On 16/03/2009 15:55, Donald Allwright wrote: >>It was OS derived... > > Unfortunate, but not at all surprising. It seems that in the UK the > Ordinance Survey have got the market for *commercial* mapping data > pretty much sewn up at the moment. This has made me start to wonder what > it would take to break this monopoly, and get organisations to use other > sources of data instead (including, but not necessarily limited to > OpenStreetMap.org). Just a brain dump of my thoughts here:
Rather than think about it in terms of which map base you do it on, maybe the answer for these organisations is to do it like we do - obtain GPS co-ordinates. Then they can overlay on any map they like and they own the data to do with what they want. The problem though is we have a huge legacy of data derived from OS maps, and lots of investment in systems which will continue to make data OS derived for time to come. Even if OS data isn't freed from its commercial constraints, I think one of the most important relaxations (or clarifications, as its not at all clear that OS is within its rights) would be specifically for the law to say that a co-ordinate obtained by reference to an OS map does not belong to the OS - fair enough if you actually copy stuff off the map like a name or a contour (or even a road by tracing it), but simply to use the map to obtain a grid reference by reference to other features you can see on the map really shouldn't be copyright. The only reason OS thinks it is is because it is in their commercial interests to claim it is. They may or may not be right under the law as it now stands: as Steve said the other day, one could test this by pushing the boundaries and seeing when they squeal. David _______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
