GeoNames Forum

Thanks for checking, at least we know there is a 'reason', also interesting to learn that these datafiles are compiled from paper maps!

Also thank you for the underlines

I don't think so as it seems to have very straight edges, there is conflict between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (currently part of UK), but this band certainly doesnt align with any county/country boundaries.

Somehow I can only guess it a technical limitation of how the data is processed to make the GNS dumps, as can't beleive this wouldnt be noticed.

In fact have just created a kml polygon that matches with it, screenshot, and download.
- see it doesnt seem to align with any boundaries, but does align with the Lat/Long grid quite well (bare in mind this polygon not very accurate, it hard to spot the actual border once get in close enough to plot!)

Also I've uploaded the KMZ file I used here (~330kb), incase it's of use. (btw I guess this is under a CC licence!)

Thanks

(as an aside, is there a reason to have underlining turned off on links? personally find it very hard to spot links in this forum!)

Plotting the Geonames database for Ireland in Google Earth, I notice there is a band across the country which seems to be less dense than the rest of the country.

I've also plotted the GNS database directly so it doesnt appear to be a geonames.org problem, unless of course its something I done. (unlikly as I just load data infile to a mysql table, and a really simple php script splits out kml)

Anyway does anyone know the reason, or have any ideas?

I've uploaded a screenshot here, I also tried zooming in to see if it just a rendering anomaly, see second shot. (notice also how the positions are more grided in the sparse area!)

Sorry it's me again!

Firstly I would say I am not a lawyer, but I am involved with geograph.org.uk which is also creating Creative Commons Licensed comment, and as such have read much about this. However the stuff we dealing only is OS and UK specific, but I think the same applies elsewhere.

After much consultation with the Legal department of the OS (the GB mapping agency), a fellow developer wrote this post,
http://blog.dixo.net/2006/10/23/geograph-creative-commons-and-ordnance-survey-revisited/
which the last point covers similar issues, (more specifically deriving positions from OS mapping)

The relevent parts of the Google Maps content is here:
http://maps.google.com/help/legalnotices_maps.html
and
http://maps.google.com/help/terms_maps.html
as well as the Maps API ToU, basically these all say you can't copy content from Google Maps.

Other sites do use the API for 'content creation', but it is on murky ground. I still don't believe it is strictly ok (much as I would want and like it to be) , but on small scale use the providers will tend to turn a blind eye. However something like Geonames would hope to become a rival, and as such could be challenged.

I should also point out that openstreetmap has faced very similar issues, ( I am not directly involved, but follow their issues as they are related to geograph), see in particular:
http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2006-August/006378.html
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Legal_FAQ#May_I_use_Google_Maps.2FMSN_mappoint_to_contribute_data.3F

Sorry again to be so negative, I should also point that this again is only my personal opinion, and I don't have any Legal training, just the necessity of reading a LOT of information and cases about this.

I'm intrigued, what problems?

marc wrote:

The service is now taking the style parameter (SHORT,MEDIUM,LONG,FULL) just like the other services.

Great! Updated my utility to use it, depending on user options

Hey while here will add a quick plug

http://www.nearby.org.uk/group-kml.php

… Takes a kml [Google Earth] file full of placemarks, and organizes them into a folder tree structure, starting by continent and working down though country to state/county if possible…

Sorry that was me again, forgot I wasn't logged in... (found by refreshing the page eventually got a nice b/w captcha could read

I'm just about to try a using the service in a bit of testing, we see how get on, and will contact you before using it properly.