Terms & Conditions

OpenGeoHub foundation

OpenGeoHub is a not-for-profit research foundation with headquarters in Doorwerth, the Netherlands. OpenGeoHub Foundation is registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce under KvK number 71844570.

OpenGeoHub’s mission is fourfold.

Promote best practices: OpenGeoHub aims to create and maintain a community that identifies, promotes, and adopts best practices for the analysis of spatial and temporal data and the distribution and use of spatial data products.
Promote Open Data: OpenGeoHub promotes and actively supports the production, sharing, and use of Open GeoData based on Open Knowledge Foundation licenses. It provides platforms, tools, standards, and training to encourage Open Geodata and reproducible research shared using open web services and open standards.
Provide training and networking: OpenGeoHub helps researchers grow by connecting them with peer networks, improving programming skills, and making research more open and reproducible. It especially aims to encourage and empower under-represented researchers, including researchers from ODA recipient countries and female researchers.
Serve decision makers: OpenGeoHub aims to provide governmental and non-governmental organizations, private sector companies, and the general public with easily accessible and trustworthy Open Geographical Environmental Data that is documented, peer reviewed, and reproducible.

Agreement

The following terms and conditions govern all use of OpenGeoHub websites and all content, events, services, and products available at or through the website, collectively referred to as the Website.

The Website is owned and operated by OpenGeoHub Foundation, also referred to as Stichting OpenGeoHub.

The Website is offered subject to your acceptance without modification of all of the terms and conditions contained here and all other operating rules, policies, including without limitation OpenGeoHub Foundation’s Privacy & Cookie Policy, and procedures that may be published from time to time on this site by OpenGeoHub Foundation, collectively referred to as the Agreement.

Please read this Agreement carefully before accessing or using the Website. By accessing or using any part of the Website, OpenGeoHub materials, or OpenGeoHub services, you agree to become bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

If you do not agree to all the terms and conditions of this Agreement, then you may not access the Website or use any services. If these terms and conditions are considered an offer by OpenGeoHub Foundation, acceptance is expressly limited to these terms. The Website is available only to individuals who are at least 13 years old.

Your OpenGeoHub account and content

If OpenGeoHub provides account functionality, profile functionality, contributor areas, community tools, repositories, registration systems, or other interactive services, and you create content on or through the Website, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and content.

You are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your account and any other actions taken in connection with your content.

You must not describe or assign keywords to your content in a misleading or unlawful manner, including in a manner intended to trade on the name or reputation of others. OpenGeoHub Foundation may change or remove any description or keyword that it considers inappropriate, unlawful, or otherwise likely to cause OpenGeoHub Foundation liability.

You must immediately notify OpenGeoHub Foundation of any unauthorized uses of your content, your account, or any other breaches of security. OpenGeoHub Foundation will not be liable for acts or omissions by you, including damages of any kind incurred as a result of such acts or omissions.

Responsibility of contributors

If you post material to the Website, post links on the Website, submit materials to OpenGeoHub, or otherwise make or allow any third party to make material available by means of the Website or OpenGeoHub services, that material is referred to as Content.

You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content. This is the case regardless of whether the Content is text, graphics, data, audio, video, software, code, models, workflows, documents, or other materials.

By making Content available, you represent and warrant that:

The downloading, copying, and use of the Content will not infringe proprietary rights, including but not limited to copyright, patent, trademark, or trade secret rights of any third party.
If your employer has rights to intellectual property you create, you have either received permission from your employer to post or make available the Content, including software, data, or other materials, or secured from your employer a waiver as to all rights in or to the Content.
You have fully complied with any third-party licenses relating to the Content and have done all things necessary to pass through to end users any required terms.
The Content does not contain or install viruses, worms, malware, Trojan horses, or other harmful or destructive content.
The Content is not spam, machine-generated spam, randomly generated spam, or unethical or unwanted commercial content designed to drive traffic to third-party sites, boost search engine rankings, further unlawful acts such as phishing, or mislead recipients as to the source of the material such as spoofing.
The Content is not pornographic, does not contain threats or incite violence towards individuals or entities, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party.
Your profile, account, project, event, or submission is not advertised through unwanted electronic messages such as spam links on newsgroups, email lists, websites, or similar unsolicited promotional methods.
Your profile, account, project, event, or submission is not named in a manner that misleads readers into thinking that you are another person or company.
In the case of Content that includes computer code, data, models, tools, or workflows, you have accurately categorized and described the type, nature, uses, licenses, and effects of the materials, whether requested to do so by OpenGeoHub Foundation or otherwise.

Use of content

By submitting Content to OpenGeoHub Foundation for inclusion on the Website, in OpenGeoHub materials, in OpenGeoHub services, or in connection with OpenGeoHub activities, you grant OpenGeoHub Foundation a worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, display, distribute, and promote the Content solely for the purpose for which the Content was submitted or made available.

If you delete Content or request deletion of Content, OpenGeoHub Foundation will use reasonable efforts to remove it from the Website or relevant service where technically and operationally possible. You acknowledge that caching, backups, archives, references, published materials, or third-party copies may not become immediately unavailable.

Removal of content

Without limiting any of the representations or warranties above, OpenGeoHub Foundation has the right, though not the obligation, in OpenGeoHub Foundation’s sole discretion, to refuse or remove any content that, in OpenGeoHub Foundation’s reasonable opinion, violates any OpenGeoHub Foundation policy or is in any way harmful or objectionable.

OpenGeoHub Foundation may also terminate or deny access to and use of the Website to any individual or entity for any reason, in OpenGeoHub Foundation’s sole discretion. OpenGeoHub Foundation will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid, except where required by applicable law or specific event terms.

Responsibility of website visitors

OpenGeoHub Foundation has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, data, models, documents, and other materials, posted to or linked from the Website, and cannot therefore be responsible for that material’s content, use, or effects.

By operating the Website, OpenGeoHub Foundation does not represent or imply that it endorses material posted there, or that it believes such material to be accurate, useful, or non-harmful.

You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, malware, and other harmful or destructive content.

The Website may contain content that is offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable, as well as content containing technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, and other errors.

The Website may also contain material that violates privacy or publicity rights, infringes intellectual property or other proprietary rights of third parties, or is subject to additional terms and conditions, stated or unstated.

OpenGeoHub Foundation disclaims responsibility for harm resulting from the use by visitors of the Website or from downloading content posted there.

Content posted on other websites

OpenGeoHub Foundation has not reviewed, and cannot review, all of the material, including computer software, data, documents, and other materials, made available through websites and webpages to which OpenGeoHub websites link, and that link to OpenGeoHub websites.

OpenGeoHub Foundation does not have control over non-OpenGeoHub websites and webpages and is not responsible for their contents or their use.

By linking to a non-OpenGeoHub website or webpage, OpenGeoHub Foundation does not represent or imply that it endorses that website or webpage.

You are responsible for taking precautions as necessary to protect yourself and your computer systems from harmful or destructive content. OpenGeoHub Foundation disclaims responsibility for harm resulting from your use of non-OpenGeoHub websites and webpages.

Copyright infringement

As OpenGeoHub Foundation asks others to respect its intellectual property rights, it respects the intellectual property rights of others.

If you believe that material located on or linked to by an OpenGeoHub website violates your copyright, you are encouraged to notify OpenGeoHub Foundation.

OpenGeoHub Foundation will respond to appropriate notices, including as required or appropriate by removing infringing material or disabling links to infringing material.

OpenGeoHub Foundation may terminate a visitor’s access to and use of the Website if, under appropriate circumstances, the visitor is determined to be a repeat infringer of the copyrights or other intellectual property rights of OpenGeoHub Foundation or others.

In the case of such termination, OpenGeoHub Foundation will have no obligation to provide a refund of any amounts previously paid to OpenGeoHub Foundation, except where required by applicable law or specific event terms.

Intellectual property

This Agreement does not transfer from OpenGeoHub Foundation to you any OpenGeoHub Foundation or third-party intellectual property.

All right, title, and interest in and to such property will remain, as between the parties, solely with OpenGeoHub Foundation or the relevant rights holder.

OpenGeoHub Foundation, OpenGeoHub, OpenGeoHub.org, OpenGeoHub logos, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with OpenGeoHub Foundation or the Website are trademarks or registered trademarks of OpenGeoHub Foundation or OpenGeoHub Foundation’s licensors.

Other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with the Website may be trademarks of third parties.

Your use of the Website grants you no right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any OpenGeoHub Foundation or third-party trademarks.

Changes

OpenGeoHub Foundation reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify or replace any part of this Agreement.

It is your responsibility to check this Agreement periodically for changes.

Your continued use of or access to the Website following the posting of changes to this Agreement constitutes acceptance of those changes.

OpenGeoHub Foundation may also, in the future, offer new services and features through the Website, including the release of new tools and resources. Such new features and services shall be subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.

Termination

OpenGeoHub Foundation may terminate your access to all or any part of the Website at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately.

If you wish to terminate this Agreement or your OpenGeoHub account, where such an account exists, you may discontinue using the Website.

OpenGeoHub Foundation may terminate the Website immediately as part of a general shutdown of its service or activities.

All provisions of this Agreement which by their nature should survive termination shall survive termination, including ownership provisions, warranty disclaimers, indemnity, and limitations of liability.

Disclaimer of warranties

The Website is provided “as is”. OpenGeoHub Foundation and its suppliers and licensors disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including without limitation the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

Neither OpenGeoHub Foundation nor its suppliers and licensors make any warranty that the Website will be error-free or that access will be continuous or uninterrupted.

You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, the Website at your own discretion and risk.

Limitation of liability

In no event will OpenGeoHub Foundation, or its suppliers or licensors, be liable with respect to any subject matter of this Agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability, or other legal or equitable theory for special, incidental, or consequential damages.

OpenGeoHub Foundation will not be liable for the cost of procurement of substitute products or services, interruption of use, loss or corruption of data, or for any amounts that exceed the fees paid by you to OpenGeoHub Foundation under this Agreement during the twelve (12) month period prior to the cause of action.

OpenGeoHub Foundation shall have no liability for failure or delay due to matters beyond its reasonable control.

The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.

General representation and warranty

You represent and warrant that your use of the Website will be in strict accordance with the OpenGeoHub Foundation Privacy & Cookie Policy, with this Agreement, and with all applicable laws and regulations.

This includes, without limitation, any local laws or regulations in your country, state, city, or other governmental area regarding online conduct and acceptable content, and applicable laws regarding the transmission of technical data.

You also represent and warrant that your use of the Website will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of any third party.

Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless OpenGeoHub Foundation, its contractors, licensors, directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of your use of the Website, including but not limited to your violation of this Agreement.

CRKBO

The OpenGeoHub Foundation is included in the Central Register for Short Professional Education (Centraal Register Kort Beroepsonderwijs, CRKBO).

If an educational institution is listed in this register, this makes it a registered institution as referred to in the European VAT Directive. OGH is thus exempt from VAT on the educational services it offers.

This applies to the training, workshops, summer schools, conferences, and similar events organised by OpenGeoHub.

Courses and events

OpenGeoHub collects registration fees and course fees for training, workshops, summer schools, conferences, and similar events where applicable.

Printed or electronic invoices may be provided to participants during or after the course. Full name of the institution, address, and VAT number need to be provided where applicable.

Course fees and similar registration fees are usually collected in advance. Registered users or applicants for OpenGeoHub events that have paid the registration fees are referred to as Participants.

All information provided by participants of OpenGeoHub events is treated confidentially by OpenGeoHub, its employees, teachers, and relevant contractors, for instance by using non-disclosure agreements where confidential information about businesses, work processes, markets, strategies, or similar matters is involved.

All materials provided at OpenGeoHub events, if not indicated differently, are distributed under Open Knowledge International licenses. See http://opendefinition.org/licenses/.

Invited lecturers and workshop moderators are responsible for maintaining their content and assigning the applicable copyright or license.

Video and audio recordings of events are managed by signing a license agreement between OpenGeoHub and the lecturers where applicable.

For general questions, please reach out to the Event, Communication, and Media Office at events@opengeohub.org. OpenGeoHub aims to respond to your query within 3 working days.

Conditions under which a course or event may not be offered

OpenGeoHub events may be cancelled under special conditions including emergency, illness or death of a lecturer or immediate family member, similar tragic accident, force majeure, or other serious circumstances affecting the event.

In the case of cancellation of the whole event, the organizers may refund complete fees to participants and parties involved, subject to the specific conditions of the event and applicable law.

Cancellation conditions and refund options

All cancellations for courses and events organized by OpenGeoHub must be sent in writing by email or through the relevant course website.

Confirmation of your cancellation is provided within 14 days from receiving your email.

In principle, no refunds will be issued for cancellations within 8 weeks of the beginning of the event.

However, there is a 14-day grace period after sign-up where you can cancel at no cost.

You will receive confirmation of your cancellation within 5 working days, and OpenGeoHub will process your refund at the earliest opportunity, but always within 3 weeks of your request, if a refund applies.

Any dedicated cancellation policy or event-specific policy published for a course or event forms part of the applicable event terms.

Privacy

All information provided by participants is treated confidentially by OpenGeoHub, its employees, and teachers, as mentioned in the OpenGeoHub Privacy & Cookie Policy.

Copyright and recordings

Lecturers may be asked to sign a Recording License Agreement before participation, to allow OpenGeoHub to record and publish their presented work.

As mentioned in the Recording License Agreement, lecturers retain any copyrights they may have in their presentations.

Stichting OpenGeoHub shall not limit lecturers’ rights to publish or use the presentation as they see fit.

Lecturers may agree that OpenGeoHub owns or manages the recordings and the copyrights and other rights therein, depending on the applicable recording agreement.

Property rights owner of course materials

Owners of all course materials provided shall retain their property rights, unless explicitly stated otherwise in the relevant license or agreement.

Complaints procedure

The organizers of OpenGeoHub events and services are dedicated to providing a harassment-free event experience for everyone regardless of gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, or lack of religion.

All attendees, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers at OpenGeoHub events are required to agree to the applicable code of conduct where provided.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact either the local organizers and/or the OpenGeoHub management board at tom.hengl@opengeohub.org or by telephone at (+31) 026-7854346.

Contact the OpenGeoHub Management Board, represented by Tomislav Hengl, as soon as possible at tom.hengl@opengeohub.org and add events@opengeohub.org in copy. Describe your problem as clearly as you can so OpenGeoHub can help you best.
You will receive a reply within two weeks at the latest. OpenGeoHub will either help you right away or explain how long is needed to address the issue and why it will take longer.
If no satisfying conclusion can be reached, there is the option of appeal to an external member of the OpenGeoHub Management Board, Chair Prof. Edzer Pebesma at edzer.pebesma@uni-muenster.de.
The appeal body’s verdict is binding on Stichting OpenGeoHub. Stichting OpenGeoHub must take any required measures within a month at the latest.
Complaints are always treated confidentially.
Complaints and their handling are recorded, and these records are kept for at least one year.

Miscellaneous

This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between OpenGeoHub Foundation and you concerning the subject matter hereof, and it may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of OpenGeoHub Foundation or by the posting by OpenGeoHub Foundation of a revised version.

Except to the extent applicable law, if any, provides otherwise, this Agreement and any access to or use of the Website will be governed by the laws of the Netherlands, excluding its conflict of law provisions.

The proper venue for disputes arising out of or relating to the same will be governed by the laws of the Netherlands.

Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights, which may be brought in any competent court without the posting of a bond, any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be settled in accordance with Mediators Collectief.

The arbitration shall take place in the Netherlands, in the English language, and the arbitral decision may be enforced in any court, subject to the complaints procedure described in this document.

The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce this Agreement shall be entitled to costs and attorneys’ fees, where permitted by applicable law.

If any part of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable, that part will be construed to reflect the parties’ original intent, and the remaining portions will remain in full force and effect.

A waiver by either party of any term or condition of this Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof.

You may assign your rights under this Agreement to any party that consents to, and agrees to be bound by, its terms and conditions. OpenGeoHub Foundation may assign its rights under this Agreement without condition.

This Agreement will be binding upon and will inure to the benefit of the parties, their successors, and permitted assigns.