On Thu, Oct 25, 2007, Amos Shapira wrote about "Re: openstreetmap":
> (In case anyone got it wrong - this is nothing to do with Meir's work, it's
> more about frustration with the stupid government we have than anything
> else).
Why are you sure that this is actually the Israeli government's fault?
Obviously, the Israeli government has no problem with street maps, and
a bunch of companies already publish those, whether on paper or electronically.
Perhaps there are a bit of rules (e.g., you must not mark the textile factory
down south as "A Nuclear Reactor, Bomb Here" sign), but these are obviously
not too draconic, judging by the very good maps that do exist of Israel (my
favorite is the one by "Mapa", and I've been using the printed version for 10
years now).
So my guess that it's not the Israeli government's fault, but rather the
greedy Israeli companies, which ask Google too much for the data (naturally,
Google would want to buy the data, not to start an Israeli mapping project
on their own).
By the way, have you seen www.mapa.co.il? I was under the impression that it
cost money - a lot of money - to use, but today I went there, and was amazed.
It seems to be free, it has Google-maps-like ("AJAX") interface that works
well in Firefox, it has street-maps, satelite pictures and a combined view,
and even pictures of individual buildings! It also has trip planning. Heck,
I couldn't find any useful feature of Google maps that mapa.co.il doesn't
have, and apparently for free.
--
Nadav Har'El | Thursday, Oct 25 2007, 13 Heshvan 5768
[EMAIL PROTECTED] |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Only dead fish go with the flow.
http://nadav.harel.org.il |
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