On Oct 6, 4:15 pm, Fedearne <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi > > Does anybody know if GMap.NET (http://greatmaps.codeplex.com/) is > violating the terms of the Google Maps static API?
This post is personal non-legal opinion. It does not constitute legal advice and you should satisfy yourself as to the legality (or otherwise) of any use of Google's services. Opinion may not be copied from this post unless accompanied by this disclaimer. Having got that out of the way... It appears the code constructs URLs to map tiles, including using an API key. The use of the API key means that the person whose key it is (the key includes data relating to an account and a URL) has agreed to the API Terms of Service. The Maps Service provides "Content" which comprises (among other things) map tiles and positional data. The API Terms of Service http://code.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html include (10.1) "you must not (nor may you permit anyone else to) access or use the Service or any Content through any technology or means other than those provided in the Service, or through other explicitly authorized means Google may designate." Constructing a URL to access tiles directly would appear to contravene this. It's possible that Google have allowed it, although in a forum reply the co- ordinator didn't appear to know whether they had. 10.2 says "you must not (nor may you permit anyone else to) copy, translate, modify, create a derivative work of, or publicly display any Content or any part thereof" and the application appears to allow others to display the Content. 10.3 says "you must not (nor may you permit anyone else to) pre- fetch, cache, or store any Content, except that you may store limited amounts of Content for the purpose of improving the performance of your Maps API Implementation if you do so temporarily, securely, and in a manner that does not permit use of the Content outside of the Service" and the application appears to allow caching of Content for use outside of the Service. 10.5 says "you must not reverse engineer, decompile or otherwise attempt to extract the source code of the Service or any part thereof" and the application's code appears to use reverse-engineered or extracted URLs from the API for getting tiles and directions -- even though there is now a documented directions HTTP service. 10.14(g) "you agree not to impersonate another person or entity, or falsify or delete any author attributions or labels of the origin or source of Content, or other material" -- the application appears to use a single key, which means users are -- possibly unwittingly -- impersonating the key owner. The application appears not to identify Google's tiles as theirs. 10.14(i) "you agree not to delete, obscure, or fail to display the Terms of Use link as presented through the Service or described in the Maps APIs Documentation" -- it appears that the application does not supply the Terms of Use link. Despite the inclusion of an API key, the application doesn't actually use the Javascript API nor is every HTTP method used authorised. If it is argued that because the application doesn't use the API, it's not bound by the API Terms of Service, its developer and users are still subject to the Universal Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS -- "5.3 You agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services by any means other than through the interface that is provided by Google, unless you have been specifically allowed to do so in a separate agreement with Google. You specifically agree not to access (or attempt to access) any of the Services through any automated means (including use of scripts or web crawlers) and shall ensure that you comply with the instructions set out in any robots.txt file present on the Services." Is that enough to be going on with? I haven't done a rigorous analysis of the source, because C# isn't my thing. It's worth noting that there are documented HTTP interfaces to some services (eg the geocoder), and it's ok to use these in conjunction with a map. The application does appear to use some documented HTTP interfaces. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Maps API V2" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-api?hl=en.
