Hello, I’ve contributed small changes to OSM, but I’m new to the community, and this is my first post.
There is a new residential development in my area (in the UK), and I’ve been trying to update the map as construction progresses. But I can’t easily map the new buildings or infrastructure, because I’ve got no good source for that - no up-to-date aerial view, and no map.
The builder company, of course, has maps for the development. They’ve got a simple one on their website, and they have more detailed ones internally. I’m wondering if there’s a chance I could use these. More specifically:
In terms of intellectual property rights, I suppose I cannot use the map from their commercial website to map the buildings in OSM, without a specific permission. Am I correct?
I think I can maybe arrange for the company to give an explicit, written permission for using their map (the one from the commercial website, or who knows, they might be able to provide a better one yet), I’m thinking of using a template as described on this wiki page. If I do get the permission, where should I “upload” the map and permission document, so that the community can keep a record of the source (and permission) for the data?
I’ve found this page with records of 3rd-party permissions, but I haven’t really been able to find precedents of development companies providing maps for new developments. Does anyone has an idea of the procedure I should follow?
You should be able to map street names & numbers, & any other details, just from walking around the area?
If you want to map the buildings themselves, you can also draw your best guess at their shape, together with a <fixme=Please update when imagery available>
I also use Mapillary for a walk around, when uploaded the geolocations are really helpful to locate streets and buildings. I have asked the sales people to annotate the sales brochure layout with the house numbers and street names and postcodes, I have explained to them that I am mapping the development and that OSM will be updated in the next week or so. They are usually very helpful as it allows them to show prospects the overall location of the site and facilities which helps sales.
You can also use GPS traces to work out the road layout.
Question for the bigger audience. There was a case a number of years ago where someone took a picture of a Subway, then used it on their website. Subway clamed copywrite of the logo, but lost, given it was a photo taken from a public place.
So can we take a photo of a “builders sign” (map) from public land and use that for reference?
Yes, it is a private company indeed. I’ve chatted with some people from that company and they sound interested, let’s see if they are able to help.
Thank you all for the alternative solutions! I can walk in the area and find the street names and house numbers for sure, and I’ve been doing just that. It works when I’ve got some outline for the street or buildings, but it’s hard to map the new buildings correctly. GPS only helps so much, I can’t circle the houses. I’m not sure I’d be able to fly a drone and get good enough pictures while following the regulations (we have an airport not far away, with that - I’d need to look into it). Haven’t tried Mapillary, but the streets are very new, I doubt it has pictures of it yet, maybe I should check. Waiting for better aerial is always an option, of course… just not the funniest one!
Sounds like a good idea, thank you. Where would I add this “fixme” tag? I see I can add a “FixMe” field for a building in iD, I suppose this is where I should add it?
Also, back to my initial question: if I get lucky and do manage to get a map from the builder, does anyone know what I should do with the map to be able (permission-wise) to use it? Is it enough for me to keep it in my records and to be able to provided it on request if someone asks, or do I have to share it at a specific location?
There was a case a number of years ago where someone took a picture of a Subway, then used it on their website. Subway clamed copywrite of the logo, but lost, given it was a photo taken from a public place.
It’s copyright, as in right to copy, not copywrite, as in copying writing.
Any “copyright” claim of something taken from a public place is utterly invalid in the UK unless the item is the only thing in the image and not incidentally included.
This was almost certainly trademark and not copyright. Trademark law can be used to restrict the use of photographs taken from a public place if there’s passing off involved or deceptive practices concerning the brand.
The point about Mapillary is that you take the pictures with the Mapillary App on your mobile phone, load them up and they are available on the Mapillary website in a day or two. If using JOSM there is a Mapillary layer on the editable map which makes locating the buildings so much easier and also records the visible shape of the building.
JOSM lets[1] you add geotagged photos to the edit window without having to upload them to Mapillary first.
It doesn’t do the SFM stuff that Mapillary does to uploaded data, but I think you can only get the traffic signs and detected objects layer from them anyway (not the full point cloud).
I can’t remember if this is built in or a plugin. ↩︎
I dream of somehow convincing property developers to release building plans to OSM (in a licence free way). It would be in their interest as it gets the site “on the map” which could help with their marketing efforts. Then it would help the new residents to get their addresses mapped and available to delivery firms.
