Delirium wrote:
From that, I can't seem to figure out if the issue is an access one (we can't get the data) or a legal one (we're not allowed to use the data). If the latter, I think we can safely ignore it, at least in the US: a simple database of factual data is not copyrightable in the US, so once we can our hands on it, we can do whatever we want with it, regardless of what the person who put the data together says we can do with it.
I haven't looked deeper into this, but there is always contract law that can cover holes in copyright law (you get raw data under an agreement that you will pay damages if it gets disseminated). If you only speak English, you could start to dig out mapping data from Britain or Ireland. Many Europeans think "it cannot be done", and need the inspiration from outsiders with a naive view of things.
Ordnance Survey Britain, http://www.ordsvy.gov.uk/ Ordnance Survey Ireland, http://www.osi.ie/