Talk:TopoZone

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Can someone please explain the copyright issue of maps accessed by TopoZone? It is said that original work of U.S. government agencies are in the Public Domain. What TopoZone presents appear to be USGS maps, which would mean they are in the Public Domain. However, the maps have a Copyright Notice "Copyright 1999-2003 Maps a la Carte, Inc.". How can that company "Maps a la Carte" use Public Domain material and put restrictions on it, or can it not? It would be nice to use some USGS maps in Wikipedia. How is the first sentence in this article to be interpreted, which starts "While the topography maps are still free"? Are they free or not, despite the Copyright Notice?Ratzer 07:58, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I can't answer most of your questions, but the place where the article describes the maps as "free" it means free as in beer. ^L_Wizard @ 10:10, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I read somewhere (I don't recall were) but this is because topozone adds something extra to the maps and are therefore allowed to charge money/copyright it. The biggest thing I notice are the edges of UTM zones (look at terra server). ChristopherM 18:07, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

TopoZone uses public domain data from the USGS (which wasn't free - we had to pay for it) to create TopoZone. That data was modified and manipulated in order to create a seamless, nationwide display of topo maps. The original data from the USGS cannot be put together in this manner without clipping, reprojection, datum shifting, rescaling, and other modifications. This is not easy to do; other sites displaying this data (such as Microsoft TerraServer) do not do it completely or correctly. The copyright message to which you refer pertains to what is called a "derivative work", which is what our maps are. While they are based on USGS data, they are different from USGS data in a substantial way due to the additional work we did on them. We do not claim a copyright on the original USGS public domain data; we claim a copyright on our derivative work.

It is also worth pointing out that "public domain" does not mean "the holder is obligated to distribute it at no cost". If I have a USGS topographic map and you would like a copy of it, I might require you to promise to call your mother every Sunday in exchange. I'm free to do that - I don't have to give you the data at all. You're free to refuse, and since this is public domain data you may well be able to find another source to provide you the data on more favorable terms or even without restriction at all. Once you have a copy you may also choose not to give it to anyone at all, or you may offer it under whatever terms you like. "Public domain" means that I may not claim copyright or ownership rights on the data, and I cannot prohibit anyone else with an independently-obtained copy from doing whatever they like with it. USGS topographic maps have been available in a variety of forms from a variety of sources for quite a few years now.

Many Wikipedia articles with geographic content or information contain links to TopoZone topographic maps. We have always made it very easy to link to TopoZone maps, which can be viewed and printed for free by anyone. Edmcnierney 01:56, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Looks like this has changed — one can no longer easily reach TopoZone maps, and they cannot be viewed or printed for free by anyone. I realize it's churlish to complain about losing something that one never had to pay for; at the same time, though, it's disappointing to see it close and be replaced by something less fully-featured for which one has to pay $50. Are USGS topographic maps available online elsewhere? Huwmanbeing ☀★ 22:13, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

I like Acme Mapper, which puts Terraserver-USA maps in a Google Maps-style interface. There seem to be several Google Earth overlays that show topos too. --NE2 18:01, 21 April 2008 (UTC)