OSM advances in France!
The ePractice.eu reports that OpenStreetMap (OSM) may use detailed data from the French Land Register such as streets and roads, names and buildings. The ePractice announcement reflects that made by the Open Source Observatory and Respository Europe on the 2 February 2009. The news report posted by Heise.online titled: French grant OpenStreetMap access to land registry data, posted on the 23 January 2009 states:
“Unlike the UK Ordnance Survey, which operates under crown copyright, the French land registry (cadastre) allows derivative use of its data providing accreditation is observed. According to French regulations, providing the vector data, including road courses and parcel boundaries, from the cadastre Web Map Service (WMS) to OSM, constitutes a legal use of the data. In the UK there is a similar website service for the UK Land Registry who work closely with the Ordnance Survey to manage legal boundaries, since these are not shown on Ordnance Survey maps.
Appropriate vector data are available for about half of the municipalities, with accuracy deviations of less than one meter. A screen shot of an excerpt from the city of Brest gives a foretaste of the expected density of information. UK Ordnance Survey maps usually provide a greater density of information.”
The recently published beta version of the UK Power of Information report that invites online comment and feedback has drawn a large number of responses related to the Ordnance Survey and in particular the issue of derived copyright that is applied by the Ordnance Survey that is reported as stifling innovative information services from all sectors of society.
The annual International OpenStreetMap conference will be held in Amsterdam from the 10 to 12 July 2009.
The advance of alternative data sets was considered at the ePSIplus Final Thematic meeting that took place in Paris on 3 February 2009.
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