[OSM-talk] New (better?) source of contours

[Matt Amos]

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 3:36 PM, MP<singularita at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  They just mention that the data is free of charge, but don't make
>>  further comments as to the license of it.
>
> I tried to actually download anything ... and I failed ... seems their
> server is way too overloaded currently.

i managed to download a few tiles. quality looks good. better than SRTM, anyway.

> But in the process, there is some "agreement page" saying this:
> ----
> # I agree to redistribute the ASTER GDEM only to individuals within my
> organization or project of intended use or in response to disasters in
> support of the GEO Disaster Theme. (Required)
>
> # When presenting or publishing ASTER GDEM data, I agree to include
> "ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA."
> ----
>
> Seems not like very open license, though perhaps something better
> could be negotiated ...

well... to be fair it was announced "for free" - i was expecting PD,
but they didn't say anything about "open".

during the sign-up and download process they collect a whole bunch of
data about why you're downloading it and what you're going to use it
for. i assume this is to generate support for more government funding
or something.

cheers,

matt