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/
--
Lars Aronsson (lars(a)aronsson.se)
Aronsson Datateknik -
http://aronsson.se/