Wikidata:WikidataCon 2017/Notes/Wikidata and OpenStreetMap

Abstract

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is to map data as Wikipedia is to encyclopedias. In fact, when introducing OSM, it is usually described as the “Wikipedia for maps” and OpenStreetMap was actually inspired by Wikipedia. Both projects are all about the creation and promotion of free and open content through the use of a collaborative editing platform by diverse users. With the introduction of Wikidata, OpenStreetMap now has a direct counterpart in Wikimedia family in terms of being a structured-data open-content project. It therefore makes sense that OSM and Wikidata ought to complement each other.

To date, there has been several collaborations, joint-projects, and cross-pollination between the two communities such as a Wikidata+OSM SPARQL endpoint developed by the Wikimedia Foundation, and the effort of Mapbox (Q17068357) to link OSM and Wikidata objects together. However, there are some challenges encountered on the road towards greater collaboration. This includes the currently incompatible licensing between Wikidata (CC0) and OSM (Open Database License (Q1224853)) and on OSM's origin in a jurisdiction with sui generis database right (United Kingdom), as well as some distrust in the OSM community towards Wikimedia projects.