[OSM-legal-talk] use of maptiles

[Schröders, Alexander]

Hello,
i develop a commercial application which makes use of the tile material from osm.
I read "Heavy use (e.g. distributing an app that uses tiles from openstreetmap.org) is forbidden without prior permission from the System Administrators<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/System_Administrators>. See below for alternatives<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tile_usage_policy#Alternative_OpenStreetMap_Tile_Providers>." in http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tile_usage_policy.

Now i ask my self the question what is heavy use of tile materials.

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Alexander Schr?ders
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mailto: alexander.schroeders at sensis-gmbh.de<mailto:alexander.schroeders at sensis-gmbh.de>
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[Richard Weait]

On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 3:47 AM, Schr?ders, Alexander

Post by Schröders, Alexander
Now i ask my self the question what is heavy use of tile materials.

Dear Alexander,

The dividing line between "not-heavy" and "heavy" is unlikely to be
defined for you. This is deliberate and for the protection of the
OpenStreetMap project and the OpenStreetMap Foundation. OpenStreetMap
Foundation resources are entirely run by volunteers and funded by
donations. Those resources are limited and are not to be monopolized
by one or more commercial users.

Your donations to support the ever increasing demand on OpenStreetMap
Foundation infrastructure are appreciated. See this site to donate
now.

http://donate.openstreetmap.org/

If you are using OpenStreetMap Foundation servers for commercial
purposes, you should change to either a third-party tile source, or to
self-hosting as soon as possible. Do that for the happiness of your
clients and for the health of your company. There are no guarantees
that OpenStreetMap Foundation servers or services will be available at
any particular time. Services may be removed, altered or restarted
without notice.[1]

As a very rough guideline, use OpenStreetMap Foundation servers for
development, testing, internal use or experimentation, and for very
small projects that will never have a large audience.

If you plan to be successful, self host, or find a commercial source for tiles.

If you are staking your reputation on it, self host, or find a
commercial source for tiles.

If you want to go viral and / or have many users, self host or find a
commercial source for tiles.

Best regards and happy mapping,
Richard

[1] the hard working volunteer admin team do the best they can to
schedule and announce service issues. But things can happen.

[Paul Norman]

From: Schr?ders, Alexander [mailto:Alexander.Schroeders at sensis-gmbh.de]
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 12:48 AM
To: legal-talk at openstreetmap.org
Subject: [OSM-legal-talk] use of maptiles
Hello,
i develop a commercial application which makes use of the tile material
from osm. I read ?Heavy use (e.g. distributing an app that uses tiles
from openstreetmap.org) is forbidden without prior permission from the
System Administrators. See below for alternatives.? in
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tile_usage_policy.
Now i ask my self the question what is heavy use of tile materials.

First of all, I do not speak for the system administrators. They make
the decisions on what to block, and how. What I write is based on my
experience seeing what has caused load problems in the past

There is not a level at which your use is guaranteed to never be
considered heavy use or guaranteed not to be blocked. If that is a
requirement, you need to enter into a contract with a commercial
provider who will set out pricing terms. Also remember that if your use
does become heavy use, you can change to a commercial service right
away, because you didn't hardcode the tile.openstreetmap.org location
into your app, since the terms prohibit that.



The following are generally heavy use

- Downloading tiles by area for later offline use

- Consuming a noticable portion of resources (see
http://munin.openstreetmap.org/openstreetmap/tile.openstreetmap/index.html
and
http://munin.openstreetmap.org/openstreetmap/render.openstreetmap/index.html
)

- Distributing a smartphone map app targeted at consumers that uses
tile.openstreetmap.org by default.

- A commercial map-based website in production

- Anything that neglects or tries to get around the usage policy
technical requirements

The following are typically not heavy use

- Use on an "about" page indicating the location of a head office or
similar location

- Use in development

[Schröders, Alexander]

Thanks Paul, Richard fort he quick response.
I will discuss this with ou management and I think we will use a Service like Cloudemade to get our Maptiles because we dont have the resources(manpower and kowledge) to operate our own tile server.
Furthermore I will try to make something like an annual donation to OSM to support the project.

Mit besten Gr??en
?
sensis GmbH
Alexander Schr?ders
Gladbacher Str. 106
41747 Viersen

T?02162 8 19 29-99 (TRAS-Hotline)
T 02162 8 19 29-42
F 02162 8 19 29-91
M 01732514843
?
mailto: alexander.schroeders at sensis-gmbh.de
home: http://www.sensis-gmbh.de
Anmeldung zum sensis point


Gesch?ftsf?hrung: Raimund Crynen, J?rg Boland Amtsgericht
M?nchengladbach, HRB: 11770 Sitz der Gesellschaft ist Viersen

-----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Paul Norman [mailto:penorman at mac.com]
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. Dezember 2013 01:13
An: 'Licensing and other legal discussions.'
Betreff: Re: [OSM-legal-talk] use of maptiles

From: Schr?ders, Alexander
[mailto:Alexander.Schroeders at sensis-gmbh.de]
Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2013 12:48 AM
To: legal-talk at openstreetmap.org
Subject: [OSM-legal-talk] use of maptiles
Hello,
i develop a commercial application which makes use of the tile
material from osm. I read "Heavy use (e.g. distributing an app that
uses tiles from openstreetmap.org) is forbidden without prior
permission from the System Administrators. See below for
alternatives." in http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tile_usage_policy.
Now i ask my self the question what is heavy use of tile materials.

First of all, I do not speak for the system administrators. They make the decisions on what to block, and how. What I write is based on my experience seeing what has caused load problems in the past

There is not a level at which your use is guaranteed to never be considered heavy use or guaranteed not to be blocked. If that is a requirement, you need to enter into a contract with a commercial provider who will set out pricing terms. Also remember that if your use does become heavy use, you can change to a commercial service right away, because you didn't hardcode the tile.openstreetmap.org location into your app, since the terms prohibit that.



The following are generally heavy use

- Downloading tiles by area for later offline use

- Consuming a noticable portion of resources (see http://munin.openstreetmap.org/openstreetmap/tile.openstreetmap/index.html
and
http://munin.openstreetmap.org/openstreetmap/render.openstreetmap/index.html
)

- Distributing a smartphone map app targeted at consumers that uses
tile.openstreetmap.org by default.

- A commercial map-based website in production

- Anything that neglects or tries to get around the usage policy
technical requirements

The following are typically not heavy use

- Use on an "about" page indicating the location of a head office or
similar location

- Use in development