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I need a map I can display that lets the user click on a point then returns the Lat and Lng.

EDIT TO CLARIFY @Igor: Yes, the user is clicking a specific feature on the map so I guess it would constitute "tracing over imagery".

EDIT: The returned lat/lng can be fairly inaccurate, say even 10m or 20m away.

The issue is that I need the Lat/Lng data to be freely usable with no legal restriction.

For instance, from http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Legal_FAQ

If I have data derived from OSM data, do I have to distribute it?

The licence does not force you to distribute or make any data available. But if you do choose to distribute it, or anything derived from it, it must be under the same licence terms as the OSM data.

The area to be mapped is Edinburgh, UK. Ordnance Survey is definitely not an option.

Is this going to be possible?

(We are actually going to be doing an open data service, so we may be able to use Open Street Map data, but I would like to see if there is a freely open option first.)

Thanks, James

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I think it is possible to derive information from yahoo maps, which has no licensing issues. Infact, OSM data itself is derived in some places by drawing on top of Yahoo maps.

See these page: http://help.openstreetmap.org/questions/706/can-i-drawtrace-osm-data-from-a-google-map-or-yahoo

& http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Yahoo#Legalities

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  • Wiki says "Note that as of late 2011, Yahoo are shutting down their mapping unit and this imagery service will be switched off without notice." altho Yahoo maps is still there. Do you know if this is still valid advice?
    – James
    Commented May 17, 2012 at 13:22
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    Yes, you are correct, they have shut down their API as of Sep 2011
    – Devdatta Tengshe
    Commented May 17, 2012 at 13:32
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The lat and long are not actually derived from the data, so I don't think that there would be any licensing issues in your case. The lat and long are produced by whichever software package you are using to generate the maps.

For example, if you make a PDF and enable the geospatial location tool, the coordinates it reads would be the same whether you have data within the map or not.

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    The user clicks somewhere on the map because the map shows something is there. So this basically constitutes tracing over imagery, which is problematic from the licensing perspective. But I guess it depends on WHAT the user is supposed to indicate by clicking on the map.
    – Igor Brejc
    Commented May 17, 2012 at 4:37
  • @igor The user is clicking a specific feature. Edited question to be clear.
    – James
    Commented May 17, 2012 at 8:26
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I notice OSM is allowed to trace over Bing Arial Photography, so will be looking into that to see if other parties can do the same with no derivative-licensing issues. Anyone know more on this?

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  • wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Bing tells that they only allow tracing from satellite images, not other types of maps. And that's for OSM community, I'm not sure the permission was granted for other uses. Even if it is, this means you will have to show pure satellite imagery without any overlay renderings (i.e. no street names etc.)
    – Igor Brejc
    Commented May 22, 2012 at 12:01
  • Yup, the imagery only bit is fine. It's the permission to OSM or all issue that I'm wary off.
    – James
    Commented May 22, 2012 at 23:28

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