I think I miss-read what was meant on the OSM front page. It reads “We started it because most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people from using them in creative, productive, or unexpected ways.”
The closest use case I’m wanting OSM for is along the lines of routing and turn-by-turn application. Does the license OSM is using permit people to
download OSM data into a local database
combine (locally, not uploaded to OSM) additional free data-sets having compatible licenses
Leverage proprietary “for a fee” use data that is not saved, but with compatible licenses
Develop a new proprietary algorithms that utilizes said data
Develop a new proprietary user interface for said data and algorithms with OSM branding/crediting displayed on said interface
Earn money from the user interface
Keep the finished product that also contains OSM private.
I’m looking to avoid giving some other potential business person or company a copy of what I created. The more I read the OSM license, the more confused I became after possibly miss-understanding the heading of the front page of osm.com. How do you determine if my use case is legal according to the OSM license?
OSM has some restrictions, for example attribution and some restrictions for derivate databases and produced works, etc. I’m not a laywer so I can’t give any legal advice. The license of OSM is the ODbL: http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1.0/ Maybe Paragraph 4 helps you to answer your questions, look for “Derivate Database” etc.
Maybe you can also find some answers here: https://help.openstreetmap.org/ If not I think it’s better to post your questions there.
Pointing to a location in the license terms where it is relevant was a benefit. I think now the 6 months I spent working on this project may not be a waste. But I don’t know what was meant to “Publicly Convey the OSM(this) Database”. The convey in the dictionary reads “transport or carry to a place”.
Is my use case transporting or carrying to a place?
I know we are not lawyers here and I don’t expect a lawyer like answer. Rather, someone who understands what the intent is. I could find a lawyer that would tell me what I want to hear and would fight for me based on legal terms. But I really want to know what OSM wants. If this use case does not fit, then I do not want to go against the grain. I like to sand with the grain.
There’s a definition of the word ‘convey’ earlier in the license. I agree that this is not one the common meanings of the word convey. Your dictionary definition above only gives one meaning. .
