[OSM-talk] "Asking is worth it": Maps of the commune of Samt donated

[Florian Loitsch]

On Thursday 19 July 2007 12:14:11 Immanuel Scholz wrote:
[SKIP]
> He just asked, talked a bit and after the officer got the answer to "And
> then we can use the maps without paying fees?", his interest escalated,
> as the city major already requested street maps multiple times before.
>
> Thomas leaved the office with two 1:2000 maps, A2 sized and will get
> more maps of the city center next week, after they have been copied.
nice.
I've already tried to contact several cities in my area (Nice, Antibes, 
Cannes, ...), and while most of them are open to the idea, I was not yet 
succesful... :(
I'm only trying to get permission to copy street-names from their maps into 
OSM (so not the coordonates... themselves), so it should be much easier.
Most of the time the employees (I haven't yet reached the mayor), were under 
the impression that the data is "free" anyways. When asked for a written 
confirmation they were however not that sure anymore and redirected me to 
some superiour...
IMHO it is feasible, and I will definitely continue to try, but if somebody 
wants to try here some tips:
- Get an idea what they are willing to do it (just drop by and explain what 
you want to do.) Usually you won't get anything written yet. Now write a nice 
letter and send it there. Administration loves papers... ;) This is, what I'm 
going to do next. So I'm not yet sure, if it will work, but I'm confident.
- If you know the mayor personally (small city...), then it's more or less 
done. AFAIK the mayor has the power to provide all maps in the municipality's 
property. I can't see a reason, why they wouldn't do it. (I'm still talking 
about the street-names. For the real maps, that's another question).

good luck,
// florian loitsch
>
>
> The chief officer suggested a feature to be able to click on POIs.
>
> Ciao, Imi.