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<p>Hi Vincent,</p>
<p>This is my personal IANAL advice and if anyone with a more
authoritative background says anything, that should supercede! <br>
</p>
<p>First and foremost: Does the floor plan have an explicit
permissions notice? If so, be guided by that. Usually they don't
and I use them for two reasons:</p>
<p>1) You are using them in a manner that helps and assists the
"their" business. "their" meaning the overall mall/airport owner
and the individual businesses within the area. This is very
different from, say, copying from an online directory where you
are effectively competing with their business by leaking their IP
into a free directory - and therefore potentially causing them
monetary harm. I am (personally!) confident that this advice would
hold true in Australia, have sought formal legal advice on a
similar but not identical issue. It seems intuitive elsewhere, but
particular jurisdictions may have their own peculiarities.<br>
</p>
<p>2) If the owner of the map has not formally asserted copyright,
they are still free to do so. They can request that the data be
removed from OpenStreetMap using <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://dmca.openstreetmap.org/">https://dmca.openstreetmap.org/</a>,
and you or OpenStreetMap can very simply remove it. As there is no
systematic extraction, it is just one mall (etc) and a painless
procedure for both them and OpenStreetMap. It is very unlikely
that anyone would ever do that, (to what purpose?), so the risk is
tiny. This view may be contentious and I invite any
counter-viewpoint.</p>
<p>Lastly, one thing to think about is how "public" is the floor
plan? <br>
</p>
<p>- Can you view it from a clearly public place, such as a public
road or footpath? If so, it is hard for the copyright owner to
argue that the information should not be shared if they are
blasting it out to everyone. <br>
</p>
<p>- Is it visible from a space used by the general public on a
permissive basis? I.e. inside a mall or airport concourse. Here
you are on private property so need to be a little more careful -
some malls specifically ban photography - but IMHO, the same
argument applies, the information on the floor plan is meant for
the public. <br>
</p>
<p>- Malls, public airports and markets are clearly meant to be used
by the general public but the "etc" in your question may include
other facilities. Take for example a police training college,
(real case). I personally would not use their building/floor plan
sited in their (privately owned) entrance area out of 1) security
courtesy and 2) the information is not clearly meant for public
consumption.<br>
</p>
<p>Mike<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2023-01-19 20:09, Vincent Veldman
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:32643218-2844@mail.veldman.me">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
There's recently been the question about layouts of shopping
malls, airports, markets, etc..<br>
<br>
is it allowed to make a photo of these and use the layout at a
means to map in Openstreetmap?<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://josm.openstreetmap.de/wiki/Help/Plugin/PicLayer">https://josm.openstreetmap.de/wiki/Help/Plugin/PicLayer</a><br>
<br>
This is a plugin clearly intended for such purposes. Especially
reading the section:<br>
<br>
<p>
<strong>What do I need to use this action?</strong> </p>
<ul>
<li>an image, preferably a floor plan
</li>
<li>information about side length of building </li>
</ul>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It does say at the top:"Make sure the image is suitable,
copyright-wise, if in doubt, don't use."<br>
<br>
Probably someone should add this as a reminder behind the "Floor
Plan" as it's quickly overlooked by the reader.<br>
<br>
But the main question is - how does the mapper know if it's
legit? Just principally assuming it's always not allowed?<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://matthewjamestaylor.com/floor-plan-copyright">https://matthewjamestaylor.com/floor-plan-copyright</a><br>
<br>
Reading such an article - many similar on the internet -
basically is referring to using such plans to actually build it.<br>
<br>
clearly - a mall layout or airport layout isn't even close to a
real floor plan to actually build one.<br>
<br>
You need wall thickness, materials, etc.. of all and tons of
more which is on the real floor plan - is obviously not
available to the public.<br>
<br>
So that data basically disqualifies itself from any use to build
anything based on the layout.<br>
<br>
But far-stretched thinking - maybe someone would actually use
OSM for a general layout and based on that design a mall or
airport..<br>
<br>
Which would be illegal clearly. Yet this is very far-stretched..<br>
<br>
So how would one have to consider this layouts we see in malls
and other buildings? Principally illegal to use?<br>
<br>
Thank you<br>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
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