Copyright of New Zealand Topographical Maps

Copyright of New Zealand Topographical Maps

I have received some comment on copyright of some maps used for UI-View in New Zealand.

The following text is from "Infotech Weekly", available from their web site at www.infotech.co.nz it was in their issue of 7 Feb 2000.

The New Zealand Government organisation "Land Information" is to be congratulated for this excellent decision.

I recommend those interested have a look at the two web sites mentioned, for supply of detailed maps on CD.

Eagle-eye over NZ maps out Land Information data for CDs

By TOM PULLAR-STRECKER

NEW ZEALAND is virtually up for sale on two CD-Roms costing $2500 when a giant electronic 1:50,000-scale topographical map of New Zealand goes on sale this month.

The CD-Roms, produced by Auckland’s Eagle Technology, will contain virtually all of the information provided by the complete set of 260 maps of New Zealand currently available in shops.

The move has been made viable by Land Information’s decision late last year to abolish copyright fees on its digital topographical database. It previously cost $2 million to buy a single copy of the database. With the abolition of copyright fees, the government body is instead supplying the database for a $1500 dissemination fee - allowing buyers to freely copy and on-sell it.

Eagle Technology has converted Land Information’s proprietary format for personal computers.

It can be used in conjunction with Eagle’s GIS software as a base for resource management analysis and applications. When compressed, the digital map occupies about one gigabyte. GIS account manager Peng Aik Lim says the company will initially cut about 500 copies of the twin CD set, which will go on sale this month. Ten schools involved in Eagle’s "GIS for schools" programme will receive free copies. "We’ve had a lot of inquiries already and we virtually have orders sitting on our desk for them."

Eagle also plans to make the electronic map freely available later this year via a link from its GIS Web site at www.gisuser.co.nz . The site could act as an Internet portal, generating advertising revenue and helping Eagle market its sophisticated GIS application software, says Mr Lim.

"Our intention is to put it on to our Web site within the next three to six months."

Land Information updates its digital topographical database region by region on a rotating basis every four months to cover changes such as new roads. By making the entire database available on its Web site, customers who buy the twin CD set will be able to download updates soon after they are released by Land Information.

Mr Lim says its electronic map differs visually from ordinary hard copy maps in some respects. "There is some loss of information, so although it looks similar, it is not exactly the same. But it’s fine for most purposes." Following Land Information’s decision to abolish copyright fees on topographical data, it is now legal for anyone to photocopy or scan a 1:50,000 map they buy in a shop and sell or give away reproductions in either printed or electronic form.

Auckland’s New Zealand Aerial Mapping (NZAM) scanned-in the entire set of 260 1:50,000 maps late last year. It is now reselling them as raster, or representational, image files stored on CD at a price of $99 for a set of about 20 maps.

Internet manager Nathan Heazlewood says NZAM has added value to the maps by colour equalising the images and ensuring they join together seamlessly. The company’s view is the extra work gives it copyright over the images it supplies on the CDs.

NZAM may make a subset of the data - perhaps a raster image of New Zealand’s

coast

Eagle’s electronic map has the advantage that because it is generated directly from Land Information’s topographical database - a vector file - it is possible for users to "search" it by place names and to call up an image of the area selected. Vector files are generated by database information. This is not possible on a simply scanned image of an ordinary map. Mr Lim says it would be possible to get the best of both worlds by scanning all the 1:50,000 maps of New Zealand, combining them into a single raster file, and then supplementing that file with the vector data it is providing on the CD-Roms.

This would create a single electronic map of New Zealand which would look identical to a scanned image of all 260 1:50,000 maps of New Zealand if were they joined together, but which would also be searchable. He says while Eagle has the ability to do this, such an investment is unlikely.

Mr Heazlewood sees more potential in combining a vector-format map of New Zealand with images from aerial photography.

NZAM has taken aerial photographs covering the whole of New Zealand - a job it originally carried out for the police.

The company is considering combining these images with Land Information’s topographical database to create a single three-dimensional photo-realistic map of New Zealand. This could have a myriad of uses in line-of-site applications in the resource consent and broadcasting industries, and for use in flight simulators, says Mr Heazlewood.

With the abolition of Crown copyright fees, anyone is free to obtain raw data from Land Information and copy either Eagle’s or NZAM’s initiatives. But Mr Lim says the costs of converting the data into an easily accessible form may limit competition. "We have spent weeks converting database and we have all the software needed for this kind of work. It doesn’t make sense for everyone to do it themselves."

Mr Heazlewood says NZAM spent $100,000 scanning Land Information’s 1:50,000 map set and combining them into a single raster file. The work had to be carried out in Australia because no scanner of sufficient size exists in New Zealand.