[OSM-legal-talk] Putting example satellite images in our Wiki

[Tim Thornton]

Hi Frederik

(And as this is a first post - hi everyone else, too!)

On 3/20/07, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>    I want to create one or more pages in the wiki with examples of
> how to map complex junctions (you know, the several-dual-carriageways-
> meet-at-roundabout-with-overpass-and-tramway-in-between stuff). Not
> that I'm an authority on that but I would expect some healthy
> discussion and an emerging "best practice" manual from it.
>
> To have some real-world examples I would really like to use satellite
> imagery. Do you reckon this would be "fair use" and I could just use
> any images from Yahoo or Google as I see fit?

In the UK, no, I don't think you could without explicit permission.
There are PD satellite images, but I don't believe they're at
sufficient resolution for your purposes.

Don't forget that fair use is not part of UK copyright law.

> If it isn't "fair use", what other options do I have - are there free
> high-resolution satellite images, or is it possible to include a
> little Google API window on a Wiki page?

Sorry to be pedantic - but do you really mean aerial pictures? Most of
the Google hi-res "satellite" coverage is actually taken from an
aircraft.

Why not ask the Geoinformation Group if they'd be willing to donate a
license for an image of a junction? They supply Google with a good
portion of the aerial photography used in Google Maps.

Cheers,
Tim