[Openstreetmap] Soviet maps of the West

[Rev Simon Rumble]

On 23/11/2005, "Lars Aronsson" <lars at aronsson.se> wrote:

>The threat against our national land surveys and monopoly mapping
>agencies comes not from national commercial (or non-commercial)
>competitors, but from globalization. 

Yes that's true.

I wonder if there would be some way to force OS to prove that the Russian
maps are derived from OS properties without having to get sued?

Thinking about it, I can't imagine the Russians would have had any
qualms about using OS maps as the basis for their maps.  They didn't
worry about copyright.  So they probably are derived from such sources.

Has there been any thinking about using specifically copyright-expired
maps of London and other places as a basis for OSM?  I imagine maps of
the countryside would be useful as at the least the natural features are
unlikely to have changed.