ODbL in the 3D topic

Hi,
to preapare my talk, I’d like to know about you interpretation of the Open Database License in the scenario of 3D. So basically, when do you need to apply copyleft/ODbL licensing? Does it apply to the intermediate data and to the final products?

  • Creation of 3D models in runtime?

  • Rendering images/animation from 3D models created out of OSM data?

  • If mixed with 3D terrain with OSM 3D models on top of it?

  • If mixed with Textures/sounds/external ressources (as specialised 3D models for OSM)?

  • If converted to commands for 3D printers and derive an hardware product?

What would you say?

I think this is almost completely unexplored. To my knowledge the topic has never been discussed e.g. on the legal-talk list.

Obvious examples for produced works are animations, images (screenshots, map tiles) and printed 3D models; these can therefore be published under other licenses than ODbL. Real-time rendering of models created on a client computer is also safe because nothing is published in that scenario. For everything else (3D model files, 3D printer commands, etc.) it is totally unclear whether it is a database or a produced work.

Even in those cases where it is obvious that the result is a produced work, it is unclear whether any temporary database would need to be made available. For example, if my program merges OSM data and SRTM data and then creates a screenshot of the result, do I need to make a temporary database containing the merged data available? Does it matter whether that database is ever saved to a hard disk drive or exists in RAM only? I don’t know.

I fear that nobody has actually paid much attention to these issues during the license change. And that points at a major reason why I do not particularly like the ODbL - it’s too complicated and nobody seems to be able to give definitive answers.