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0 pointsfelipe14y ago0 comments

I developed a project in China using OSM and it's certainly not blocked there (i. e.: The host is accessible).

The problem of OSM in China is its limited data-set. For example, in the city I developed the project OSM had only the major streets, and the map was quite old.

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jann14y ago· 2 in thread

Probably because private mapping is prohibited and there is no public-domain map data.

from paxswill's link:

"According to the Surveying and Mapping Law of the People's Republic of China, private surveying and mapping activities are illegal in mainland China."[0]

[0]http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/WikiProject_China#Legalit...

rmc14y ago

no public-domain map data

For the record there is no public domain map data in a lot of countries in Europe. The USA has the sensible approach of 'all government data (incl. maps) should be public domain'. In Europe the state owned mapping organisations do the mapping and claim full copyright on the maps & data.

The 'illegal to make your own maps' is, obviously, not the case in EU

iliis14y ago

> In Europe the state owned mapping organisations do the mapping and claim full copyright on the maps & data.

This is true here in Switzerland. You have to pay quite a bit for our maps. I think it's a good thing actually, because their quality is worth the price. They provide extreme detail even in very remote locations (well, remote for us at least ;)). And for doing quick lookups, there's a free online-map at http://map.geo.admin.ch/, which also provides a lot of statistical data.

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