This question is so controversially discussed that it is really unsuitable for the simple answers that help.openstreetmap.org can give. The shortest and least controversial answer is probably: It aims to give data users more and better defined rights to do stuff with the OpenStreetMap data. Furthermore it is written with the intend to be more likly to hold up in court. On the downside it is a new license not in widespread use and more complicated to read then the current CC-BY-SA license. For this and other reasons some mappers wont accept the new license and their contributions will become unusable for Openstreetmap. On top of that some datasources like NearMap might become unusable for Openstreetmap under the new license. I'm sure many mappers find my answer wrong or incomplete, but please discuss that elsewhere. This is not a forum but a place to get simple answer to basic questions.
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answered 14 Aug '10, 08:41 petschge |
There is quite a lot of documentation about the proposed license change on the wiki and in the various mailinglists and forums. Some of which are: a general description of why the change is needed and what it is about a description of the proposed changeover plan and how far it has come along ODbL's general FAQ (independent of OSM) Links to comments from other lawyers about the ODbL Other pages on the wiki about the ODbL and the license change (Please add other links to useful information about the license change, its reasons and its effects)
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answered 14 Aug '10, 12:31 apmon |