As for the comment about copyright, I am not sure if this pertains to geographic data like locations of post offices or mail boxes. From Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_work_by_the_U.S._government#Exemptions ):
Exemptions Works by certain independent agencies, corporations and Federal subsidiaries > may be exempt from US Government copyright status. For instance, material > produced by the United States Postal > Service<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postal_Service> > [8]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_status_of_work_by_the_U.S._government#cite_note-7> > are > typically subject to normal copyright. Most USPS materials, artwork and > design and all postage stamps as of January 1, 1978 or after are subject to > copyright laws. Works of the former United States Post Office > Department<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office_Department> > are > in the public domain (due to its former position as a cabinet department). I think this exemption is dealing with the artistic works that come out of the USPS like stamps etc. Just my 2 cents. ************************************************************** Joshua Finnie Central Connecticut State University Masters of Science in Geography 24 Park Pl Apt B8H Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 716-5996 ************************************************************** On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 3:53 PM, Frederik Ramm <frede...@remote.org> wrote: > Friends, > > Hillsman, Edward wrote: > > The websites for these companies do not show all of the boxes I have > > mapped from direct observation. > > There's an important message in what Ed writes ;-) > > It is probably a natural hacker instinct: Map one drop box manually, ok. > Map two, accetable. Map three and you shoud really think about obtaining > a list and automating the process! > > I suggest to resist that urge and map drop boxes by hand. There may be > license issues, or the data may be too old, but even if it were current > and in the public domain I'd hesitate. It may seem a tedious task but > this is how maps are made - go out there and survey something. POIs are > extraordinarily easy to survey, anyone with a decent mobile gadget can > do it. Use it as an opportunity to get people interested! > > (Maybe you can elicit from USPS the *number* of drop boxes in a given > area, so you have an idea about how complete OSM is. You can even make a > game of hunting down the last missing drop boxes...) > > OSM is about people, not data. > > Sorry, I know it sounds patronizing. But someone had to say it ;-) > > Bye > Frederik > > -- > Frederik Ramm ## eMail frede...@remote.org ## N49°00'09" E008°23'33" > > _______________________________________________ > Talk-us mailing list > Talk-us@openstreetmap.org > http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us >
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