Talk:Tile usage policy
Discuss Tile usage policy here:
Applies to tah?
Which tile server does this relate to? tile.openstreetmap.org, tah.openstreetmap.org or both? AFAIK tah. is not managed by OSM and should not be subject to this policy unless agreed with the User:spaetz who administers that service. 80n 15:39, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
- Detailed now in document header, that this now only applies to the [abc].tile.openstreetmap.org / Mapnik tile server. Firefishy 10:33, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
"If-Modified-Since" HTTP header
For lightweight clients caching would be be much easier if the tile servers would support the "If-Modified-Since" HTTP header, as the used If-None-Match/ETag system requires a complex cache control system on client side. This would definitely save a lot of traffic. BTW: For those who don't know: The currently used expiry time is as far as I can see ~ 2 hours - not very much compared to the "alternatively a minimum of 7 days" policy. Stotz 13:55, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
- I am trying to maintain a tilestore to use in Trekbuddy Atlas Creator. I thought I could just save my atlases in profiles and TAC would download only changed tiles. No such luck: it doesn't download anything. Then I tried scripting it with wget, but it wants to download everything each time: it says "Last-modified header missing", so it doesn't know whether the tile on the server is newer than the tile on my computer. Is there a better way to do this? --Slashme 20:30, 4 November 2009 (UTC)
- ETags seems to be a supported kind of conditional http requests as of now Positron96 08:58, 24 May 2012 (BST)
Some more discussion of this: trac ticket 1023 -- Harry Wood 14:05, 30 October 2012 (UTC)
You have broken tangogps
I do not know how but TangoGPS is broken now since the openstreetmaps site do not allow map downloads. The app now creates either zero size files or a file that points to this policy:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>tile.openstreetmap.org</title>
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
<meta http-equiv="cache-control" content="no-cache">
<meta http-equiv="pragma" content="no-cache">
</head>
<body>
You've reached the OpenStreetMap mapnik tile server.<br />
<dl>
<dt>If you are a user...</dt>
<dd>You probably want <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/">OpenStreetMap</a> itself.</dd>
<dt>If you are a developer...</dt>
<dd>Please be aware of the <a href="http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Tile_usage_policy">tile usage policy</a>.</dd>
</dl>
</body>
</html>
You could consider talking with tangogps developers before doing such drastical changes as a lot of OSM contributors are using tangogps on the neo freerunner and we are now screwed...
Unhappy 16:53, 9 August 2009 (UTC)
- Unhappy that message is returned when our tile server is overloaded. We do not guarantee any level of service or have unlimited resources for everyone and their dog to run extremely CPU+Memory intensive map export functions. Speak to a commercial provider or setup your own tile server if you need someone to complain to. More realistically get the tangogps developers to stop being silly and use our standard map tiles like almost everyone else. We serve far in excess of 200 tiles per second compared to at best a couple of map export calls per minute. --firefishy 15:03, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
- Also worth noting... We have NOT put any tangogps specific blocks in place. Requests are simply being rejected due to server overload. Normal tiles are given preference. --firefishy 15:33, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
- So you've added a sentence on there now "Calls to /cgi-bin/export may only be triggered by direct end-user action"
- Strange thing about this is, it's not really a tile serving issue. It just happens that the export script is something which is running on the tile server, and so when it's overloaded they're getting the standard tile server message pointing at this tile usage policy. I guess ideally it would give a different error message pointing them at a 'export usage policy' or something (We also want an 'API usage policy' right?)
- -- Harry Wood 13:31, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Add a paragraph about commercial applications
I would like to have two paragraphs added. Here is my proposal:
=== Identification of applications === Applications shall identify themselves correctly to the server. === Commercial applications === Any application that is commercial shall not use OSM tile servers, but use own tile servers (this does not apply to web browsers). Violations to this might result in blocking the requests if the servers are overloaded.
Reason: I don't see why the community is asked for donations for new servers and the commercial application developers profit from this.
--Lulu-Ann 13:57, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
- The identification of applications is already covered. See the first bullet of Tile_usage_policy#Technical_Usage_Requirements, "Valid User-Agent identifying application". However, I support the addition of the second paragraph regarding commercial application use. The Mapnik style is freely available, so there is no barrier to commercial applications setting up their own tile server showing the same style. --Matt 14:22, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
- Just thinking about it a little more; We shouldn't be supporting commercial applications using OSM tiles, but I think commercial web-sites using the tiles to display a map is probably OK. That distinction should be clear in the policy. --Matt 16:21, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
- Added "(this does not apply to web browsers)". OK now? --Lulu-Ann 15:58, 29 September 2009 (UTC)
- Just thinking about it a little more; We shouldn't be supporting commercial applications using OSM tiles, but I think commercial web-sites using the tiles to display a map is probably OK. That distinction should be clear in the policy. --Matt 16:21, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
I do not agree. If we start adding restrictions to use (like limiting use of the tile servers to non-commercial uses only), we go down the slippery slope the Google Maps have gone. To answer your question "why the community is asked for donations for new servers and the commercial application developers profit from this", the answer is because community also benefits from it (such as gaining new community members due to wider exposure, new hardware gadgets that happen to work with OSM, wider acceptance in general public etc). I do however understand that some people would prefer CC-BY-NC-SA instead of CC-BY-SA that is used now (even if it does not legally translates to use of tile servers themselves, but you know what I mean), but I am not one of them. I'd prefer money I've donated to be used for purposes that benefit *everybody* interested - including commercial users. That is, I think the limiting (when needed) should be done exclusively on the load you generate, not on the fact if you're commercial entity or not. --mnalis 12:55, 7 November 2009 (UTC)
- I do not agree either. In my eyes the volume restriction makes sense. If someone manages to make a fortune from our tile server but only produces barely noticeable load - why bother cutting him off? Pure envy. On the other hand, if someone is not commercial but produces extreme loads (imagine what would happen if Wikipedia didn't use their own tile servers) then we have to do something. In addition, volume is easily measurable, whereas the definition of whether something is commercial or not varies wildly depending on whom you ask. A student financing his web server through banner ads? Some say he's commercial. A city council with their own web page? Some say they're commercial (arguing that they have budgets and targets and business decisions like anyone else, and could well afford their own tile server). And so on. --Frederik Ramm 18:42, 24 November 2009 (UTC)
- Not really sure where I stand on that one. One thing's for sure though. Adding a mention of commercial uses is going to be controversial. We need to progress this whole thing beyond 'draft' status. I suggest we proceed without this addition, since we can add it later.
- Perhaps we should add a sentence "Further restrictions on commercial uses are under discussion" maybe in the "Changes to this policy" section. That may put off some people who we don't want to put off, but it may also put off some people who do want to put off. Certainly it will help drive the discussion. If we conclusively decide against adding any commercial use restrictions, then we would remove that sentence obviously.
- -- Harry Wood 13:20, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
More details about "heavy users"
What's left to do to take this out of "Draft" status? When it's ready it might be nice if the Foundation board gave their "approval" of the policy in some way, to give it more weight. But before we do that, is there any changes to make?
Maybe it needs more detail on what is meant by "heavy users" (give some actual numbers?), also "bulk downloading" and "not encouraged".
Or maybe it helps to be vague about these things.
-- Harry Wood 17:15, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Usage stats for Monday 1st March 2010
Referrer
- Total hits for day: 66223134
- Total bytes served for the day: 436468400297
User Agent
| Browser | Hits/Tiles | % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | 27038850 | 40.8299 | |
| IE | 9211100 | 13.9092 | |
| Unknown | 8867994 | 13.3911 | |
| Opera | 8842540 | 13.3526 | |
| Chrome | 2858046 | 4.3158 | |
| Safari | 1616075 | 2.4403 | |
| GPS | 1339390 | 2.0225 | |
| Java | 1317080 | 1.9889 | |
| oMaps | 1199159 | 1.8108 | |
| BlueMapiaClient | 1069658 | 1.6152 | |
| curl | 491669 | 0.7424 | |
| gnome-vfs | 375154 | 0.5665 | |
| OpenMaps | 353282 | 0.5335 | |
| JTileDownloader | 318412 | 0.4808 | |
| tangogps | 317646 | 0.4797 | |
| JOSM | 269035 | 0.4063 | |
| Konqueror | 124072 | 0.1874 | |
| SeaMonkey | 116339 | 0.1757 | |
| wget | 103418 | 0.1562 | |
| Dalvik | 93300 | 0.1409 | |
| GPSLite | 84276 | 0.1273 | |
| Marble | 78971 | 0.1192 | |
| LWP | 51448 | 0.0777 | |
| HiGuide | 36874 | 0.0557 | |
| GoogleEarth | 31220 | 0.0471 | |
| Netscape | 5074 | 0.0077 | |
| Nokia | 4986 | 0.0075 | |
| Galeon | 3506 | 0.0053 | |
| SonyEricsson | 2254 | 0.0034 | |
| PlanetMaps | 2044 | 0.0031 | |
| BlackBerry | 262 | 0.0004 |
User agent raw log available here.
Usage stats for Wednesday 3rd March 2010
Referrer
- Total hits for day: 59767569
- Total bytes served for the day: 417395293235
User Agent
| Browser | Hits/Tiles | % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | 25287227 | 42.3093 | |
| IE | 10747883 | 17.9828 | |
| Opera | 7446600 | 12.4593 | |
| Unknown | 5780081 | 9.6709 | |
| Chrome | 2630965 | 4.4020 | |
| Safari | 1565883 | 2.6200 | |
| OpenMaps | 1280459 | 2.1424 | |
| oMaps | 1270650 | 2.1260 | |
| GPS | 992959 | 1.6614 | |
| Java | 680571 | 1.1387 | |
| tangogps | 594446 | 0.9946 | |
| JTileDownloader | 467910 | 0.7829 | |
| JOSM | 248730 | 0.4162 | |
| gnome-vfs | 152999 | 0.2560 | |
| wget | 148241 | 0.2480 | |
| Dalvik | 92708 | 0.1551 | |
| SeaMonkey | 88658 | 0.1483 | |
| Konqueror | 77205 | 0.1292 | |
| GPSLite | 73193 | 0.1225 | |
| Marble | 62835 | 0.1051 | |
| curl | 23675 | 0.0396 | |
| GoogleEarth | 19353 | 0.0324 | |
| LWP | 9647 | 0.0161 | |
| HiGuide | 8007 | 0.0134 | |
| Netscape | 4699 | 0.0079 | |
| Galeon | 3999 | 0.0067 | |
| PlanetMaps | 3507 | 0.0059 | |
| SonyEricsson | 2049 | 0.0034 | |
| Nokia | 1984 | 0.0033 | |
| BlackBerry | 266 | 0.0004 | |
| BlueMapiaClient | 180 | 0.0003 |
User agent raw log available here.
Update of usage stat
Would it be possible to get an update of the usage stats? I'm especially interested how many request come from toolserver.org. --Kolossos 20:50, 7 September 2010 (BST)
- I did some analyses on the last 2 log dumps [1] --!i!
17:18, 30 October 2011 (UTC)
- And once again? Once a year is great.--Yvecai 16:25, 3 October 2012 (BST)
Translation
Any reason we're not doing translations of this important page?? Shall I add the {{languages}} template? -- Harry Wood 00:07, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
- It's a do-ocracy. I did. --Lulu-Ann 15:25, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
- Nice one! -- Harry Wood 12:20, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
I think we can drop that red message "Please help to translate this important page to your language" as it has been translated a fair bit now, and that top sentence is distraction from the content -- Harry Wood (talk) 11:50, 8 April 2014 (UTC)
Alternative OpenStreetMap Tile Providers
After "Setting up your own tile server:", what about adding:
Setting up your own cache server:
Note: this is not as good as setting your own tile server, but if the users are looking mostly at certain regions (for example if directed by POI) and if the role of the OSM tile server (or another) is to provide a background image (no need for an up-to-date map), this can decrease the load on the server dramatically as the users have a two month expiration period in their cache, the duration of the files cached on the server being one month. -- User:Nospam2005 18:02, 20 May 2014
- Alternatively there is the tilecache repo from CycleStreets:
- * Tilecache by CycleStreets
- -- Cyclestreets
Usage of fetch header (to get ETag) is forbidden, why?
I maintaine in my netbook tiles for offline usage with foxtrotGPS, for example to travel a Cuba where you can not fetch online with reasonable costs. From time to time I update the tiles by fetching only the header to compare the ETag md5 hash and only when it does not match the hash in my computer, I do fetch the responding tile. This seems now forbidden, it says:
$ curl -A "fetch libfetch/2.0" -I http://b.tile.openstreetmap.org/10/539/371.png HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden Server: squid/2.7.STABLE9 Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2015 09:47:48 GMT Content-Type: text/html Content-Length: 1268 X-Squid-Error: ERR_ACCESS_DENIED 0 X-Cache: MISS from katie.openstreetmap.org X-Cache-Lookup: NONE from katie.openstreetmap.org:3128 Via: 1.0 katie.openstreetmap.org:3128 (squid/2.7.STABLE9) Connection: close
why is this?