This presentation has only been tested in "modern" browsers, and likely won't work properly in older versions of Internet Explorer.

Status of Web Map Licensing

September 5, 2012

The National Park Service currently has four enterprise license agreements that relate to web mapping:

  1. Bing Maps - currently available through December 31, 2012
  2. Esri - currently available through September 30, 2013
  3. Google - currently available through September 30, 2012
  4. MapBox - currently available through April 30, 2013

Each of these license agreements gives us access to a unique set of services

In general, services fall under one of the following categories:

  1. Base maps
  2. Geocoding
  3. Routing
  4. Static image
  5. Other (streetview, elevation, geoprocessing, etc.)

If you are using services from one of these enterprise agreements and are not using NPMap to build your web map, you must:

Information on disclaimer and licensing credentials for the different APIs is available in the NPMap support documentation. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the NPMap team.

The difference between open source and proprietary

Most commercial web map service providers impose restrictions on how you can use their services. For example:

Services coming from some providers, however, are much more open.

Both MapBox and MapQuest are much less restrictive with their web services. If you are using these services, you will likely want to utilize an open source web mapping API like Leaflet or Modest Maps. The NPMap library supports both of these Base APIs.

Our recommendation? Use NPMap. The library takes care of all of this for you. It will make your life much easier.

Subscribe to the NPMap mailing list or our blog to keep up with the status of web map licenses

Thanks! Any questions?