When you’re 5 years old you get asked questions like “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Well, OpenStreetMap is 5 years old and there are a few answers to that question. But maybe a good first answer would be “banned on Google Enterprise maps”. You must of made an impact by then, huh? And yes, it’s true!
[…] You agree not to, and not to allow third parties or Your End Users, to use the Services or Content: […] to use or display Tele Atlas’ US Address Points obtained from the Services on a base map comprised of map data or content provided by International Publishers NV, NavNGo Kft., NAVTEQ Corporation, OpenStreetMap Foundation, or Zenrin Co., Ltd. […]
Check it out on the Google Maps API Premier Acceptable Use Policy.
It’s easy to pick this up and run with a sensationalist topic (I nearly did before reading the agreement.) I guess it’s just a licensing restriction of Tele Atlas?
Or, is it because address data is OpenStreetMap’s achilles heel? Who knows, but at least it’s clear from a licensing perspective.
Actually, it’s exactly the opposite. OpenStreetMap is not banned on Google Enterprise, but actually supported by Google Enterprise as a data source option.
http://brainoff.com/weblog/2009/08/10/1444
“One piece we didn’t have time to implement was feedback from OSM into Google. Turns out, Sean Wholtman on the enterprise team has developed a process to bring OSM data into Google Fusion! Very eager to see how that develops for Google and OSM.”
That Use Policy seems to be saying that it’s not allowed to combine TeleAtlas with OpenStreetMap data, which I think we agree is fine considering the current TeleAtlas license.