Geograph - photograph every grid square

Keeping the Geograph website operational requires many people to donate their time or resources, and we want to be sure that the website is a resource free from commercial exploitation in future. To that end, the site software is available for re-use under the terms of the GNU Public Licence (GPL).

Also, we require all submitters to adopt a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence on their photographic submissions.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Under this licence the photographer keeps the copyright on their images but grants the right to anyone to copy and/or distribute and/or modify the image and its attached metadata, provided they give credit. This right to reuse the image may include someone printing and selling the image on Ebay or elsewhere.

On submission, contributors licence their images at one or more specific sizes. Once a licence is granted it is irrevocable, as that image and licence may legally have been downloaded and used elsewhere.

In a nutshell, we wanted to build a true community project that won't leave a nasty taste in the mouth by getting sold for shedloads of cash and taken away from the people who contributed. These licence terms ensure that the site and content can never be "taken away" from you. See Freedom - The Geograph Manifesto http://www.geograph.org.uk/help/freedom



(Developer? http://www.geograph.org.uk/article/Geograph-for-Developers )

You can download any image from Geograph and print it. If larger sizes are available it is best to select the largest for printing purposes. Do read the 'Find out How to reuse this image' page for details on the licensing, crediting and any constraints on reuse.

All photos are Creative Commons (CC) licensed. That means you can use them for free for any purpose as long as you credit the photographer individually and state the fact that the image is CC-licensed. You can find suggested wordings for both print and electronic publications if you click 'reuse this picture' under the photo description on each photo page.

If you need a higher-resolution version, there may be a CC-licensed version available by clicking the 'more sizes' link (if present) to the top right of the main photo. Alternatively, you can contact the photographer through their profile page (click their name on the photo page to get there) and ask if they are willing to give or sell you a copy under a separate licence.

All the photos submitted to Geograph are available for reuse under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. This means you have a lot of freedom to use them, but there are a few important conditions.

Essentially, this license allows you to:

* Copy and redistribute the images in any format or medium.

* Adapt, remix, and transform the images to create new works.

* Use the images for commercial purposes, like selling a print of a photo.

=== The Key Conditions ===

Even with all this freedom, you must follow these two core rules:

1. Give credit: You must properly attribute the original photographer. You can't just take the photo and claim it as your own.

2. Share under the same license: If you adapt or build upon the image, you must release your new creation under a compatible Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. This ensures the content remains free for everyone to use.

Think of it this way: the photographer keeps their copyright, but they've granted everyone else the right to use their work, including for commercial purposes, as long as credit is given and the "share-alike" rule is followed.

=== The Bigger Picture ===

The goal of this licensing model is to keep Geograph a true community project. By requiring this license, the content can never be "taken away" or sold off by a corporation for exclusive use. It ensures that the site and its content will always remain a free and open resource, a lasting legacy from everyone who contributed to it.

The simplest method is to overwrite the large version with a smaller one.
This only needs to be one pixel larger than the displayed image (641 pixels on longest side) but can be whatever size you are comfortable to licence for reuse.
Just click on the link [Upload another large version] and follow the steps on the page.

This process works best on unmoderated images as these will not yet have been picked up by others (wikimedia, British library, site visitors etc). We cannot guarantee that images overwritten after moderation will not have been copied elsewhere before being replaced.