[talk-ph] Bacolod is still a big problem

[Ray]

Hi,

this topic is discussed every now and then. Facts are free, but you 
can't use the help of copyright protected material. If you only copy one 
house/street/whatever maybe that doesn't matter. But what if all of us 
are doing this? You end up with a 100% copy of the map and than even you 
will agree, that this is a no go.
So where to drew the line? It's impossible and that's why the community 
agrees not to use copyright protected maps even for a poi to copy.

What you can to with this maps is comparing for areas which need 
attention, go there and do your mappings. Or use openstreetbugs to 
report them, so others can pick up.

OSM license allows anyone to use our data for any purpose and without 
the need to give anything back, even sell it and make money out of 
your/our work. They only have to mention the license. That's the open 
part in OSM. But you can't expect to do everyone like this and we 
respect this.

Take a look at the OSM history, e.g. 
http://www.geofabrik.de/en/gallery/history/index.html It's amazing what 
has been done only with free sources or donated date in this short 
periode of time. We should be proud of it and keep the OSM free from 
data of copyright protected sources.

If there are white spaces, give it some time and somebody will do traces 
and close them. We need more mappers.

Also note, that google and others can't give away what they don't have. 
The images on goolge maps/earth are bought from other companys which own 
the copyright - you can see the company's name on the map. Maybe this 
will change if they are using the images from their own satellite. AFAIK 
they wanted to wait with updating gmaps when they have images from the 
whole world. IMHO they should have them already - we'll see.

There is even an difference in the yahoo images free to copy and the 
ones on the yahoo webpage which are not free to copy. See 
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Yahoo!_Aerial_Imagery

On the other hand pls. be aware that not everybody want's to upload this 
gps tracks due to privacy concerns or some body could find out about 
one's nice and quiet camping place. Questions about anonymizing gps data 
arise on the user mailing list form time to time. But in this case ppl. 
should respond different to questions about the source.

Greetings
Ray


Craig wrote:
> Maybe there is something fundamental that I don't get, but, let me ask a
> question, please. How is it possible that a location of a road or building
> or anything can be copyrighted? I understand not copying entire maps, etc.,
> from a source and then claiming it as your own is contrary to copyright, but
> "facts", and a road location is a fact, not something created from someone's
> imagination.
>
> Google itself allows businesses to use tools to correct the location of that
> business if it is in error on Google's maps. Nobody is copying and
> distributing Google satellite images, nor are they distributing other Google
> properties.
>
> I think this worry about copyright violations is a knee-jerk reaction and
> would not stand up in a court of law. Big companies with big law firms
> backing them up is very intimidating, but that doesn't change the fact that
> you should be able to refer to a Google map or image to confirm a road
> location or other geographical entity. I see this as fair use.
>
> Also, thousands of people around the world have contributed to mapping for
> Google through efforts around the Haiti and Chile earthquakes. I'd say
> copyright is a bit dicey in that situation because Google only facilitated
> the mapping. Also, thousands upon thousands of buildings have been placed in
> Google Earth, thanks only to users like us. Myself, I have contributed
> mapping and 3D buildings.
>
> Is OSM open to the world? If it is, then Google can use OSM data. If Google
> sued OSM for improving maps using "Google's data" only to integrate that
> into their own products, that would be major hypocrisy.
>
> I'm sick of corporations creating this atmosphere of "we're going to sue
> your asses off" at the drop of a hat. It's a sad thing, and well-minded
> people like those contributing to a better world via OSM and other similar
> projects should not have the spectre of litigation hanging over their heads.