[OSM-newbies] Fwd: Question about the IndianaMap

[Marcin Zalewski]

Hello,

I am a newbie from Indiana. I have been disappointed by the quality of
some maps, and I have searched a little for an external source. I have
contacted IndianaMap (indianamap.org) and asked about the availability
of their data. Could anyone advise, based on the forwarded discussion,
if IndianaMap data can be used for OpenStreetMap? If so, how would one
go about it?

Thank you,
Marcin

Forwarded conversation
Subject: Question about the IndianaMap
------------------------

From: Marcin Zalewski <marcin.zalewski at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 10:15
To: info <info at indianamap.org>


Hello,

What is the copyright status of IndianaMap? Is it in public domain, or
is it released under a license? In particular, I am wondering if the
data can be used in a project like OpenStreetMap
(www.openstreetmap.org).

Thank you,
Marcin

----------
From: Philip Worrall <pworrall at igic.org>
Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 11:15
To: Marcin Zalewski <marcin.zalewski at gmail.com>


Marcin,

Yes it can!  All data we currently provide is in the Public Domain.
There are no distribution restrictions, but we would like
credit/citation for the IndianaMap when our data is used.   We also
provide full FGDC metadata with each layer.  We currently share our
point address data with openaddresses.org, but I had not yet shared
our centerline data with openstreetmap.org because I do not feel it is
good enough yet.

We are currently harvesting monthly updates of road centerline,
parcel, point address and boundary data from 75 of 92 Indiana
Counties.  Within the next few months we will be up to 85 counties,
but we ultimately will still have 7 holes in our statewide data set
for those seven counties that have chosen not to share their data with
the IndianaMap.  As part of our monthly harvesting process, we
homogenize the data from each county into a single schema and
statewide layer,  but we ARE NOT currently doing any graphic or
attribute clean up of this data  (it is being published as-is).  For
example, counties are not edge matched.  We are working on a QA/QC
process to help identify graphic and non-graphic errors, discrepancies
and omissions, and report these back to each county for them to
correct in their source data, but we have no jurisdiction over them
doing this.

Regarding the IndianaMap, over the next year we will be upgrading the
IndianaMap from ESRI ArcIMS to AGS.  This will allow us to
significantly expand IndianaMap functionality and provide broader
access to our data layers through additional web services.  (We
currently provide access to our data through OGC WMS.)

I hope this information helps!

Thanks,
                Phil

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phil Worrall, Executive Director
Indiana Geographic Information Council
777 Indiana Ave.
Indianapolis, IN  46202-3102
cell: 317.504.4389
office: 317.489.0091
pworrall at igic.org

----------
From: Marcin Zalewski <marcin.zalewski at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 11:26
To: Philip Worrall <pworrall at igic.org>


Thank you Phil.

I am very new to the whole mapping idea, and I have only recently
gotten interested in the OpenStreetMap project. I have asked about
IndianaMap because the maps of Indiana in OpenStreetMap leave much to
be desired. From that perspective, I think that any data, even if not
perfect, would be an improvement. It seems that OpenStreetMaps project
cannot easily incorporate attribution to the sources of data in its
output. They strive to provide maps that are not stringed with any
restrictions at all, including having to provide attribution. Thus, I
have two more questions to you. Is it OK to use IndianaMap data
without attribution in a project where attribution cannot be provided
because of licensing requirements (is the requirement a part of a
license, or simply "asking nicely")? Is it OK to forward this
discussion to OpenStreetMap community to give them an idea about
availability of the data?

Regards,
Marcin

----------
From: Philip Worrall <pworrall at igic.org>
Date: Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 12:19
To: Marcin Zalewski <marcin.zalewski at gmail.com>


Marcin,

A credit/citation for the IndianaMap need be nothing more than a
footnote somewhere.  For example when you zoom into Indiana on Google
& Bing an IndianaMap source credit is displayed when our
orthophotography is being viewed.

Feel free to pass this information on.  I'd be interested in the feedback.

Thanks,
                Phil