[davexunit]

I don't like this. From what little I have read, mapcodes appear to be proprietary, despite advertising a "free, open standard".

>Mapcodes are free. They can be used by anyone, and may be supported, provided or generated by anyone, as long as this is done free of charge, conditions or restrictions

Why can't someone charge money for a service that generates mapcodes?

>The mapcode algorithms and data tables may not be altered in any way that would result in the production of different (and thus incompatible) mapcodes. The mapcode algorithms and data tables may not be used in any way to generate a different system that produces codes to represent locations.

I think this means that the source code they are distributing is proprietary, because we cannot use it for any purpose.

[cwp]

There's quite a bit of territory between "proprietary" and "free software, as approved by the FSF". If the MapCode sources are free for any purpose except confusing people, I'm fine with that.

[justincormack]

Certainly not compatible with Debian free software guidelines.