[Talk-us] Uploading all Post Office Drop Box locations in the US

Serge Wroclawski emacsen at gmail.com
Thu Jun 10 19:57:55 BST 2010


On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 2:37 PM, Kirk Ireson <palmerstation at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I was adding a couple local USPS Post Office drop box locations using
> Potlatch when I wondered if there was a public list of locations I could
> upload.  I did find that there was a release of 2005 locations that was
> released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Good thinking.

> ==== LICENSING: ====
>
> The data comes from here:
> http://www.prc.gov/docs/53/53396/DFC-LR-2-R200-6.exe
>
> The best information in regards to its release I can find is from here:
> http://66.208.7.72/(S(tgqmwqywriczne55l1bjqtnu))/Docs/53/53359/Testimony_Errata.pdf

So, I take a fairly hard-line approach to this kind of thing, but my
feeling is that without something explicit we can get which explains
the terms of the license, we can't use it yet.

USPS is neither entirely a commercial entity, nor entirely federal.
It's an odd beast and I'm worried about not knowing the terms of
distribution.

That said, I think the solution is to get a definitive answer about
that question.


> -Is this compatible licensing?

I couldn't find any actual license. Under normal circumstances a
federal agency data with a FOI request would be non-copyrightable, but
again, USPS is weird.

> -What kind of attribution is required?

If it's public data, requirements of attribution would be on our end,
rather than theirs.

There are some other issues to consider though, such as accuracy.

Data from 2005, as far as post office drop box locations go isn't
going to be that great. USPS has been scaling down their operation.
That means removing a lot of data, which is harder than adding it.


> -How do I prevent duplicating existing positions already uploaded by users?

This is a hard one, and a big reason why plopping data into OSM isn't
a good idea by itself. There needs to be a process.

> -Additionally, should I also cross post these questions to the 'imports'
> mailing list?
>
> Cheers and thanks for any and all help,

Kirk,

Let me make a suggestion to you.

We in the US are both blessed and cursed with all the available public
data and one of the goals of OSM US is going to be getting this data
imported in OSM in a sane way. I think the general OSM community needs
to be involved, but I believe OSM US should have a system in place to
streamline the import process.

I'd really like it if you'd work with us to help design this process.

And this really extends to anyone!

- Serge




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