[OSM-legal-talk] Using JOSM + Yahoo Maps Aerial Imageryfor Public Domain Release

[Peter Miller]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: legal-talk-bounces at openstreetmap.org [mailto:legal-talk-
> bounces at openstreetmap.org] On Behalf Of bvh
> Sent: 11 October 2008 11:23
> To: legal-talk at openstreetmap.org
> Subject: [Spam] Re: [OSM-legal-talk] Using JOSM + Yahoo Maps Aerial
> Imageryfor Public Domain Release
> 
> On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 01:58:19AM +0200, Frederik Ramm wrote:
> > their aerial imagery from. - Ed Parsons once said that Google had to pay
> > extra for "traceable" aerial imagery as the "normal" licenses would not
> > have been suitable for using the material in an application like
> > MapMaker. If none of us makes too much noise then we'll all get away
> 
> Is using google imagery for OSM ok for the areas where they allow
> mapmaker? Has anyone asked Ed that?
> 

I am very sure it is not allowed. If it was allowed then Ed would have made
that clear on any number of occasions recently, notably at SOTM and at FOSS.

It is clear to me that Google are intending to leverage their user-base (100
million used of Google Maps each year I believe) to build/own/exploit the
mapping for these areas and gain more market share as a result.

I have had some indication that source data for these areas may be made
available at some point in the future, but I suspect that it will be on the
free-beer principle not the free-speech approach. Ed assured me recently
that Google is still keen to support OSM and I hope we will hear some
positive developments at some point but have no further information about
anything. For now it looks to me like they are building up a big asset to
further differentiate themselves from Yahoo/Microsoft in developing areas of
the world.

Personally I am more interested in whether Google's lead it this area pushes
other search engines our way as being the only way of competing with Big G.
Consider the parallels in the Microsoft/Linux fight, where anyone who was
not Microsoft supported the Linux bandwagon (IBM/Sun/Del/Intel etc). Will
Yahoo and Microsoft become major supporters of OSM, or will they get
TeleAtlas/Navteq to survey India, or will they do their own version of Map
Maker and if they do will there be enough people prepared to enter the data?
Will TeleAtlas/Navteq build their own communities to improve their data? I
am not sure they have communities at all in these countries to leverage.

I think Microsoft/Yahoo etc will have to go open-source through OSM which
will be interesting to say the least.


Peter

> cu bart
> 
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