Report: OS Data Not as Copyrighted as We Thought

The UK’s Guardian newspaper is again on the front lines of prodding for free(r) geodata. This time it reports on a study that suggests that Ordnance Survey’s geodata is not as tightly held by copyright as it might think. In fact, says Charlotte Waelde of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Law in her stufy, the geospatial database is protected by the European Database Directive. That Directive, states the paper:

allows users to copy information, provided that it is not a “substantial” part of a database. The use must also be lawful and “not conflict with the normal exploitation of the database or unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the maker”.

The Ordnance Survey has not reviewed the report in detail but states the argument won’t hold water.

(Thanks to Atanas on my spelling/grammar issue with “copyright.”