I'll second Fletcher's observations. Up-to-date street information makes sense for certain usages. Keeping data-up-to-date is not trivial. Its one thing to use Tigre data but totally different to the effort and investment to insure the streets and addresses are clean and accurate. Make certain the utility of timeliness is well understood... its far easier to extend the rules over older stuff that is better time-scaled to your users' needs.
I can personally confirm that if you are upfront with the data folks at MapInfo that they have in my experience always made room for our needs. But be aware. Its one thing for the sales group to approve but another for the contracts side of the outfit to actually get the work out. Be polite and you'll likely get what you need. neil -----Original Message----- From: Fletcher James [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 12:49 AM To: 'Simmonds, Ashley (DTUP)' Cc: MapInfo ListServe Questions Subject: RE: MI-L map data on a public site... legal issues...? One of my clients had a similar situation. The informal answer is this: The people who own the data really have two concerns. 1. They want to make sure that you are not creating a situation in which people who would otherwise buy data from them, are getting it from you, without compensation. That's why there are all of those restrictions to make sure that nobody can extract latlongs, etc., and also to make sure that you cannot dynamically generate maps, or sell maps. 2. They also want the opportunity to charge more if you are making piles of money using their data. That's another reason for the restrictions on internal use, etc. The standard data license is written with highly restrictive language, which precludes anything even vaguely resembling an infringement on what the vendors consider to be their rights. So, you've got two different red lines -- one where you are in technical violation of the license, and another, much further out, where you're actually doing something which the vendors don't want done. The lawyers write the licenses this way, so that anybody who really misuses the data cannot claim that they only had their little toe over the line, or that the line is unclear. I think for many people, the intended use falls between the two lines. There is a clause in the license, after all the limitations, which says something like "unless otherwise agreed in writing". The solution is to speak with MI or the licensor of the data, describe what you wish to do with it, and get their agreement. If you do wish to be selling products or services which include large amounts of their data, they would probably be very happy to have you do so -- for a percentage. After all, that's why they're in the business. Fletcher James President Levit & James, Inc. 703-771-1549 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.levitjames.com -----Original Message----- From: Simmonds, Ashley (DTUP) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 8:25 PM To: 'Mapinfo List (E-mail) ' (E-mail) Subject: MI-L map data on a public site... legal issues...? hey all, with regards to the map data we use, what - if any - legal issues exist for effectively publishing this data? i would have thought that purchasing the dataset allows you to do what you wish with it, publishing wise. obviously i can't distribute the original data, but for displaying pretty maps and stuff in management reports nobody ever questioned the legality as that's what we got the data for. however now that i've made a system where the maps can be viewed online, some people are getting nervous... our base data comes from Streetworks, so what's the deal? ash --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 14093 --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 14101
