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> OpenStreetMap is not supposed to be directly used by commercial sites. Not if I understand their terms correctly [1] [2]. Maybe there's a distinction betwee

> OpenStreetMap is not supposed to be directly used by commercial sites. Not if I understand their terms correctly [1] [2]. Maybe there's a distinction between the terms of the map data itself and the software published to interact with it? [1] https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright [2] https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/summary/ https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/summary/

izacus 8y ago
IIRC that's for the openstreetmap.org site, which wasn't built to answer queries from hundreds of commercial apps (like Maps API is). You're supposed to copy and deploy the dataset on your own servers so you don't burn bandwidth of the OSM project.
- ocdtrekkie 8y ago
  There's some other options too for people who want to use OSM data, but avoid deploying it themselves. One of the ones I discovered is that MapQuest (which it doesn't look like they considered) offers OSM data and APIs as an option alongside the MapQuest proprietary data and APIs: https://developer.mapquest.com/documentation/open/ https://developer.mapquest.com/documentation/open/ And there's several other places that offer this as well. So the advantage of building on OSM data and APIs potentially is that you could switch providers without losing API compatibility or having the data available change out from under you.
  - Groxx 8y ago
    MapQuest seems like it might be 6x more expensive than the others listed in the post, if "transactions" are the same concept: https://developer.mapquest.com/plans https://developer.mapquest.com/plans ($100 for 30,000 transactions) (transactions aren't defined anywhere I can easily find tho, so it's possible this isn't correct. but I don't really mind prematurely concluding that they're significantly more expensive if they don't clearly describe their pricing system.)
    - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
      Entirely possible, I've only used their API well inside the free tier, I haven't compared pricing. I presume there's other OSM-compatible service providers with different pricing options as well.
    - brobdingnagians 8y ago
      We just use them on the free tier as well; we used to pay, but I think they upped their free tier a bit and sent us an email saying we didn't have to pay anymore (if I recall correctly). Their API was easy to integrate; haven't had to research mapping companies much recently, so not sure who I would pick now based on more data.
ttsda 8y ago
Openstreetmaps is not a tile provider. They to let you use their tile server for small scale stuff as far as I know, but if you want to use their data in a high volume you'll have to either pay a tile provider that uses their data, or generate your own.
schoen 8y ago
I felt like the original article's way of phrasing this is slightly misleading, maybe based on confusion on the author's part. As other commenters here have made clear, OSM specifically intends to allow commercial and other downstream uses, but you have to host the tiles yourself or pay someone else to host them. That's certainly different from other services and may involve much more up-front effort and infrastructure, but it absolutely intends to create a meaningful option for mapping tools that can be used in commercial sites. (Having said this, when I once had to do a one-off mapping project for a colleague, I found the OSM tools pretty daunting as a beginner, even though I appreciated how they'd reward effort with customizability and extensibility. I could certainly imagine that a lot of sites wouldn't be prepared to set up this toolset, and I realize that OSM doesn't provide a simple drop-in replacement for Google Maps that can be used by commercial sites.)
- freehunter 8y ago
  Are there any sites providing OpenStreetMap-as-a-Service? Something licenses and provided just like the Google Maps API, but using OSM?
  - rmc 8y ago
    Lots! Mapbox.com ThunderForest.com Geofabrik.de

izacus 8y ago

IIRC that's for the openstreetmap.org site, which wasn't built to answer queries from hundreds of commercial apps (like Maps API is). You're supposed to copy and deploy the dataset on your own servers so you don't burn bandwidth of the OSM project.

ocdtrekkie 8y ago
There's some other options too for people who want to use OSM data, but avoid deploying it themselves. One of the ones I discovered is that MapQuest (which it doesn't look like they considered) offers OSM data and APIs as an option alongside the MapQuest proprietary data and APIs: https://developer.mapquest.com/documentation/open/ https://developer.mapquest.com/documentation/open/ And there's several other places that offer this as well. So the advantage of building on OSM data and APIs potentially is that you could switch providers without losing API compatibility or having the data available change out from under you.
- Groxx 8y ago
  MapQuest seems like it might be 6x more expensive than the others listed in the post, if "transactions" are the same concept: https://developer.mapquest.com/plans https://developer.mapquest.com/plans ($100 for 30,000 transactions) (transactions aren't defined anywhere I can easily find tho, so it's possible this isn't correct. but I don't really mind prematurely concluding that they're significantly more expensive if they don't clearly describe their pricing system.)
  - ocdtrekkie 8y ago
    Entirely possible, I've only used their API well inside the free tier, I haven't compared pricing. I presume there's other OSM-compatible service providers with different pricing options as well.
  - brobdingnagians 8y ago
    We just use them on the free tier as well; we used to pay, but I think they upped their free tier a bit and sent us an email saying we didn't have to pay anymore (if I recall correctly). Their API was easy to integrate; haven't had to research mapping companies much recently, so not sure who I would pick now based on more data.

ttsda 8y ago

Openstreetmaps is not a tile provider. They to let you use their tile server for small scale stuff as far as I know, but if you want to use their data in a high volume you'll have to either pay a tile provider that uses their data, or generate your own.

schoen 8y ago

I felt like the original article's way of phrasing this is slightly misleading, maybe based on confusion on the author's part. As other commenters here have made clear, OSM specifically intends to allow commercial and other downstream uses, but you have to host the tiles yourself or pay someone else to host them. That's certainly different from other services and may involve much more up-front effort and infrastructure, but it absolutely intends to create a meaningful option for mapping tools that can be used in commercial sites. (Having said this, when I once had to do a one-off mapping project for a colleague, I found the OSM tools pretty daunting as a beginner, even though I appreciated how they'd reward effort with customizability and extensibility. I could certainly imagine that a lot of sites wouldn't be prepared to set up this toolset, and I realize that OSM doesn't provide a simple drop-in replacement for Google Maps that can be used by commercial sites.)

freehunter 8y ago
Are there any sites providing OpenStreetMap-as-a-Service? Something licenses and provided just like the Google Maps API, but using OSM?
- rmc 8y ago
  Lots! Mapbox.com ThunderForest.com Geofabrik.de