[OSM-legal-talk] CC-BY-SA / Non-separatable combination of OSM+other

Frederik Ramm frederik at remote.org
Wed Feb 2 17:13:42 GMT 2011


Hi,

On 02/02/11 18:00, Peter Miller wrote:
> The strict view expressed above by Frederick and others would mean that
> it would be impossible to use osm mapping as a bacground for this crime
> data as in the chart, 'Violent crime in the USA' unless the overlaid
> data was also on an open licence or the crime data was to the side of
> the map.

> http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/2009/02/17/typical-crime-map-victimization/

Yes. (In fact I presume the overlaid data is PD in this case so no problem.)

> And this one showing the location of the 'Trafford Law Centre' unless
> the photo was also on a free license or moved so as not to obscure the map.
> http://www.traffordlawcentre.org.uk/contact_us/contact.htm

This is a funny example because you could conceivably cut out a corner 
from the map, then place the image where it is now... it is just about 
conceivable to make a copy of this map without copying the image so 
maybe this could work as a collection.

> How about this map of the Isle of White overlaid with illustrations?
> http://www.steve.shalfleet.net/

Certainly the whole map needs to by CC-BY-SA.

We did have some pages with examples about this on our wiki, years ago. 
I remember the example was a tourist guide with maps and photos, and 
there were several cases where maps and photos (and text) were sometimes 
superimposed, sometimes side-by-side, and the whole thing was commented 
as to what is derived and what is collected. I cannot find it now, however.

I think that in those examples, there was the concept of interaction and 
co-dependency - the question of "does the overlaid stuff work without 
the map". So if you carefully place your photo or illustration at a 
certain point in the map, and your photo or illustration would lose its 
meaning without the map, then it is clearly a derived work; but if your 
photo just sits there and could just as well sit there without the map, 
then it could be called a collection. This is not an interpretation I 
necessarily share and I'm not sure about the exact wording but it has 
something going for it.

> Indeed anything overlaid on the map, or any other ccbysa image or
> photograph would need to be on an open license if the strict
> interpretation was used.

I don't think this interpretation is particularly strict. There have 
indeed been several people requesting that my OSM book be fully 
CC-BY-SA'ed because it contains OSM illustrations on some pages - *That* 
I call a strict reading (and one I clearly don't share).

Bye
Frederik




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