
Ordnance Survey maps to go free online - stakent
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/17/ordnance-survey-maps-online
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samstokes
This is a pretty big deal, if it goes through. It means free-even-for-
commercial-use mapping data for the whole of the UK, rather than having to pay
royalties to the Ordnance Survey or guess what Google considers acceptable use
of their API.

There's another gem nestled in the article: "It is thought transport
providers, such as train, tube and bus companies, will lose the right to
demand a hefty fee from companies such as independent travel websites and
firms devising programs for mobile phones, who want to publish such
information."

The wording is a bit unclear, but it seems to suggest the UK Government will
pressure transport companies to lower their license fees for data about public
transport services. That would be a bonanza for any number of exciting
startups.

(For example, there's a journey planner website for trains across the country,
but it doesn't know about other forms of transport. In London there's a
journey planner for all modes of transport, but it doesn't go outside London.
Bus routes, for example, are mostly available only as unscrapeable PDFs. It
would be incredibly convenient to have a single service that could just get
you from A to B by whatever means.)

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OolonColluphid
There are some integrated travel sites for the UK - for example
<http://www.traveline.info/index.htm>

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oikujhgfvg
"The government is to explore ways of making all Ordnance Survey maps freely
available online from April,'

Note not make the data available - but start a consultation process to look at
possible ways in which the issue might be addressed, in the fullness of time,
once all the facts have been considered .....

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dazzawazza
I'd be much happier if the UK government made it clear in law that you can't
copyright facts. I know this isn't trivial but travel times, tv listings
government gathers statistics are all facts (within a broad definition of
fact) and should be placed in the public domain for the good of the public.

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oikujhgfvg
Unlikely since they introduced the "Copyright and Rights in Databases
Regulations 1997 " making databases copyrightable.

On the other hand they have done a lot to make data freely available on USB
keys and cdroms in every pub car park and train seat.

