(no subject)

[morwen]

well, that was a lot of effort to go to just to get a new userpic. ;)

Comments

[ex-sonjaaa.livejournal.com]

what is it?

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

the outline of the london borough of hackney, which i have now entirely circumnavigated!

[vjbseven.livejournal.com]

Ooh, Hackney?

[nmg.livejournal.com]

That's a GPS track? Wouldn't it have been easier to find a suitable KML overlay for Google Maps?

[shimgray.livejournal.com]

It looks bizzarely like a somewhat squished outline of England...

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

Derived from the OSM data segments, derived in part from my GPS tracks and my notes and from satellite photos.

And yes, but then it wouldn't be free (which is the main object, after all).

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

I'd noticed that too! It has a pointy bit in the bottom left being Cornwall, an inlet on the left being the Mersey, and a kind of vague east anglia area.

[shimgray.livejournal.com]

Mmm. It's missing Northumberland, which some might say is no loss, and both Cornwall and Kent have swelled somewhat... but it's recognisable.

I wonder if anyone noted it when they last redrew the boundaries.

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

Well, the present boundaries are more or less identical to the ancient parishes of Hackney, Stoke Newington and Shoreditch, with just a bit of twiddling to align to roads.

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

Mapney!

[shimgray.livejournal.com]

...hmm. Ancient boundaries, you say? Yet this complex and clearly significant outline can only truly be visualised with modern mapping technology...

(If I were Von Daniken, I bet I could get two books out of this. And it's London, rather than the back of beyond, so you can probably work in the Illuminati or the Masons or something as part of the coverup. Thankfully, I'm not.)

[annie-lyne.livejournal.com]

Here's something I don't understand. How can a council/borough/whatever outline be copyrighted? Or should the copyright belong to the council/government, because they are the ones who are drawing up the borders?

The concept of a non-free outline of something seems a little frustrating. I can understand non-free maps because a map has much more to it, but... I don't know.

[skibbley.livejournal.com]

Are you going to add "mine" in the middle in a suitable font?

[secretlondon.livejournal.com]

Yeah I wonder this re: ward boundaries. Who do they belong to? Copyright the boundary commission, the Council - or are they just factual? How can I get a free trace of a ward boundary anyway.. *ponder*

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

Ward boundaries are typically simple and based on roads, railways, rivers, so if you had a textual description of them, you can reconstruct it.

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

Perhaps more relevant is database right (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_right). We might be able to extract a tiny bit of information here and there legally, but if we were to start doing systematically, that would be a major violation. Generally openstreetmap just treats any information as tainted unless it can establish it is definitely free. And hey, it gets me out of the house!

[doseybat.livejournal.com]

Eeple, on foot and not by bike?? You have motivation. My plan for today involves going back to bed at first available opportunity.

[abigailb.livejournal.com]

I really do need to buy a bike for this... Just can't be bothered to. So, a different, kind of motivation! :)