[Openstreetmap] Legal viability of using Landsat and SRTM data as basemaps

[Andrew Birkett]

On Wed, 2005-04-20 at 13:39 +0200, Jeremy Stocks wrote:
> I also have found the NASA SRTM site http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/
> interesting for its utilkity in developing contour maps.

Yes, as I understand it, the SRTM and Landsat data are free of any
copyright restrictions.  I am planning on using SRTM data for my
streetmap of Edinburgh, to allow for a "cyclist's routefinder"
application - ie. find a route from A to B avoiding hills!  I've yet to
assess the data closely to see if need further filtering, but from some
quick experiments it looks pretty good (at least at the level of detail
which is relevant for cyclists).

Encouraged by Richard Fairhurst, I paid a visit to the National Library
in Edinburgh last weekend and looked through their copy of old maps.
There's a selection of very useful maps which are out of copyright, some
of which they are scanning for me. Frustratingly, there's a good one
which is just in copyright until next year!

Having worked with GPS tracks for a while, I strongly recommend using
out-of-copyright maps of the area as a starting point.

Andrew
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