[OSM-legal-talk] ODbL, CTs and tracing GPS tracks

[Jukka Rahkonen]

TimSC <mapping at ...> writes:
 
> Hi all,
> 
> Apologies if this has been raised before, but I was wondering about GPS 
> track data and licenses. Presumably we are using public GPS trace data 
> under CC-BY-SA. By the way, it would be helpful to clarify that on the 
> wiki. I'll ignore the problem of tracing other people's tracks and the 
> resulting relicensing issues. At the moment, I am considering how GPS 
> tracks work with the CT and ODbL (assuming they too will be relicensed).

I have understood that uploaded GPS track logs that we have now are 
effectively public domain. They are facts (even they do not allways 
tell the truth) and they miss all the creativity so they are not copyrightable.
 Everybody can use at least individual tracks for any purpose. At the 
moment only OSM map data are under CC-BY-SA but track logs are free facts.
Anybody can download the original track logs, trace from them and create a
commercial or public domain map from those.

I believe that after the possible license change there would not be any
difference between GPS track logs and other kind of contributions and they 
would all be covered by ODbL and contributor terms.