[OSM-legal-talk] Garmin Maps / Produced Works

[Simon Ward]

On Sat, Sep 04, 2010 at 09:49:18PM +1000, John Smith wrote:
> On 4 September 2010 21:38, Rob Myers <rob at robmyers.org> wrote:
> > In either case they are produced works as they extract a small amount of
> > data from the database and add some new stuff in order to make something
> > intended to be used visually.
> 
> What about a SVG file of a substantial part of the database, SVG files
> don't have to be as small as a 256x256px PNG tile, and they could in
> theory contain all the information the same as a OSM file...

In theory.  In practice pure SVG is a series of drawing instructions
(that’s simplified), and without additional metadata you are going to
have difficulty reverse engineering the SVG into the OSM data.  If you
render as a PNG, without additional metadata you are similarly going to
have difficulty reverse engineering it (admittedly more difficulty than
with vector graphics, which much more closely resemble the geodata).
The fact that you actually have to reverse engineer either to get useful
geodata out of them suggests they are Produced Works alone.

SVG allows metadata, but it doesn’t define a format for the metadata:
That comes from other XML formats (this could be OSM XML).  If SVG is
mixed with other formats, is it just an SVG file any more?  You could
argue that if the default XML namespace is SVG it is, but that’s besides
the point, I think.  If it simply contains drawing instructions, then I
can’t think of a reason for it not being always acceptable as a Produced
Work.

If, on the other hand, it contained a substantial amount of geodata as
metadata, I would go more towards it being a Derivative Database. If not
a Derivative Database, then it might be a Produced Work created from a
Derivative Database, in which case the recipients of the work should
also be able to get a copy of the Derivative Database.

Simon
-- 
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a
simple system that works.—John Gall
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