[Openstreetmap] Sources for attributing maps

[Richard Fairhurst]

On 25 Apr 2005, at 13:27, Alex Willmer wrote:

> I'd like to clarify the best sources for attribution such as:
>
> -Street names
> -Junction numbers and names
> -Zoning (ie town/city limits, national parks)
>
> Did OS or local councils hold anything on street names in the early 
> 50s?

OS certainly did, because they were producing street maps at that 
point. Some of the quarter-inch maps, for example, came with a little 
booklet of town plans.

Other cartographers' work from the 1930s can also be used (e.g. the 
London map I posted and which Schuyler kindly torrentified).

I would be interested to hear a legal opinion on whether street names 
can safely be taken from (say) a Bartholomews map from 1954, in which 
the street names had been based on Ordnance Survey data. (As you 
doubtless know, OS Crown Copyright is 50 years, commercial copyright 70 
years.)

> Is it necessary to rely on what local libraries hold for mapping from 
> that period, does anything prevent us getting out of copyright maps 
> direct from OS under the Freedom of Information Act?

See:
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/aboutus/foi/coiindex.html

If my understanding is correct, OS charge for replicas of their 
historical maps (in fact, this is the only link under 'Historical 
mapping' in the FoI section), and the "Commercial interests" exemption 
of the FoIA means that they can continue to do this at a market rate. 
IANAL.

> From a previous reply (by Amaury Jacquet), to my questions:
>
>> What data, if any, can we avoid gathering on the ground (eg points of
>> interest, street names, road designations, urban/rural land 
>> designation)?
>
> designations are not copyrightable.
>
> I'm unsure what the implications of this are. Is a street name 
> copyrightable?

The street name is not copyrightable, but a collection of street names 
is. (IAstillNAL.)

> If so from where is it permissable to source street names and junction 
> names/numbers, in the UK, for use in openstreetmap (eg signs on the 
> ground, out of copyright maps, in copyright maps)?

Permissible, permissible, not permissible. (IAreallylNAL and all of 
this is only my understanding of _UK_ law.)

I may have mentioned this before, but I suspect the guys over at 
http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/ could be really useful in gathering road 
attribution information.

Richard