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EMC maps OpenStreetMap legal use?

EMC maps OpenStreetMap legal use?

Patrick_Koppen
Contributor
EMC maps uses {a,b,c}.tile.openstreetmap.org. Is it legal to use?

In the OSMF Tile Usage Policy:

https://operations.osmfoundation.org/policies/tiles/

you can find:

"Heavy use (e.g. distributing an app that uses tiles from openstreetmap.org) is
forbidden without prior permission from the System Administrators."

5 REPLIES 5

Drew_C
Valued Contributor III
This concern is being worked internally and with the OSM team. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Patrick.

Patrick_Koppen
Contributor
Here's the answer from OSM:

Thanks for letting us know about the Extreme Networks usage of our
tile servers. While it is forbidden to distribute an app without prior
permission from us, we feel like perhaps the usage of the word "app"
could be confusing here, and might be interpreted as either "mobile
app" or "any application". Extreme Networks' application isn't
currently a heavy user, based on their usage over the past month.

Perhaps you could relay to Extreme Networks that our servers are run
for the benefit of visitors and contributors to the OpenStreetMap
website, therefore we are unable to offer any kind of support to 3rd
parties. The tile service may experience unexpected issues, downtime,
changes or disruption, and we occasionally have to issue blocks to
maintain acceptable service levels. Because they have not contacted
us, we would be unable to do anything other than block them, if their
usage became heavy.

While we try to keep any disruption to a minimum, Extreme Networks
might prefer a service which offers more guarantees. I recommend also
taking a look at other providers of OSM-based map tiles, some of which
can be found here https://switch2osm.org/providers/ and may provide a
supported service.

Could anyone relay this to management, please?

Drew_C
Valued Contributor III
Thanks Patrick. I've asked the team who originally took a look at this to respond.

Stephen_Flahert
Extreme Employee
Extreme Management Center is not a heavy use.
GTM-P2G8KFN