All datasets available under the OS OpenData Licence (Ordnance Survey).

== Background == Following a December 2009 to March 2010 Government Consultation (Response: [1]), Ordnance Survey began releasing data for “free re-use” on April 1st 2010. The datasets were made available under the product name “OS OpenData”, and the full product suite was released under a brand new licence that shared the same name as the product suite, that is the “OS OpenData Licence” [2]. The OS OpenData Licence comprises the standard Open Government Licence (OGL) [3] plus an additional leading section added by Ordnance Survey. On release, there was significant concern within the GIS / Geospatial industry as to the exact connotations of the additional leading text. It is still unclear as to what additional obligations this places on the User. Today, geospatial datasets are also being released by Local Authorities. Much of this data has originally been created using an Ordnance Survey base map (often because this was a legal requirement, or was recommended by Central Government departments, such as DEFRA). As such, Ordnance Survey classify this as “derived work”, and therefore require each Local Authority to apply for exemption under the Public Sector Mapping Agreement for each individual dataset they wish to provide for free re-use. This exemption process is described in the section 2.25 of the PSMA User Guide [4] and is fully documented in section 2.5 of the PSMA Licence itself [5]. If successful the Local Authority is allowed to release their data, however they are required to use the OS OpenData Licence. The same applies to not only Local authorities wishing to release their own data, but also other public sector organisations/departments. It is also worth noting that if one Local Authority applies for exemption for, for example Public Rights of Way, and is successful, then this ruling is not extended to all Local Authorities. That is, if other Local Authorities would also like to release their Public Rights of Way data for free re-use, then they will also have to go through the same exemption process. To summarise, Ordnance Survey provide a product suite named “OS OpenData” released under the OS OpenData Licence. Ordnance Survey further require that any Government body/department wishing to release geospatial data also use the same OS OpenData Licence (although confusingly, the data is does not become part of the "OS OpenData" branded product suite). The licence is an altered version of the standard Open Government Licence, and is causing significant confusing amongst the GIS/geospatial industry and the OpenStreetMap community [note 1]. To eliminate this confusion and ensure that the datasets are made available under a truly free re-use licence, I have the following three requests: == Requests == === Request 1 === Based on Statement 1, set out in The National Archives report entitled "Information Fair Trader Scheme Report, Ordnance Survey, February–March 2011" [7] IFTS ensures that re-users of public sector information can be confident that they will be treated reasonably and fairly by public sector information providers. This has not been the case with the Ordnance Survey OpenData Licence. The same report shows a stark contrast between how open OPSI view the OS OpenData Licence (as in "simple terms", "free re-use without restriction") and the reality (restrictive, confusing and overly complex). Can I please request, that you (The Open Data User Group) work with Ordnance Survey and OPSI to eliminate the use of the Ordnance Survey OpenData Licence in all cases where public sector organisations have had to request exemption under the Public Sector Mapping Agreement, before they could release *their own* data to the public. In these cases the Ordnance Survey OpenData Licence is inappropriate (Ordnance Survey have done little or nothing in terms of creating the data the exemption applies to), and is overly restrictive. The standard, and widely accepted, Open Government Licence is the preferred alternative. This will then leave the Ordnance Survey OpenData Licence to it's original intention - that is a licence applied to only the Ordnance Survey created product suite that is branded and distributed under the name "OS OpenData". === Request 2 === Furthermore, can you please ensure that where Ordnance Survey have ruled over an exemption application granting permission to one Local Authority to make data available under the OS OpenData Licence, they make this ruling publicly available online and applicable to similar datasets for all Local Authorities. For example, Ordnance Survey have granted exemption to a handful of Local Authorities to release Public Rights of Way data. For each one of these, a member of the GIS/geospatial community has written to the Local Authority explaining licences and exactly how to apply under the exemption process. This is rarely an easy task and with 152 Local Authorities in England, the remaining workload is huge! Note that this is especially important for Public Rights of Way given that Local Authorities are required to use Ordnance Survey products to create their data, and are also required to provide Ordnance Survey with the finished data (see download on [8]), thus reinforcing a monopoly and introducing barriers to fair competition. === Request 3 === Please work with OPSI to ensure that they continue to work with Ordnance Survey, as per their communication dated 23 Jan 2013, to amend and update the OS OpenData Licence to remove confusion. Ideally with the aim of removing the preceding text and returning to the original Open Government Licence for all data (be it the "OS OpenData" branded suite, or the data of other public sector organisations). [1] http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/ordnancesurveyconresponse [2] http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/docs/licences/os-opendata-licence.pdf [3] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ [4] http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/docs/user-guides/psma-licence-user-guide-v1-1.pdf [5] http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/docs/licences/psma-member-licence.pdf [6] http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/ [7] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/ordnance-survey-ifts-report.pdf [8] http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/2011/06/15/pb13553-row-circular-109/ [note 1] OpenStreetMap is an online community of volunteers that collect geospatial information by surveying their local neighbourhoods and working with data owners to facilitate the release if such information. The data is added to a geosaptial database and is released under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODC-ODbL). With over 1.05 million registered users it is one of the largest open data communities. In addition to community members, OpenStreetMap is also creating jobs and business opportunities. This is primarily due to the fact that the ODC-ODbL licence allows for use of the OpenStreetMap database at zero cost to the end user. The range of companies that make use of the data is complete. That is, it includes large publicly traded companies such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN), private companies such as Foursquare Labs Inc and MapBox LLC, and self employed individuals providing consultancy and support services. [note 2] Role of Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is defined as “OPSI operates within The National Archives. The Director of OPSI is also the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and Queen's Printer (the Controller). The Controller has responsibility for the management of all copyrights and database rights owned by the Crown.” http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmcomloc/memo3/uc0202.htm [note 3] The “Open Data Commons Attribution Licence” (ODC-By) is a more liberal version of the “Open Data Commons Open Database License” (ODC-ODbL) in that it does not require a “share alike” principal. Any licence that is compatible with ODC-By is therefore also compatible with ODC-ODbL. This is similar to the relationship between Creative Commons' CC-By and CC-By-SA licences.