06 January
Ordnance Survey has become the latest organisation to adopt the Open Government Licence, which was developed and launched by The National Archives last year.
The Open Government Licence is a key element of the Government's commitment to greater transparency and enables easy access to public sector information.
It provides a single set of terms and conditions for anyone wishing to use or licence freely available government information.
The licence has been designed so that developers and entrepreneurs wishing to use government data to create new applications no longer need to formally apply for permission. The new licence is interoperable with other internationally recognised licensing models, such as Creative Commons.
The Open Government Licence will replace the OS OpenData licence which Ordnance Survey has had in place since the service was launched on 1 April 2010.
All the data available through OS OpenData is free to download or order on disc, and remains open for commercial or non-commercial use without restriction.
For more information, visit the Ordnance Survey website here: http://blog.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/2011/01/changes-to-the-os-opendata-licence/