Blocked tiles

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If you are seeing this message where you expect a map, the map has been blocked.

If you have followed a hyperlink or URL to this page, you are using an application or webpage that we have blocked for violating OpenStreetMap's tile usage policy.

If block was applied due to missing attribution and it was fixed - you must notify about fix at openstreetmap/tile-attribution in issue about your software. You will need to create a github.com account, if you do not have one already. If contact was attempted elsewhere - it may be ignored or take very long time to process.

What happened?

If you are just trying to use an application or webpage, you probably did nothing wrong. You are seeing this message because of a problem in the software you are using.

An interactive map is made of a grid of square images, or tiles. The software you are using is currently designed to download these tiles directly from our servers. Unfortunately, it is downloading too many tiles too quickly, overwhelming our server and affecting our ability to keep building a map for everyone.

Why do we block applications?

OpenStreetMap is a volunteer project. We rely on the goodwill of our volunteers and kind donations to operate our expensive servers.

Unfortunately, some people have published or even sold applications that are misusing our servers. This is costing us more than our volunteers can afford to fund. By slowing down the servers, it also makes it harder for our mappers to draw the maps – which is the whole reason this project exists.

This is a real problem. At one point, one single application was responsible for 30% of the traffic going through our servers.

We have a clear Tile usage policy which asks applications making heavy use to set up their own map image servers (using the map data we give them for free), or use third-party servers. Unfortunately, several applications have not heeded this. We are left with no choice but to block them.

Missing attribution

If you are seeing this message where you expect a map, you are missing attribution such as " "© OpenStreetMap contributors".

OpenStreetMap is open data, licensed under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL) by the OpenStreetMap Foundation(OSMF). You are free to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt our data, as long as you credit OpenStreetMap and its contributors. Attribution is formally stated in section 4.3 of the ODbL:

"However, if you Publicly Use a Produced Work, You must include a notice associated with the Produced Work reasonably calculated to make any Person that uses, views, accesses, interacts with, or is otherwise exposed to the Produced Work aware that Content was obtained from the Database, Derivative Database, or the Database as part of a Collective Database, and that it is available under this License."

In this example, the credit appears in the corner of the map:

Example of properly attributing OpenStreetMap contributors.
Example of properly attributing OpenStreetMap contributors.

It is the responsibility of those who publicly use OpenStreetMap data to ensure the attribution fulfills its purpose and makes the user aware of the provenance of the data. You need to actively communicate this information to the user to meet these requirements. Merely making it available to users who are actively seeking this information is not enough.

What should I do?

If you are using a mobile or desktop application, please check if there is a new version of the application that fixes the map. Otherwise, if there are no updates yet, or if you are using a Web application or webpage, please contact its author and let them know about the problem.

If you need the map urgently or are unable to reach the developer, please see a list of available OpenStreetMap-based applications for Android, iOS and iPadOS, or other operating system platforms. Please check with the developer that their application doesn't use OpenStreetMap's servers, or it could also be blocked.

How do I fix my software?

If you are the developer of software that has been blocked, please remind yourself of the Tile usage policy.

We are unable to give away ready-made free map images to the world. We do not put adverts on our map, and cannot fund the huge number of servers that would be required to give everyone free map images. Rather, we publish the raw map data collected by our dedicated volunteer mappers. Other people can render maps from this data.

For third-party alternatives, see commercial software and services. For help on setting up your own server, see Develop.