this (on the "Yes" and on the "No" side). But I have the feeling that the "normal" user can't really understand or follow the details of the discussion anymore. This is even more true for those of us that don't speak english as a native language. I know that mine is probably an uncommon case but I couldn't find anything on the Use Cases site that deals with the combination of CC by-SA and ODbL data that'd be applicable to my use case. So any help or insights would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Lars _______________________________________________ talk mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk
