[OSM-talk] Yahoo has very bad resolution images of Croatia, why?

[Russ Nelson]

On May 16, 2009, at 2:26 PM, Iván Sánchez Ortega wrote:

> El Sábado, 16 de Mayo de 2009, Valent Turkovic escribió:
>>
>> We really need higher resolution images in order to make better
>> openstreetmaps for Croatia.
>
> I encourage you to talk with Croatia's "State Geodetic Administration"
> (www.dgu.hr) . They should have both maps and aerial images, and  
> asking them
> for permission won't hurt.

Yes, you should always ask such an entity.  Chances are pretty good  
that they already have aerial imagery and geodata.  Different  
government entities have different policies.  The US Government has  
the principle that it cannot claim copyright on data produced at  
taxpayer expense, so everything it does is public domain.  Some state  
governments feel the same way.  Others are wiling to share, but only  
within a closed group (like the New York State GIS Consortium -- which  
I liken to the Roach Motel of geodata: data checks in, but it never  
checks out).  The only way to find out is to ask.  And if they try to  
claim copyright, you could point out that the US Government provides  
all its information freely.  Whether they like the USG or not, that's  
a reason to do better than them (us).

--
Russ Nelson - http://community.cloudmade.com/blog - http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:RussNelson
russ at cloudmade.com - Twitter: Russ_OSM - http://openstreetmap.org/user/RussNelson