[Qgis-user] QuickMapServices plugin question

[Nicolas Cadieux]

Hi,

Sorry I can really respond because I simply don’t know what services are used by the very useful Quickmap plugin.  There does seem to be some licences issues at play as pointed out by others.  I imagine that the google map API is being used because the google earth API no longer exists.  I also imagine that the google earth engine API is also not being used.  That API could give use access to a lot of free data but you can get those directly from the service providers like NASA also.

I always wondered about the google map license so I googled it!  You can find it here. 
https://cloud.google.com/maps-platform/terms/

Section 3.2.4 Restrictions Against Misusing the Services. is what you need to read.  Basically, we can’t use it:(.  (but most people do).  I have a tendency to use it to find data or for georeferencing data when i’am confused, but I never publish anything with a Google map image as that would clearly violate the termes of the agreement (Plus it gives them all the incriminating evidence that you actually misused the services!!).

I also wonder what ESRI thinks of the plugin using the ESRI server images on QGIS... if it’s there, one assumes it’s free to use but that is most likely a false impression.

It would be nice to enforce that the plugin providers clearly and explicitly explain the various licenses.  I’am also concerned with proprietary plugins using QGIS like Lastools.  That is a great tool (don’t get me wrong here) but last time checked, some modules were OpenSource and some not. I assume the QGIS license permits Proprietary plugins.  To figure what is OpenSource and what is not in LasTools, you very must read the readme files hidden(in clear view) in the directories (unless that changed lately).  That gives users the impression that the software is free when it’s not. That does not help the software developers choosing the proprietary root... but that’s another story...

Nicolas



> Le 12 juill. 2019 à 04:42, Tobias Wendorff <tobias.wendorff at tu-dortmund.de> a écrit :
> 
> I am not aware of a plug-in. There have been some hacks in the past to access the cache of Google Earth.
> 
> But remember: all this hacking and tweaking without using the official Google API is against rules and even against law in many countries.
> 
> Sure, you still can export Google Earth imagery at high resolution and use QGIS Georefencer or GDAL to give it spatial information.
> 
> — 
> Von einem iPhone gesendet und wird daher Fehler enthalten.
> 
>> Am 12.07.2019 um 09:54 schrieb Tony Shepherd (FarmMaps NZ) <tony at farmmaps.nz>:
>> 
>> Hi All
>>  
>> This isn’t really a question, but a curiosity.  I've been using Google Satellite among other services from the Quick Map Services plugin.  Its awesome and very useful to have different sources of imagery etc to use in addition to existing ortho photos that I have access to.  My question, or curiosity really, is what Google dataset the QMS plugins access as opposed to that used in Google Earth?  I notice that in Google Earth that there is some nice new imagery, not more than a month old, displaying in an area that I have recently been working in.  I assumed that the new Google imagery would filter through to the dataset that is accessed by the QMS plugin.  Its obviously a different dataset, can anybody shed any light as to if the Google Earth imagery does flow through to the dataset used by the plugin eventually?
>>  
>> Cheers
>> Tony
>>  
>> Tony Shepherd  |  GeoSpatial / Mapping Manager
>> Ph 027 435 6193  |  E tony at farmmaps.nz
>> FarmMaps NZ, 3 Kerwood Place, Gore 9740
>>  
>> <image002.jpg>
>>  
>>  
>> <image003.png><image004.png>
>>  
>> _______________________________________________
>> Qgis-user mailing list
>> Qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org
>> List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user
>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user
> _______________________________________________
> Qgis-user mailing list
> Qgis-user at lists.osgeo.org
> List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-user/attachments/20190712/c5dfd57c/attachment.html>