[Talk-us] USA Rail: Calling all OSM railfans! (especially in California)

[Russ Nelson]

John F. Eldredge writes:
 > Note that there is a long tradition of encyclopedias, maps, and
 > other copyrighted sources deliberately including some bogus "facts"
 > as a way of detecting plagiarism. These bogus facts don't exist in
 > real life, only in the copyrighted document, so having them show up
 > in a competing document proves that copying took place.

Yes, and if you use a map properly, you find this:

>From http://russnelson.com/#network :

    Rob Logan found a wonderful poster entitled "New York State
    Railroad Network". It was published by Frank E. Richards, Phoenix,
    New York, and copyrighted 1958 (fair use claimed). Prepared by
    R. J. Rayback, and drawn by J. A. Peterson. I did a five-part scan
    of it and stitched it together badly (yuck). Still, it's better
    than nothing. There's a small one (1333x1200, small is relative)
    and a very large one (6666x6000 pixels, 3MB). Mapmakers
    traditionally insert a small discrepency into their maps so they
    can detect derivative works. I believe that I've found an error
    which is likely their inserted discrepency. They claim that there
    is a railroad heading east from Pavilion, NY. It would have to
    cross an impossibly steep hill, and I can't find it on either
    topographic maps or aerial photos. I contacted Virginia Rigoni,
    Town of Pavilion Historian on 11/13/2005 and she assures me that
    the only railroad in the town of Pavilion is the well-known
    north/south B&O line.

-- 
--my blog is at    http://blog.russnelson.com
Crynwr supports open source software
521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-600-8815
Potsdam, NY 13676-3213  |     Sheepdog