[OSM-talk] The National Land and Property Gazetteer [was: Suggestion more complete mapping verifactiion]

David Earl david at frankieandshadow.com
Mon Sep 17 19:51:47 BST 2007


On 17/09/2007 19:28, Andy Robinson wrote:
> ... for the OSM project we don't go looking for that leeway. Its
> so much simpler (and indeed safer) to ignore all "official" or even
> "unofficial" sources and gather the data from scratch, that's the whole idea
> behind OSM. That way we know it's not tainted in any way other than with our
> own editing errors. 

One thing that has been troubling me since I started: why shouldn't a 
local authority claim copyright in its street name signs, which are the 
primary source of name data for all of us? Why should we be any less 
immune from claims of infringement there than any other source of data?

I gather the street naming system in the UK is changing to centralise 
the LA's duty to provide property (and street naming) information, to go 
through the National Land and Property Gazetteer: http://www.nlpg.org.uk 
Royal Mail, for example, will in the future derive new postcodes from 
here rather than going direct to each local authority.

I am not clear what the relationship would be between NLPG and the 
ability to request information (e.g. property information) from a LA 
under the UK's Freedom of Information Act. It could be this would be a 
very useful public resource; OTOH it could be a major extension limiting 
access to public data.

David




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