[Geomoose-users] Bird's Eye & Virtual Earth

[Johnson, Jeremy]

I recently had an email conversation with Brian Fisher regarding
licensing of the Virtual Earth Map Control and the Bird's Eye Viewer.
After talking to the licensing folks at Microsoft, here is what I found
out.

 

First, you need to be a licensed user of Pictometry in order to use the
Bird's Eye application.  For most counties, who have purchased
Pictometry, this is not an issue.  However, for a city like Blaine, we
are doing a little more research to see if the license agreement that we
signed with Anoka County to use Pictometry will suffice.  If not, we
need to get written permission from Pictometry and possibly pay a fee.  

 

Second, separate from the Pictometry license is the Virtual Earth
license.  In reading their terms of use
(http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/product/terms.html), it looks
like government agencies cannot use the application with paying for a
separate license. 

(ii)  Commercial or Government use:  If you would like to develop or
host an Application that is designed to access and use the service for
commercial or government use, you must enter into a separate MWS/VE
agreement. The only exception to our restriction on commercial or
government use under this agreement, is the 90 day evaluation period
described in section (iii) below. Microsoft considers commercial use of
this service to include:

*                     Licensing or selling Applications that use or
access the Service; or 

*                     Offering goods or services for a fee through your
Application, or promoting locations at which such goods or services are
offered. 

We have Volume Licensing here at Blaine and I am waiting to hear back
from them with a quote.  When I receive something, I will pass that
along as well.  

 

I am passing this along for everyone's benefit so that we are all in
compliance with licensing.  If anyone else has had any other information
passed along to them, please feel free to refute me.  I want to be
comfortable in using all of the tools available for GeoMOOSE to pass
information along to the public, as I am sure we all are.

 

Thanks

 

Jeremy Johnson, GISP

G.I.S. Coordinator

City of Blaine

10801 Town Square Dr Ne

Blaine, MN  55449

(763) 717-2639

 

 

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