On Oct 12, 2004, at 11:37 AM, Andre Engels wrote:
However, the creative work in creating a map is in the search of map symbols - the colour and thickness of the lines, the precision in which they are drawn, etcetera. The spatial data on which the map is based are not part of the 'creative' work on the map.
Andre Engels
Grin wrote:
Collecting and creating spatial data is indeed creative work, however, most of the spatial data needed are not copyright - but are generated by governments (USGS quads for example) and can be turned into maps. This is a fundamental wiki process - and indeed a fundamental open source process: isolate the creative component which "protects" information, that is, withholds it from the public. Duplicate that component, and include the public domain information which has been "fenced in" by the small amount of copyrightable material.
In the case of mapping, that's conerting PD spatial data where it exists into visual maps. Where there is no PD spatial data, then we have to do more. But much of what people want can be accomplished by the above mechanism. We should not attempt to appropriate copyright material on the argument that it isn't very copyright, on the other hand, we should be very aggressive in making sure that every particle of what is in the intellectual commons is accessible.
Thanks for the pointers people, I will draft a proposal to the people working on the problem.