Show HN: Private Maps for iOS – Minimalist OpenStreetMap | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Private Maps for iOS – Minimalist OpenStreetMap

apps.apple.com

3 pointseofster22 comments

"Legal" in the bottom left links to Apples servers and does not show the necessary attribution to OSM data, based on https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

Could you correct this?

Also, the AppStore description mentions "Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/std...", which should probably link to another place, i.e. to your site.

Well, this is the license the app is distributed under, the standard App Store app EULA.

OK, I misunderstood the text and thought this should link to your terms of use, not the standard Apple ones

No worries, you're not wrong. By default on the App Store the standard Apple's Licensed Application EULA applies. Optionally, Apple allows you to have your own license agreement instead of the standard one. And there is a special field for it on Apple's website where you edit your App Store app metadata. However, if you do not use your own agreement (you use the standard one) and also offer subscriptions, Apple wants the link to the standard agreement be explicitly specified in the app description. And in iOS UI it's called 'Terms of Use'.

The linked webpage shows the attribution to OSM in the very first line:

Contains map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

I thought it complied to the OSM license. Does it not?

This page shows Apples attribution, not the one from your app. Your app has to show it in your app.

First of all I want to emphasize that I want to comply with the license. This is my goal. And thank you for helping me to find the right solution for this.

I might be wrong, but here's how I see it.

I'm using the standard Apple framework called MapKit. It allows displaying your own map tiles. The "Legal" link is part of the framework UI and the framework API doesn't allow changing or hiding it. So doing so (changing or hiding it) is the way to risk not passing through the App Store review. I suspect that also Apple's own maps use OpenStreetMap data and Apple thinks it's legal and even obligatory to have this "Legal" link.

In my opinion, the "Legal" link is not just Apple's attribution that doesn't apply to third-party apps. It's specifically there, in the map framework MapKit, for the third-party apps on Apple platforms to display maps. The fact that the web page is technically located on Apple's web server doesn't automatically mean it's Apple's own attribution. It's all Apple's platform. The iOS apps are downloaded from the App Store, they use Apple APIs for interacting with the OS, they use Apple frameworks. By default, Apple's standard Licensed Application End User License Agreement applies for app distribution and usage.

And last and not least, it's not that the attribution is hidden or unreachable for the people using the app. It's right there, shown on tap, first line in bold text, the link to it is always visible on the map.

I am not a lawyer, just an avid OpenStreetMap editor and like to see where my contributions are used and credited.

> And last and not least, it's not that the attribution is hidden or unreachable for the people using the app. It's right there, shown on tap, first line in bold text, the link to it is always visible on the map.

The OpenStreetMap Copyright page [1] is pretty clear: "Where you use OpenStreetMap data, you are required to do the following two things: 1) Provide credit to OpenStreetMap by displaying our copyright notice. 2) Make clear that the data is available under the Open Database License."

The guidelines for attribution even suggest a text to use: https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Attribution_Guideline... and this text is certainly not "Legal" linking to an Apple URL. As I see it, complying with the license would be putting "© OpenStreetMap contributors" at the bottom of your map view, but again, IANAL, just an OSM nerd.

[1]: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright

All those points - credit, link to the license, and suggested text - are right there, as the very first line of the page that opens on tap. So the difference is if all of that must be directly on a map itself or a link to the attribution, especially when there's little space on the screen, is also in compliance with the license. I've just been thinking that it's in compliance.

That's the legal part. I've been also thinking about all the contributors, and had an impression that the attribution shown after a single tap would be okay for them too.

See https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Attribution_Guideline...

> While the lower right corner is traditional, any corner of the map is acceptable. Alternatively, the attribution may be placed adjacent to the map or on a splash screen or pop-up shown when a user starts the app, device, website, etc.

Please add attribution “© OpenStreetMap contributors” or “© OpenStreetMap” in the bottom right corner. There is a large community of volunteers around the world who contribute to this map.

There's a list of illegal usage at https://github.com/matkoniecz/illegal-use-of-OpenStreetMap#w...

Yep, thank you and habi for bringing this up. Now, after learning the Attribution Guidelines more thoroughly, I'm updating the app to show the attribution directly on a map and fading it as specified by the guidelines.

Released a new version with a proper attribution that is always shown on the map.

Hey, I've created a maps app for iOS that I always wanted to have: private, minimalist, easy on the battery, and in standard OpenStreetMap style.

You should put "Show HN:" to the title, if it's your creation.

Oh, thanks for the heads-up, updated the title.

Are you rendering your own tiles?

I am. The high-resolution ones.

And the low-res ones? Are you just loading them from `https://tile.openstreetmap.org/${z}/${x}/${y}.png`?

The app doesn't use the low-resolution tiles. The app only works on the high-resolution displays.

I don't load tiles from the severs other than the own ones. Not only am I aware of the OpenStreetMap's rules about it. It is also an important part of the privacy guarantee. No third party gets information about the loaded map tiles. This information is not stored, not collected, and not shared with anybody.

I meant the (free) low-zoom vs. (paid) high-zoom tiles.

Can you tell us a bit about your rendering pipeline?

Absolutely! What exactly do you want to know? The rendering pipeline is the most standard one: Mapnik, Postgres, openstreetmap-carto, renderd. Everything is hosted on the own servers.

By resolution I mean exactly this - resolution. High-resolution tiles, also known as retina tiles. Low-resolution tiles are not used at all. All of that is not related to zoom.

If this wasn't clearly communicated by me: all zoom levels are rendered by the own servers.

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