Dear Overture Team and OpenStreetMap Community,

This diary entry is a follow-up to an in-person conversation I had with some of the Overture team at State of the Map U.S. To their credit, they were quick to admit to and apologize for some of these omissions and verbally committed to making appropriate changes. I am therefore posting this entry for the following reasons:

• to fully document my concerns,
• to invite others to (respectfully please!) share their perspectives,
• to hold the Overture team accountable for making these changes.

Clarity on Attribution Page

In my opinion, Overture does not take care to spell out the necessity of OpenStreetMap attribution on their Attribution and Licensing page. After an optional citation comes the following language:

The Overture Maps Foundation does not require text attribution or an OMF logo on maps, visualizations, and graphics created with our datasets. If you would like to credit Overture, we suggest: © Overture Maps Foundation.

So far it seems pretty easy to use Overture data. We can attribute…but only if we want. Easy peasy! After that, the potential for additional attribution requirements is raised:

Some of the data sources we use in Overture datasets do require their own attribution, according to their licenses. For example, our Explore tool displays several Overture datasets that are made wholly or in part from OpenStreetMap data, so we added the following line of attribution to adhere to the requirements of the Open Database License: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Overture Maps Foundation.

Let’s take a close look at this paragraph. In Overture’s only mention of OpenStreetMap attribution requirements (that I could find), they frame it as a passing example. It’s as if the OpenStreetMap community should feel lucky that Overture chose us as their example of potential attribution requirements. To me, this deflection of our dataset’s license comes across as deeply disrespectful.

So, how much of Overture is derived from OpenStreetMap data? Clicking into each of the dataset descriptions, four out of the six datasets are derived from OpenStreetMap and therefore distributed under the ODbL: “Base,” “Buildings,” “Divisions,” and “Transportation.”

With that in mind, Overture seems better-described as an OpenStreetMap distribution with some extra data tacked on. Great, ODbL needs to be front-and-center on their download page, release pages, and Attribution page, with a link to the official OpenStreetMap Attribution Guidelines. Overture has a responsibility to ensure its data consumers correctly attribute OpenStreetMap Contributors, and understand the legal liability they open themselves up to if they do not properly attribute. Beyond legal requirements, attribution is the respectful thing for hard-working OpenStreetMap volunteers whose work gets used in a commercial context.

The FAQ Page

The further we get from Overture’s attribution page, the worse things get. On the FAQs page, under “How Is Overture Data Licensed?” lies the following text (pasted in full):

Generally, Overture data is licensed under the Community Database License Agreement – Permissive v2 (CDLA) unless derived from a source that requires publishing under a different license, such as data derived from OpenStreetMap, that constitutes a “Derivative Database” (as defined under ODbL v1.0), which will be licensed under ODbL v1.0.

Overture considers (A) any maps or outcomes obtained by computational analysis that are created using Overture data licensed under CDLA Permissive v 2.0, or (B) the supplementing of (1) a Data Recipient’s content or (2) a third-party’s data – in either case, obtained through computational analysis – with CDLA Permissive v.2-licensed data from Overture, to be “Results” and according to Section 3, not subject to the requirement to provide the text of the license.

This seems to be purposefully misleading. As stated above, four out of six of Overture’s datasets are distributed under the ODbL, so saying Overture is “generally” CDLA is untrue. Perhaps Overture wishes to have more CDLA datasets in the future?

Secondly, this FAQ fully omits the need for attribution to OpenStreetMap, which is required for the majority of Overture datasets. Surely that is worthy of inclusion on your FAQ page.

Elsewhere on the Overture Site

The Overture homepage makes no mention of OpenStreetMap, one of their primary data sources. The two featured links at the top of its page, “Getting Started” and “Learn More” point to pages that also make no mention of OpenStreetMap.

On the aforementioned “Getting Started” page, there are many download links provided to OpenStreetMap-derived datasets, without any mention of the ODbL. That page links to this one about the Python CLI, which features a one-liner for downloading the Overture “Buildings” dataset (which includes OpenStreetMap data) without one word about attribution requirements. Not only is this disrespectful to the OSM community, but it’s dangerous to your users who need to understand what the terms of that data use are.

The “Learn More” page includes this gem from Executive Director Marc Prioleau:

With the collective insights of our expanding community, it’s not just about amassing datasets. Instead, it’s a conscious effort to lay the groundwork for a future where map data remains current and interoperable, serving a wide range of applications. Overture is about harnessing available high-quality data sources and building bridges of cooperation.

At least we could properly attribute those bridges, eh Marc?

Final Thoughts

I really like Overture’s work. They offer clean extracts of geospatial data from OpenStreetMap and other data sources, with end-users in mind. They help bridge the gap between OSM tagging madness and company X’s need for a clean map.

I want to believe that Overture cares about the OpenStreetMap community and wishes to grow with us. I met a couple of them at State of the Map U.S. and they were friendly. They helped fund the event, and expressed genuine, positive sentiment about the community who makes their work possible. Indeed, most of their datasets rely on our data.

I am concerned by Overture’s willingness to gloss over OpenStreetMap and the ODbL on their website. Overture enjoys ample funding from their corporate partners, and has a responsibility to pass some of that success on to the sources they rely on, including OpenStreetMap. I worry that when Overture is not attending SOTMUS, they might be forgetting to mention where their data comes from to all those $3M/yr members.

Overture, fix your website. Show some real enthusiasm about our community in your marketing materials. Help sustainably fund-raise for the institutions you rely on. Do the work to build those bridges you claim to build.


Best Regards,
Jacob Hall