[OSM-newbies] Trust GPS or Yahoo aerial imagery?

[Rick Collins]

At 07:11 PM 10/8/2007, you wrote:
>I can think of two reasons why you'd want to use your data instead of
>Yahoo's:
>
>1. Yahoo's images are copyrighted: If we consistently used their images
>instead of our data, they could be considered a derivative work, and
>possibly subject to copyright issues.

 From the OSM wiki on using Potlatch...

Because OpenStreetMap exists to create open maps, not copyrighted 
ones, you can't just copy from someone else's map. Instead, you 
should draw the ways using your own knowledge; using tracklogs of 
journeys you have made with a GPS receiver; or by tracing from the 
satellite photo background 
(<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Yahoo%21_Aerial_Imagery>Yahoo! 
Aerial Imagery).

I don't know for sure, but I expect that Yahoo is using USGS supplied 
photos which would mean Yahoo does not have a copyright on them.


>2. A second GPS would likely follow your track: your data is likely more
>accurate for the end-user of the data.

I don't agree with that at all.  That would say that I should not 
correct any of the deviations from the true road which does not seem 
obvious to me.  The point is to create accurate maps, not to document 
the aberrations of the particular GPS receiver you are using.  GPS 
technology continues to improve and today's errors may not be there tomorrow.

Rick Collins  
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