Russ Nelson writes:
There are maps which are canonical sources of facts about the world, such as a BNSF map naming subdivisions. No one can own a fact about the world, because it's a fact. Just like you can't patent math. Same idea. You can copyright a collection of facts. You can copyright the arrangement of facts. You can copy the presentation of facts. But you can't copyright the individual facts.
I take this brief opportunity to encourage OSM volunteers who wish to "better" named rail subdivisions in the USA that "these data are out there." These are indeed "facts about the world" and just because it seems as though they are "locked up" in private hands (a rail company or protected by copyright on a particular map) does NOT mean that such "facts about the world" cannot be put into OSM. THEY CAN!
Of course, I adhere to "don't copy from other maps" but I explicitly agree with OSM's maxim to "be bold" entering data when they are clearly "facts about the world." We have the ability to discern this, and we should.
Railways are big, long, industrial things that snake hundreds and thousands of kilometers through our landscapes. Chunks of them have names, just as you would expect anything else hundreds of kilometers long to have names. They are regulated by many levels of governmental agencies, whose job it is (partly) is to keep track of these names. Go get 'em, and go put 'em in OSM. Thanks to all who do.
SteveA California _______________________________________________ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
