[OSM-talk] Placenames in Iceland - upcoming bill

Svavar Kjarrval svavar at kjarrval.is
Sat Jan 12 11:49:13 GMT 2013


I think I wasn't very clear on one issue: we're talking about a bill,
not a policy statement or action. This could become law enacted by the
parliament.

- Svavar Kjarrval

On 12/01/13 01:21, Svavar Kjarrval wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I got a tip that the Ministry of Education in Iceland is drafting a
> bill regarding placenames. In the draft's comment section they
> specifically mentioned OpenStreetMap as an example of a distributor of
> geodata (along with Samsýn and Google Maps). They plan to propose the
> bill soon. The public review period expired at the day's end of
> January 10th but I might be able to squeeze in some comments in if I
> send them before Monday next.
>
> One of the reasons the bill will be proposed is because they are
> afraid that cultural heritage is lost since popular geodata
> distributors don't display (rare) placenames due to lack of data. This
> is also because many users build their local knowledge upon data
> brought to them via geodata distributors. They clearly want the
> placenames to be available everywhere so people will be better
> equipped to know the name of every hill and valley, if a name exists.
> I think this should give an idea of the data density:
> http://atlas.lmi.is/ornefnasja/ (more placenames appear as you zoom in
> closer)
>
> In the current draft, they suggest that place names and their location
> should be open data. Here's a rough translation of the corresponding
> article:
>
>     Article 9
>     /Placename database//./
>     National Land Survey of Iceland, in cooperation with The Árni
>     Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, shall file placenames
>     into a centralised database and maintain it.
>     The contents of the database shall be accessible as open data and
>     free of charge.
>     Into the placename database shall, among other things, file:
>         a. Placenames in a proper notation,
>         b. Alignment of the placename,
>         c. The namebearer type.
>     The Minister shall with regulation provide further definitions for
>     the contents, filing and arrangements of the database according to
>     this Article.
>
> Open data is not defined in Icelandic law so the reference is not
> clear and the meaning could be misinterpreted. I think it'll the first
> time Icelandic law would have that reference. I was wondering, should
> I comment on the draft and suggest that the database should be in the
> public domain? Database rights are defined in Icelandic copyright law
> and the public domain exception doesn't cover databases so I think
> such a change would avoid any unneccessary problems.
>
> What do you think?
>
> With regards,
> Svavar Kjarrval

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