Searching for an emergency location by name and latlong, not permited?

[ppKrauss]

Searching for an emergency location by name and LatLong, as in
 openstreetmap.org/search?query=pronto+socorro+-23.5,-46.65
is a valid query... Or not?

The osmfoundation.org/Terms_of_Use says that it is not allowed: this is the interpretation of @simonpoole, @SK53 and perhaps others, explained on this this wiki-talk page.

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A typical scenario to illustrate the problem:
I am looking for the location of an emmergence service, and I type in the search-box the string "Pronto Socorro" or "Pronto Socorro -23.5,-46.65" ... The OSM.ORG Service shows a location... Then I go there imagining that it is the Pronto Sorcorro nearst my home — but it is not, and the whole process causes me to waste time, and causes more, I lose my life with a heart attack.

Important

• important interpretation of the Terms of Use
• important an answer/position of the administrators
• and community consensus about this kind of interpretation

[tomhughes]

What on earth are you talking about?

We just send queries to Nominatim - if it able to resolve that then you will get results. If it can't then you won't. If you want to suggest improvements then you should do so in the Nominatim issue tracker not here.

I have absolutely no idea why you think it has anything to do with terms of use.

[woodpeck]

The terms of use say: "You may not operate dangerous businesses such as emergency services or air traffic control, where the use or failure of the Services could lead to death, personal injury or significant property damage".

The reason for this is that we cannot guarantee that OSM is correct and complete. If someone used our data in a life-threatening situation and then someone dies because of an error in the data, we do not want to be responsible. We want to be able to say: "Sorry, you contravened our terms of use."

If someone uses our data in a life-threatening situation a live is saved by it, we don't intend to sue them.

This is a very common way of disclaiming liability in terms-of-use legalese. Making the query is allowed; but letting a life depend on the outcome of the query is not.

[tomhughes]

Right, but that doesn't make it unlawful for an end user to enter that search string. It just means we don't accept liability if you create an "emergency help kiosk" that uses our search or something similarly daft.

[dieterdreist]

sent from a phone

On 13. Jan 2019, at 01:10, Frederik Ramm ***@***.***> wrote: The terms of use say: "You may not operate dangerous businesses such as emergency services or air traffic control, where the use or failure of the Services could lead to death, personal injury or significant property damage". The reason for this is that we cannot guarantee that OSM is correct and complete. If someone used our data in a life-threatening situation and then someone dies because of an error in the data, we do not want to be responsible. We want to be able to say: "Sorry, you contravened our terms of use." If someone uses our data in a life-threatening situation a live is saved by it, we don't intend to sue them.

we have been discussing this same paragraph on the italian mailing list some months ago, and the interpretation was that it refers to “services”, not “data” quote: . In particular these are: the openstreetmap.org website and associated services and APIs, the OpenStreetMap data distribution, the OpenStreetMap wiki and help websites, the OpenStreetMap mailing lists and forums. (together, the “Services”). end quote and above the paragraph you quoted it says: “You may not use the Services to:” note it says “data distribution”, not data.

[simonpoole]

I wanted to ignore this thread, because of intense silliness, but seems as if I can't get around it:

• the background is the claim of the OLC advocates that

OSM is used in many situations where mapping and other local GIS resources are limited or not at all available, for example for aid and emergency services.

to which I pointed out

For example you list " for example for aid and emergency services. " as a reason to support OLC on openstreetmap.org But not only is that clearly not the target audience, such use is explicitly not allowed ...

(the proponents of OLC have in the meantime edited my comment, not good form at all). Unluckily the OSMF board continues to fail to make a clear statement on the target audience, but in this specific case it is clear from the ToU.

• our distribution licence does not restrict how you can use our data. We don't warrant any specific fitness for any purpose, but if you want to run an ambulance dispatching centre using OSM data you are free to do so as long as you do not make us liable for anything that goes wrong (which is likely the same for all non-government data sources worldwide).

• the ToU do exclude a number of uses of the services and infrastructure formally provided by the OSMF. I believe that I don't have to detail why. As a result you cannot, without violating the ToU operate an ambulance dispatching centre using openstreetmap.org and associated services. Where exactly this stops is naturally a bit of a gray area, obviously individuals can look up anything they want, actively promoting that openstreetmap.org be used in emergencies would likely fall afoul of the terms.