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Question re: satellite imagery sources (self.openstreetmap)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Showroom7561 to c/[email protected]

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When mapping buildings, I'll switch between the ESRI and Bing satellite maps, since they both offer different "freshnes" and clarity, depending on the area.

However, when I use my official municipal or regional websites, they have ESRI maps that appear to be quite a bit newer.

Is the licensing different across different ESRI imagery sources, or could I use the more updated one as a guideline?

EDIT: I think I found my answer from the official OpenStreetMap Wiki:

" Esri is a corporate member of the Foundation."

~~"Esri allowed the usage of Esri World Imagery (and its variants) in OSM mapping, without restrictions and requirements. Even attribution is not legally required."~~

~~This is wonderful news! Having satellite images from only a few months ago, rather than a few years ago, is a game-changer!~~

So this might have been overly optimistic. There may be additional licensing restrictions on variants outside what's available in the OSM editor.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I live in Germany and I can select my official regional source right in the editor. Maybe it's a licencing issue but maybe it just wasn't added because no one ever brought up that it exists. I don't know where people suggest imagery sources to be added but maybe you could find that out and see if anyone's suggested it before and if not, suggest it yourself. Either way, you should be able to use that source without any legal issues, you're not redestributing it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago

Imagery sources are tracked here: https://github.com/osmlab/editor-layer-index

We track how to load the aerial imagery (thus: the WMS-link), what license it has and where it is applicable. Only aerial imagery where we have permission for is allowed.

[–] Showroom7561 2 points 2 weeks ago

Updated my post. Looks like all ESRI imagery can be used!