[OSM-talk] How is there not any creative-type (US) copyright in OSM data?

Brendan Morley morb.gis at beagle.com.au
Mon Dec 14 11:53:22 GMT 2009


On Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:17:41 +1000, John Smith wrote:

>If people or companies are benefiting, why shouldn't there be some
>expectations to return the benefits to everyone, not just hoard it
>away for the benefit of commercial operators if they themselves are
>benefiting from it?

The home page of the OSM wiki currently states,

"The project was started because most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back 
people from using them in creative, productive, or unexpected ways."

And the copyleft mindset of the LWP continues to perpetuate substantial "legal [...] restrictions on [...] use."  So really, the OSM project has 
failed to deliver on this latent demand.

>> And who else but government is in the best position (and has the most self
>> interest) to determine exactly where the road was built?

>There is a lot of roads on paper that were never built so I don't see
>that as accurate either.

It's in local government interest to keep it accurate, especially anything that requires a grader or roller to maintain.


Brendan






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