[Openstreetmap] Satellite images for offline use?

[Timo Juhani Lindfors]

Hi,

On Fri, Jan 06, 2006 at 02:42:01AM +0000, Alex Willmer wrote:
> Yes, as I understand it ECW is ERMapper's in-house image compression
> format. Hence only their software can use it. GDAL has optional ECW

Thanks for confirming this.

> The license for the Ermapper ECW JPEG 2000 SDK appears to be here:
> http://www.ermapper.com/downloads/download_view.aspx?PRODUCT_VERSION_ID=275

Yep. And just in case that url changes I've put a copy of the license
available at http://iki.fi/lindi/libecj/License.txt (md5sum
bd7412f6986338fc70c23660d5ac1ec6)

> At a glance, although it claims to be GPL like, the EULA doesn't seem
> GPL compatible. It's probably BSD compatible (like most things). As
> always IANAL, this isn't legal advice.

IANAL either but I'm mostly worried about

"iii) You are not permitted to change the ECW file format."

> The equivalent open standard is JPEG 2000. JPEG 2000 has an open source
> library called jasper.

Ok, that's good to know but it doesn't exactly help me unless somebody
can convert all the data to JPEG 2000. Any takers? ;)

> In terms of getting your ECW decoded under linux, have you tried the SDK
> under Wine?

I'd like to resolve the licensing issues first before starting to
use/modify the software.

> Both ECCW and JPEG 2000 compete with another, similar technology from
> Lizardtech called MrSid. All these image formats are based on wavelet
> compression, which Lizardtech hold patents on. Lizardtech have tried to
> claim in court that these patents cover ECW, and by implication JPEG
> 2000:
> 
> http://www.directionsmag.com/press.releases/index.php?duty=Show&id=9007

Aha, interesting.


best regards,
Timo Lindfors
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 232 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/attachments/20060107/58c584bc/attachment.pgp>