Re: FN-FORUM: Ordnance Survey map data (was: Vector Map of UK & Ireland)

date posted 16th May 2007 13:52

> The paper maps are fully covered by
> copyright law that covers any written publication.

Of course, I don't want to copy any OS map (paper or the equivalent
electronic raster image).

What I do want to do is to use the OS map to find the locations of points,
and then publish those locations on the free Google Maps API.

This is obviously possible using paper maps, as the OS have no
restrictions on the publishing of grid references, or for using an OS map
to find them, and this has been done since the OS grid was created. The
question is whether the same thing is allowed using digital versions of
the OS maps - this basically makes it easier to generate lists of grid
references much quicker than reading off a paper map. I personally can't
see any real difference, as the speed of reproduction doesn't seem
relevant to copyright laws.

> The data in the database
> of OS is protected by the European Database directive and so are any
> derivatives of this data.

Quite so, I don't want to use any OS data directly. The difficulty is in
defining what is a derivative of the data.

The question is what are you allowed to use an OS map for, before you
create a "derivative work". Is reading an OS map to find the grid
reference of a point creation of a derivative work? How about a series of
points to mark a cycle route along some roads?

Tracklogs, and similar programs, display an OS map. You can annotate this
map with your own markers, lines, and areas. OS seem to be saying that
these annotations, on their own, are a "derivative work", and you are not
allowed to make them generally available. Note that, because the markers,
lines, and areas are all manually created by the user, they are not
directly using OS map data.

If the lines were created automatically, or copied from OS vector database
data, then I could see that making a derivative work - you're making
direct use of the OS copyrighted data. Also, if you manually traced entire
sections of OS map data, in order to make a map, that would also obviously
be a derivative work.

The intention of the copyright is to protect the work carried out by the
OS, and the revenue they make from selling the data and licenses to use
it. I can't see how tracing a cycle route on an OS map and then putting
that line on my website impacts the OS in any way. But we'll have to see
what the OS say themselves.

Cheers!

Anthony
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