Hi Matthew, On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 9:48 PM, Matthew Luehrmann < [email protected]> wrote:
> Wikimapia at: http://wikimapia.org/wiki/Main_Page seems to have the same > mission as OSM. Has anyone contacted them to talk about merging the two > projects so that we can both accomplish more? They definitely have better > usability and explain how to contribute better. They also seem to have > permission to display their data with Google's aerial imagery and trace > from > Google imagery. > > Cheers, > Matthew > > Unfortunately I don't see that Wikimapia has the same mission as OSM. They might advertise this on the site, but it is not true. After reading their Terms of Service (http://wikimapia.org/terms_reference.html) looks like you can use the data only for non-commercial purposes: "F. *All User Submissions of all users and all WikiMapia data are available through WikiMapia website, WikiMapia API and other current or future WikiMapia services for non-commercial* *purposes only: **personal or educational*" (the highlight is from the original document). OSM is about freedom all the way, not about freedom as Google or others understood it. About the permission to display and trace from Google imagery, I doubt they had any contact with Google, they just don't care. Why Google is not actively working to make sure that their Terms of Service are respected is still a mystery for many people. Sorry if this response seems a little bit too harsh, but I am really tired to see companies/people that say "Look how many things you get free from us!", while actually this is not true. Regards, --Ciprian
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