Embarrassing coding style aside, I am concerned about parasitic big corporations taking the code and putting it behind a paywall, which is not what I want for obvious reasons. Putting my projects under GPL will obviously hold them back a bit, with the cost that brilliant programmers who would have helped would be the casualty. Another issue I have is that I want zero AI-bros in my code. Not only would I be inviting disorganized, poorly constructed code, I also don't want these kids copy/pasting to add code they have no right to. What should I do?
I'm not super fond of AI myself and I definitely see how it can result in low-quality contributions pushed upstream. At the same time - if someone can use FOSS to genuinely improve their life, even with AI-generated modifications, I'd hope they do. Maybe that's just me, though.
If you’re a nonprofit or a small, local business, then by all means, use my maps—that’s who I built them for. But big corporations? No.
Open Maps is facing this exact problem right now. Every shady AI and LLM is scraping their data and making millions, yet contributing nothing back to the source.
I want to avoid all that by making it very clear: if you're a big corp and you want access to our data, you need to pay up. Otherwise, take a hike.
They’ll probably take the data anyway without permission, just because they can afford $500/hour lawyers—but at least I’ll have made the effort to stand my ground.
"Is it worth to ...?"
I will answer the same as I did back then. What does it mean for something to have worth to you? That is not a rethorical question.
I have to anticipate how the code will be received once I open source it, and my question was a way to fill the gaps I might have about the consequences of releasing the code under a certain license.
I guess I could bypass all these inquiries, lazily upload my code to GitHub, have vultures like Google find it, copy it, and put it into Google Maps. They may or may not care about catering to blind people (the original intended audience), and then my little code would just fade away, as a more refined version would likely emerge elsewhere.
Your intention in assisting technologies sounds noble. However, precisely because of that, I cannot stain your own path with my opinions regarding how to license it.
Bad actors won’t touch that license typically
> a PDF alternative for the blind
I'm not sure what it means. It's a PDF reader? It's another format that is similar PDF but more screen reader friendly?
> Google Maps/navigation for the blind in my city
Do you know https://www.openstreetmap.org/ The data is open, so it may be useful to build an easier to use client, so you don't have to collect all the info.
> I am concerned about parasitic big corporations taking the code and putting it behind a paywall
Probably AGPL is better for your intentions.
> Not only would I be inviting disorganized, poorly constructed code,
There is no obligation as a maintainer to merge all PR. But remember to be nice.
Yes, a PDF alternative optimized for screen readers. For some reason, PDFs have clunky functionality when it comes to working with my screen reader. PDF URLs are especially egregious—VoiceOver really struggles to read them. So, I started writing a new file format that allows screen reader compatibility from the start.
>The data is open, so it may be useful to build an easier to use client, so you don't have to collect all the info.
Yes, I know that website—I’ll use it if I need it. So far, I’ve been preoccupied with some other data that neither Open Maps nor Google provides. I’m about 30–35% done. I also have to think about whether to go open or closed source before using their data. Even though what they provide is mostly public domain, nonetheless, I want to stick to my own principles: credit/donate where it’s due, or go without.
>There is no obligation as a maintainer to merge all PR. But remember to be nice.
Good advice.
As an avid OpenStreetMapper I honestly wonder what kind of data is missing in OpenStreetMap. Is that something sighted persons cannot grasp and thus not add to OSM? Have you seen https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_for_the_blind ? Is something missing there?
> I also have to think about whether to go open or closed source before using their data.
No, you don’t. If you use the map data, you have to attribute it, but your code doesn’t need to be open. See https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Attribution_Guideline... for the guidelines on attribution.
There are no benefits at all for you by making the code open source. There are no benefits for users either. The only people who benefit are huge corporations and a few open source fanatics who wouldn't even give you a glass of water if you asked for it.
If you want to benefit other people with your code and make a living from it, sell the software for an honest price. That way you attract quality users and are fairly compensated for your work.
Allow these vultures to steal my code, lock it behind a paywall, and then compete with me using my own work; or Make my code GPLv3 to effectively block them and their subsidiaries from touching it.
In that case, I and other independent developers would retain control and be the ones improving the code—unless, of course, the AI-bros are allowed to steal with impunity, which would make this whole conversation pointless.
