OpenStreetMap can be self-hosted. Protect the public OpenStreetMap service and force profit-driven interested parties to self-host an OpenStreetMap solution.
this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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Fuck AI
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Some context about OpenStreetMap:
It's an Open Data project, it means you can just go to a mirror and download the full db legally, and do whatever you want with that.* The license of OSM (called ODbL) even allows selling the data. They can legally train on it if they need this.
Yet the crawlers hammering the servers used by the volunteers... It's so stupid.
If you are interested this page lists like 20 different ways you can download data, depending on your use case, and what part of the database you actually need: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Downloading_data
* There is only one requirement, you have to display ©OpenStreetMap somewhere if you publish some derivative work. More info here: https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/
There is also no need to be concerned about openstreetmap (other than them getting ddosed by AI companies). Google and apple maps already exists, yet OSM thrives despite that. There is no competition that could replace what OSM does, its the champion of maps for anyone that isnt just a carbrain.
There's a concern if the infrastructure hosting OSM's services are degraded because of bot traffic
Thats what i meant by "getting ddosed by AI companies"
They ignore robots.txt so its just a malicious attack.