[Talk-GB] prow_ref

[Robert Whittaker (OSM lists)]

On 29 March 2013 14:22, Dudley Ibbett <dudleyibbett at hotmail.com> wrote:
> I have managed to get hold of a couple of maps from our Parish Council with
> the prow reference numbers written on them.  The map itself is marked as not
> to be photo copied and appears to have been issued by Derbyshire County
> Council.  It dates back to 2004.
>
> Is it going to be OK for me to use this map to put the prow_ref numbers into
> OSM?  I assume the base map is OS and subject to their copyright but the
> numbers appear to have been penned on.  I will only use it for the numbers
> and not for drawing anything else.

Presumably the base map is an Ordnance Survey Map. My understanding is
that OS claims rights over any data that has been added to / derived
from one of its maps. In the case of someone drawing on a footpath and
labelling it, it might make sense for the detailed route, but probably
not for the label. But then without the route, you can't really tell
what the label is being applied to. Anyway, however, reasonable with
think OS's claims are, OSM takes a very conservative view of possible
copyright infringements in order to ensure it stays clean. So if OS
are claiming rights over the derived map, then we shouldn't use it at
all in OSM.

More recently, OS seems to have realised the ridiculousness of its
position in claiming rights over things other people add to its maps.
The new Public Sector Mapping Agreement has provisions to allow Local
Authorities to apply to OS to release certain types of data that they
have derived from OS base maps under the OS OpenData License. However
the authority must specifically apply for this exemption each time
they want to use it for a set of data. (To date many local authorities
have done this for digitised GIS datasets of their Public Rights of
Way network.) This is still problematic for OSM though, as it is
currently unclear if general OS OpenData Licensed material can be
incorporated into OSM. See
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Licensing/Ordnance_Survey_OpenData_License
for more details.

Robert.

--
Robert Whittaker