Landsat ? (was:Re: [Openstreetmap] New roads appearing without GPS tracks)

[Tom Carden]

On 12/16/05, Nick Whitelegg <Nick.Whitelegg at solent.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> Are you saying we can't use Landsat either?

I really hope nobody is saying that.  I don't think anyone has said that.

> I assumed that since it didn't
> have any restrictive copyright conditions/terms of use, it was OK to use. I
> have used Landsat to judge the position of the occasional point (a
> minority) but can't remember exactly when I used it.
>

As we bring in more imagery, much as I'd like to see a record of which
client contributed which change, I'd like to see a record of what data
sources were used (e.g. which WMS layers were enabled, etc).  If not
for each node/segment/area, then for each session, for example.  At
least, it would be fascinating to see which areas were derived from
what.

> If there is a real risk of Landsat not being acceptable, I'll probably have
> to ask Steve to delete *all* my data as a precaution (and say goodbye to 18
> months worth of mapping work) :-(
>

Nick, that would be totally over the top.  We need to be over-cautious
with the Ordnance Survey and other commercial mapping
companies/providers because we know that if we didn't it would be easy
for them to claim copyright infringement, and that they might be
legally heavy-handed.  But nobody litigious has a claim on Landsat
AFAIK, so we needn't be so cautious over that.

The vast majority of OSM data so far has been entered with the
assistance/sanity check that landsat offers us.  We'd have to junk the
lot if there was ever a successful challenge on derived landsat data,
but I don't think there ever will be.

Tom.