[Talk-ca] Determining The Identity Of Features

Chris Bruce chris at mirrorcomputing.co.uk
Fri Feb 11 20:36:10 GMT 2011


Hi there,

I've been doing a bit of mapping for the project in the UK, adding some 
roads and trails generally from my area of mid-Wales. We have a bit of a 
copyright problem with "naming" features in the UK that we have actually 
surveyed. You can see the question and the responses on this link: 
http://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/1286/determining-the-identity-of-features. 
The government is being a bit more open and has released some data but 
there seems to be some discussion about a possible conflict between its 
licence and the OSM licence.

I'm in Canada for a while and thought I'd map some trails while I'm here 
per your WikiProject Canada page. I'm hiking in Provincial Parks and 
National Parks in BC at the moment. I guess there will also be Regional 
Parks. At the trailhead there are generally maps naming the trails and 
features. Having hiked and tracklogged the trail am I permitted to 
"name" the trail or feature in OSM from the information found at the 
trailheads? (Or do I ask somebody who looks at the sign at the trailhead 
and then tells me?!!!?)

Also I'm aware that NRCan has released a huge amount of data for use. 
Can I similarly "name" features from information obtained from those 
sources, e.g. the Topo tiffs?

The reason I ask here is that I know that you guys (authorities!) seem 
somewhat open about copyright licensing and the uses to which official 
cartographic data is put and some guidelines for me would be great.

Thanks for your time...




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