FALSE: ArcGIS Online map services are available at no cost regardless of use

Question

I noted with great interest the comments from ESRI over the weekend that the base map layers are now available at no cost regardless of use.

There is no legal documentation provided which supports this - all of the data layers are still under a non commercial creative commons licence limited to the US.

Can someone point me towards ANY legal documentation which actually supports the statements by ESRI? At present, simply saying it's free isn't good enough for any legal department. Where is the appropriate licencing agreement?!?

Thanks,

JamesPaull · Answer

We are working on an updated terms of use to clarify the meaning of freely available and will post a link to it here when it is ready. In the meantime, we have addressed some questions related to �??free use�?� on a recent blog post.

Molly

Thanks for the response Molly - really appreciate it! Apologies for my initial frustrations, it is difficult when you have some data that you know you should be able to use, but you need clear and concise legal terms for business purposes. I look forward to reading the updated terms of use 🙂

Cheers,

mzurn · Answer

We are working on an updated terms of use to clarify the meaning of freely available and will post a link to it here when it is ready. In the meantime, we have addressed some questions related to �??free use�?� on a recent blog post.

Molly