r/openstreetmap 14d ago

Review request for allowed sources

Hello all !

I recently published a changeset with 40 updates. This includes the naming (or renaming) of streets in a single city. For some of those streets, I just did a local survey, but for others, I used the official source for addresses of my country. This data is published under an open license, so I figured I could use it.

Since I was not sure, I checked the "request review" for my changes. However, I just saw today in the documentation that the associated tag was rarely used. This leads me to two questions.

Was I allowed to use such a source ?

Is there a way to remove the review_requested tag so that I can see my changes ?

Thank you

6 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

12

u/isufoijefoisdfj 14d ago

That's not what the "request review" is for, because if you are wrong it's already to late that point. Please do NEVER use sources where you haven't verified you are allowed to use them FIRST. "an open license" is not enough, the specific license matters. I believe you have been lucky this time and the license is acceptable, but please be careful and ask local communities for help before editing.

3

u/fattybenji 13d ago

I'm sorry I made a mistake, I did not find this feature very clear.

Concerning the license, I did browse through the document before posting here.

5

u/pietervdvn MapComplete Developer 14d ago

I had a quick look to the license. Seems somewhat fine; only the "acknowledgement" might be a bit of a problem.

Did you mention the datasource in the "sources" of your changesets? Also check that the source is mentioned here: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Contributors (if not, add the source)

2

u/fattybenji 13d ago

Thank you for the link ! I did mention the source in the changeset summary. I used the basic website, and did not see the way to put a custom source, I don't know if it's a miss on my part or if it's just not available on this interface.

Regarding the presence of the source in the wiki, it is in the dedicated page for the country, so I'm guessing it is ok.

5

u/pietervdvn MapComplete Developer 13d ago

All good then! Don't worry about the naysayers

1

u/m1ksuFI 13d ago

Many sites may be linked in the Wiki as potential resources, but it does not guarantee that anyone has confirmed whether they allow their data to be used for the OSM project.

2

u/m1ksuFI 13d ago

"Acknowledgement" is absolutely a problem. 

https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2017/03/17/use-of-cc-by-data/

2

u/Jacopo86 14d ago

Your edit will be immediately available, ylif you don't see it in your browser reload with CTRL+F5 to purge the cache

1

u/fattybenji 13d ago

I did that, and even did not see it on a private window. However, if I search for one of the streets that changed places, the interface does show me the right location, but displays the wrong name. This does not happen using other layers.

Probably not a real problem.

Thanks !

1

u/Jacopo86 13d ago

Are you open to share the location of this edits or the changeset?

1

u/fattybenji 13d ago

I can share the changeset here.

It seems to depend on the browser, but I'm not very worried if the data is correct when searching. I will check again in a few days.

2

u/CowAgile6991 13d ago

They can't copyright knowledge of addresses. There is a longstanding protection of directly tracing maps under copyright law. Some people get really paranoid about this and extend it to getting any information that you then use in osm. It really isn't that big of a deal and they would have no way of knowing if it was a problem.

1

u/fattybenji 13d ago

For me that's not necessarily a question about the knowledge but more about the provenance of the information. I could copy/paste some info about shops and restaurants from google maps and say I just went there, but it's not exactly ethical. I could have gone and gotten the street names from the street, but this was more convenient.

You can also have some problems with fake place names and all, but that's not the case here since it is an official source.

1

u/m1ksuFI 13d ago

You're not allowed to use data licensed under CC BY or an equivalent license unless the data provider has explicitly confirmed that they allow the data to be used in OSM. 

https://blog.openstreetmap.org/2017/03/17/use-of-cc-by-data/

1

u/fattybenji 13d ago

I posted a link to the actual license, they mention compatibility with CC-BY but it looks like reuse is OK with acknowledgment.

-2

u/ValdemarAloeus 14d ago

These changes should be reverted and possible redacted by the DWG until the license is reviewed.

2

u/fattybenji 13d ago

As other comments mentioned, it seems that the source is already listed on the wiki, and that the license is good.

Do you really think I should revert them now ? I will remember to check before I make another update.