[Legal-general] Introduction

[SteveC]

On Jul 20, 2010, at 1:39 AM, Nic Roets wrote:

> On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 1:20 AM, SteveC <steve at asklater.com> wrote:
>> It's already duplicated many times over isn't it?
>> 
> 
> If only the founder of OSM had the vision to see that PD leads to less
> duplication...

yeah all that tags, API, REST, SOTM, mapping party, data model and public speaking vision was shit too...

If only we had more vision!


>> On Jul 20, 2010, at 1:14 AM, Eric Wolf wrote:
>> 
>>> Thus begins the fun conversation that helps decide whether US tax dollars should go toward maintaining a basemap through duplicated effort or not. It can happen either way - either write your representatives in Washington telling them that you support USGS data being published under a more restrictive license (than PD) or you lobby the OSM Foundation to change OSM. Right now, the USGS wants to participate more in OSM but can't because the budget doesn't really support developing two base maps of the country (the one on OSM and The National Map). So we are stuck building our silos and interacting with OSM in a research capacity.
>>> 
>>> I guess a third possibility is to lobby Congress to increase the USGS budget so we can do both. But that won't be viewed too kindly because OSM can easily be seen as an arm CloudMade. It would be akin to the USGS helping Google (or TeleAtlas or Navteq) directly develop their basemaps (instead of just providing everyone with the same data access). There are pretty strict rules about how much Federal agencies can help corporations develop products. And even though it's crystal clear to me that Cloudmade and OSM are distinct, I'm not the one who gets to make that call. Just the appearance of impropriety is bad politics.
>>> 
>>> Personally, I'd rather see the USGS adopt a license that helps it get a little love back from data users (other than tax dollars). It would also mean we could direct our efforts at producing one really great map.
>>> 
>>> -Eric
>>> 
>>> -=--=---=----=----=---=--=-=--=---=----=---=--=-=-
>>> Eric B. Wolf                    New! 720-334-7734
>>> USGS Geographer
>>> Center of Excellence in GIScience
>>> PhD Student
>>> CU-Boulder - Geography
>>> 
>>> GPG Public Key: http://www.h4h.net/ebwolf.public.key.txt
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 4:39 PM, SteveC <steve at asklater.com> wrote:
>>> thus begins the fun discussion that we should change to PD because USGS wants us to, or we should keep BYSA because nearmap wants us to
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jul 19, 2010, at 8:27 PM, Eric Wolf wrote:
>>>> I wanted to make a quick introduction. Some of you may know me already - but likely many of you don't know why I subscribed to the list.
>>>> 
>>>> First, I subscribed because the OSM/PD page on the OSM Wiki said this was the mailing list to discuss PD map issues.
>>>> 
>>>> Second, I am involved in efforts within the USGS to understand how to work with the OSM community. I've done this in the past through things like joining mapping parties and taking Steve Coast on a tour of Washington DC.
>>>> 
>>>> Third, the primary hurdle between the USGS and OSM interchanging data on a large scale is due to licensing. The USGS is required by federal law to release all data free of any restrictions. Technically, it's not PD but it's a flavor of PD. I'm not a lawyer, so I won't even try to get into it. Essentially, the USGS would be putting some significant effort directly into the development of OSM if it weren't for the license issue.
>>>> 
>>>> Fourth, I'm involved in a project where we are testing some of the software capabilities and social processes within the context of current USGS data compilation. We've already stood up an empty OSM software stack on our own server and have begun populating with some test data. It's a very controlled test and there is very, very little actual data.
>>>> 
>>>> So, I am interested in the OSM/PD project and I look forward to the discussions here.
>>>> 
>>>> -Eric Wolf
>>>> 
>>>> -=--=---=----=----=---=--=-=--=---=----=---=--=-=-
>>>> Eric B. Wolf                    New! 720-334-7734
>>>> USGS Geographer
>>>> Center of Excellence in GIScience
>>>> PhD Student
>>>> CU-Boulder - Geography
>>>> 
>>>> GPG Public Key: http://www.h4h.net/ebwolf.public.key.txt
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Legal-general mailing list
>>>> Legal-general at openstreetmap.org
>>>> http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/legal-general
>>> 
>>> Steve
>>> 
>>> stevecoast.com
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> Steve
>> 
>> stevecoast.com
>> 
>> 
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> 

Steve

stevecoast.com