Hi. I got a tip that the Ministry of Education in Iceland is drafting a bill regarding placenames. In the draft's comment section they specifically mentioned OpenStreetMap as an example of a distributor of geodata (along with Samsýn and Google Maps). They plan to propose the bill soon. The public review period expired at the day's end of January 10th but I might be able to squeeze in some comments in if I send them before Monday next.
One of the reasons the bill will be proposed is because they are afraid that cultural heritage is lost since popular geodata distributors don't display (rare) placenames due to lack of data. This is also because many users build their local knowledge upon data brought to them via geodata distributors. They clearly want the placenames to be available everywhere so people will be better equipped to know the name of every hill and valley, if a name exists. I think this should give an idea of the data density: http://atlas.lmi.is/ornefnasja/ (more placenames appear as you zoom in closer) In the current draft, they suggest that place names and their location should be open data. Here's a rough translation of the corresponding article: Article 9 /Placename database//./ National Land Survey of Iceland, in cooperation with The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, shall file placenames into a centralised database and maintain it. The contents of the database shall be accessible as open data and free of charge. Into the placename database shall, among other things, file: a. Placenames in a proper notation, b. Alignment of the placename, c. The namebearer type. The Minister shall with regulation provide further definitions for the contents, filing and arrangements of the database according to this Article. Open data is not defined in Icelandic law so the reference is not clear and the meaning could be misinterpreted. I think it'll the first time Icelandic law would have that reference. I was wondering, should I comment on the draft and suggest that the database should be in the public domain? Database rights are defined in Icelandic copyright law and the public domain exception doesn't cover databases so I think such a change would avoid any unneccessary problems. What do you think? With regards, Svavar Kjarrval
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