On 6 June 2013 08:11, Nick Whitelegg <nick.whitel...@solent.ac.uk> wrote: > Just wondering what the current state of what we can do with the UK council > footpath open data is?
[ I previously posted this to legal-talk, but seeing as all the discussion is taking place here now... ] It will depend what data you are referring to. But the general rule will apply: you can only use data/information that is subject to someone else's copyright if you either have explicit permission to use it in OSM, or permission to use it under a license that's compatible with OSM's license. * In the case of current OS Landranger and Explorer maps showing Public Rights of Way, these are copyright Ordnance Survey. I'm not aware of OS giving any permissions to re-use these maps, and so are not usable in OSM. * In the case of the Definitive Maps maintained by each council, then these contain IP rights belonging to both the Council and Ordnance Survey. I'm not aware of OS giving any permissions to re-use these maps themselves. Hence they're not usable for OSM. * In the case of GIS data for PRoW routes derived from Definitive Maps, these also contain IP rights belonging to both the Council and Ordnance Survey. However, under the Public Sector Mapping Agreement, the councils can apply for permission from OS to release them under the OS OpenData License. However, there are question marks over whether this license is compatible with the ODbL+DbCL used by OSM. The most recent statement I'm aware of from OS maintains that their license is not compatible, and hence we shouldn't make use of this data in OSM (unless we can obtain separate explicit permission from both the council and OS). See http://robert.mathmos.net/osm/prow/council-gis.html and http://robert.mathmos.net/osm/os-open-data.html for more discussion. * In the case of the Definitive Statements that each council must maintain, OS has publicly stated that they don't claim any rights in them, so the only IP rights rest with the council. Hence if you can obtain permission from the Council (either explicitly for OSM, or under a suitable licence), then it is ok to use them for OSM. For some advice about how to obtain Defintiive Statements and ask for permission to use them in OSM, see http://robert.mathmos.net/osm/prow/council-docs.html Having said that, while various sources listed above are not usable directly in OSM, there's nothing to stop you using such a source to look for discrepancies in the current OSM data, and then using that information to choose where to survey or search other sources for information that can be used for OSM mapping. However, doing this, you'd have to be careful that whatever you map in OSM comes only from the sources you can use, and isn't tainted by the sources that you can't. Hope that helps, Robert. -- Robert Whittaker _______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb
