[GRASSLIST:7866] Geographic Data Liscences

[Dave Sampson]

Hey Folks,

I'm interested to gather some resources that helps explain what 
liscencing options exist for Geographic Data. Or perhaps even just data 
in general. Many sources just go straight for the Copyright Act. For the 
public or open domain what exists? The Ottawa GRASS Users Group (OGUG) 
[http://cemml.carleton.ca/OGUG/], is in the process of prepairing 
another publicly available dataset like the spearfish set, however 
focusing on the local region. If you have insight to Canadian liscence 
laws, please let me know.

Would software liscences or documentation liscences be more closely 
connected to data?

I figure that Creative Commons can easily be applied to geographic data.

The Free Software Foundation does not endorse, but cites Design Science, 
a "copyleft" approach. They also list GNU Free Documentation Liscence, 
FreeBSD Documentation Liscence, and Open Publication Liscence.

GPLdata.com looks promising but no explanation if it is a liscence, or 
just a repository of data. Does their use of GPL relate to GNU Public 
Liscence or some other abreviation.

What liscence might protect the data gatherer from liability.

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