Why OpenStreetMap is moving from Creative Commons to the Open Database License

by Audrey Watters, O’Reilly Radar, June 16, 2011

… When OpenStreetMap launched, contributions to the project were licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/ShareAlike license. That meant that anyone could copy OSM data, but if it was incorporated into another project, those same terms and conditions applied (ShareAlike) and the copyright owner had to be credited (Attribution). … After much discussion with lawyers and with the community, OpenStreetMap opted to make the move to the Open Database License (ODbL), arguing it was more suited to OSM’s purposes. I recently asked OSM founder Steve Coast about the decision and the process of making the switch. …

Full text of the article via Choosing the right license for open data – O’Reilly Radar.

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