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

[80n]

On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 8:58 AM, Jukka Rahkonen <
jukka.rahkonen at latuviitta.fi> wrote:

> 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.
>

Is this a correct understanding of what a fact is, from a legal point of
view?

A telephone number is a fact in the sense that it is it's own identity.  A
copy will be identical.  And this seems to be the basis of much US case law
in this area.  On the other hand GPS tracks are made up of information, but
they are samples of a paths and no two sets of GPS tracks will ever be
identical.  The stuff of GPS tracks is very different from the stuff of
telephone numbers.

Before using the "GPS tracks are facts" meme we really should have a better
understanding of what constitutes a fact, in legal terms.



>  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.
>
>
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