[OSM-talk] Using Open Street Map data with other websites via Oracle

Timothy Fintan Langner timflang at btinternet.com
Mon Apr 2 16:39:32 BST 2007


Dear Sir/Madam

Is it possible to link Open Street Map data to an Oracle database, so that
it can be overlaid onto other maps, which themselves are stored in the
Oracle database as raster images (and possible vector)?

Over the course of the coming year I am undertaking a GIS masters
dissertation (University of Portsmouth), examining the use of the Oracle
database system, and in particular, Oracle Spatial, for put historical maps
online. I am going to write the code in PL/SQL because that is what I am
currently learning and can get help with, when I get stuck (which will
happen). The area will be Brighton & Hove as I own some out of copyright
maps of the area.

As part of my website, I am hoping that people will be able to query the
town plans, for example by searching for streets using street names,
overlaying one historical map on top of another, and overlaying modern data
on top of the historical data. This is where Open Street Map comes in. I
would like to be able to link live to the Open Street Map data from Oracle.
Is that possible? I did have a look at the wiki pages but I couldn't see
anything on using the data on other web sites and/or databases. I may be
able to take a static copy of it, but it would be far more useful to the
user, if the data was the most up to date available from the Open Street Map
site.

My course doesn't require my final website to be live but as I want such a
thing, I need to avoid the copyrightable Ordnance Survey at all costs. I
don't have the funds to fight the OS in court so avoidance is my best
defence. That doesn't of course rule out my very own 6" OS map of Brighton
published in 1881 and anything else I might happen to buy, that is by them
and out of copyright.

At one point I thought I had 40 out of copyright maps. That was until I saw
on your wiki site that even if maps are produced under a company name, it's
still the major cartographer who drew it, that owns the copyright until 70
years after his death. How this works for sub-contractors where they produce
maps for other organisations, I don't know. I use to think it was 70 years
after the company had produced it.

Kind regards

Timothy Langner






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