Fair Use and Google Earth Imagery
The Free Geography Tools blog has been posting about saving out Google Earth imagery and georectifying them in your GIS applications. When pressed on the post by a couple users and bloggers (here, here), he’s posted up a clarification of “Fair Use”.
I still don’t believe one can use Google Earth imagery the way he is proposing and not be in violation of the EULA, but maybe I’m wrong. What do you guys think? Is this “fair use” of GE imagery or as some bloggers say, “stealing” Google’s product? As I said above, I’m of the opinion this is at best a very bad idea. Use NASA World Wind for this and you’ll be fine.
Gordon Gecko would use GE imagery in his GIS applications
I agree James. No way that using GE imagery inside a GIS is fair use even if it is for “personal use”. I’d have to say this concept is DOA.
I know fair use as my wife is an artist. I have to agree, no way fair use can be applied here for taking imagery out of GE and putting it into a GIS system. I can’t see how you can hide behind fair use in that case as you are basically trying to get around paying for the imagery.
Bad idea to use GE this way!
well, google specifically asked us to remove the functionality in Arc2Earth that imported the imagery into ArcMap. It was there for non-commercial use (or commercial use if you had a contract with goog) but they still wanted it removed.
it’s their data, so I guess they can do whatever they want with it. (their data in the sense that what you see in GE/GM is not the raw data itself but instead a processed representation of the original raw data that goog le spends time/money/storage/bandwidth on)
also @james – how does using WW help when what people want in this case is the imagery?
cheers
brian
Everyone is always claiming fair use to get around paying folks who own the data.
Just because your use is non-commercial doesn’t make it fair use.
@Brian: World Wind data is public domain (except the Virtual Earth stuff).
Google’s own Sketchup Pro allows you to import images from Google Earth, georectified and ready for you to use. So then if I export that model to VRML or AutoCAD using the built in export function what happens?
I’d say using Sketchup Pro gives you the license to use the export the way you describe.
I think writing about how to use Google Earth imagery in the way that blogger describes is pushing the envelope. There might be cases where “Fair Use” can be applied, but I’d suspect most folks would use his tutorial to get out of paying Google Earth.
Putting a disclaimer on the bottom doesn’t mean you are home free.
Screw Google and steal the imagery all you want. Lets not be losers and worry about who is hurt by stealing the imagery.
I think there could be “fair use” applications of GE imagery.
Still the post is dirty and doesn’t feel written as a fair use case, but as a take some imagery for personal use. Just because it is personal use, doesn’t make it fair use.
Y’all have to play Googles game. It’s their data, on their server. Even if the data is public domain, it’s their copy. There are other venues to the data.
You can take public domain data/information and make slight changes to it(value added). Afterwhich, one can claim it’s their product and do with it as one wishes.
If it’s the only copy of public domain data and it’s on Google’s server, then that is a different story.
Previous comments regarding this topic.
http://earthissquare.com/2007/08/23/simply-amazing-marketing/
KoS
There are situations where a GE screenshot could fall under fair use (scholarship and review, etc), but I highly doubt that any of those situations would also involve a real GIS app. Google is pretty easygoing with legitimate fair use stuff; I haven’t heard of anyone except for the World Wind forums having to take down GE screenshots for copyright reasons.
TV is different because you are just receiving someone’s broadcasts without any previous agreement with the broadcaster as to what you can and can’t do with the signal, and there are still limitations on what you can and can’t do with that personal copy of the signal. When you request data from the GE server you are doing so after agreeing to their terms, and those terms are pretty clear about what you can and can’t do with their data.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.
Personal use does not mean it is “fair use”. You have to show that you won’t profit from it. If you use GE imagery at home to better your GIS skills, one could argue you are increasing your worth to the marketplace. That is a stretch for sure, but you have to be careful what you claim is “Fair Use”. This blanket call of “fair use” is not good call unless you can show you are not profiting off it. That is why it is OK to save shows to tapes, but not sell or trade them.
Personal use of GIS is suspect to me anyway. I don’t see how one can claim personal use of these images unless all they want to do is what GE can already do.
Slippery slope.
I would say it’s definately against the ToS/EULA but as always Google will only target competitors, they like to be seen as the good guys.
Like James said just use World Wind imagery, the high resolution imagery is from USGS/NAIP so you already paid for it with your tax dollars.
“read both my post and some reference on what “fair use” means (like the Wikipedia article I link to in my post)”
I LOL’d. Yes, I am sure Wikipedia is the best source here….
This is against the EULA and ToS that you agree to by installing GE.
If you were able to get the imagery without agreeing to the EULA, then maybe you could use it for GIS. I think in this case Google has you and can do what they want with you because you agree to their ToS.
No as far as personal use and commercial use. I know for a fact that if you personal use is for profit, then you can’t claim fair use. Doesn’t matter that it is for your own use or not. I was involved with a website a couple years ago that got caught in that argument and lost in court. The simple fact that we were taking donations on our website to pay for bandwith made us lose the case.
If a copier’s use supplants demand for the original work, then it will be very difficult for him or her to claim fair use. On the other hand, if the use does not compete with the original, for example because it is a parody, criticism, or news report, it is more likely to be permitted as “fair use.”
I don’t think using GE imagery meets that requirement and thus you can’t claim fair use.
I don’t know enough about fair use to make up my mind, but it smells fishy.
And note to Leszek Pawlowicz, just because there is an “save as” option, doesn’t mean you can use it for illegal means. The save as on its own doesn’t give users fair use rights.
If making computer wallpaper from GMap is against the ToS, then this saving from GE sure is.
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2005-06-09-n13.html
Sounds like this is a non-starter with me.
“You have to show that you won’t profit from it. “
Profit doesn’t have anything to do with it either. People posting movies on usenet or torrent sites aren’t profiting, but that doesn’t make what they do legal. They are less scummy than someone selling burned DVDs on a streetcorner maybe, but no more legal.
All those requirements for whether something counts as fair use amount to defining exactly where the balance between protecting a creator’s rights and protecting the public’s rights is struck. Quoting a passage from a book when you write a review certainly isn’t costing the creator of the book anything, while posting the entire text of the book online for free, even if your intent is to allow more people access to a book that you think is great, will likely cost the author sales. On the other hand, allowing an author to stop anyone from quoting him for any reason at all works against the general public good that is supposed to come from a creative work. So we have the fair use clause in copyright law to find a balance between the two.
For something like GE, a screenshot showing the app’s capabilities would certainly fall under fair use I would think, while (for example) a bunch of screenshots stitched together to use as a background layer even for a non-commercial project definitely is not.
Fair Use would be the “Plug-In Which Shall Not Be Named”, all it did was show the Gmap imagery in World Wind for personal experience.
Google’s lawyers called up Patrick Hogan and threatened that this was stealing.. I forget the whole context on how it went now.. was 2 years or so ago now. Bull_UK would probably remember more.
So, screen shotting to do the same in a GIS app is no different. And in this case, can easily be considered commercial use of the free product.
As much as I would LOVE to be able to do with GE what you can easily do in World Wind… it is not going to be.
And this is why I dread the NASA/GE deal.. and when I see NASA data going to GE, I track it down and get an alternative feed going for outside of google.
Leszek: Actually that GMap reference is very apt here. The problem arose when folks were using data outside the framework. The same can be said here. Exporting graphics from GE for personal enjoyment is one thing. Exporting them for use in a GIS is using the imagery outside of GE which I’m still pretty sure is a violation of their EULA.
to be clear, are you saying I can capture whatever data I want from world wind and do whatever I want with it, including re-packaging and selling in some manner?
Keep in mind, if a EULA or TOS has a illegal clause in it(not saying there is in GE). Even if you agree to the terms, the terms which are illegal can’t be enforced.
Erik…that’s true? Google has only made the WW forums remove screen shots and no one else? Sounds like selective enforcement. Which could go boths ways, they better enforce all cases or they may have trouble in future being able to enforce any.
Kinda like copyright infringement, if you don’t protect your interest in all cases. Theres a potential one can lose their copyright.
KoS
Oops, sorry meant trademark, not copyright in last paragraph.
Maybe copyright works the same? Not sure of top of head, but I know trademarks do.
KoS
RE: World Wind Imagery
http://www.worldwindcentral.com/wiki/Copyright_Questions_When_Using_Images_From_World_Wind
James,
Is your use of the image of Gordon Gecko Fair Use?
@KJ: you can do whatever you want with the WW imagery, including reselling it.
You can’t do that with the imagery from the Virtual Earth plug-in though. The VE plug-in is for anything BUT commercial use, you would have to get approval from Microsoft for that use.
Yup I have made movie clips from World Wind which will be used in a documentary, others have done the same.
As for Googles targetting of World Wind in the past I can’t say too much (I gave my word), from what I remember no legal action was threatened as such, Google phoned Mr.Hogan and ’suggested’ he remove all GE/GM images and any information about a certain plugin from the forums, and moderators were also told to remove any future comments/pictures. Several of our IP addresses were also monitored to check we were not using said plugin.
@ubikcan: It is actually a very good example of fair use.
Last time someone attempted to use a gmaps WW plugin their ip got blocked from google after a little bit of usage.
…which is of course the correct way (as opposed to legal threats) to deal with people downloading things they shouldn’t from a public web server.
Thanks anon for the refresher.
Also it reminded me, copyright rights were extend a handful of years ago. Alot of people thought it was because of Mickey Mouse and some others copyrights were coming of age.
Would have been interesting if Mickey entered the public domain.
Eric. In your last post. Were you saying Google’s servers are public?
KoS
The gmaps tile servers are.
WARNING: By clicking this link you may be violating google’s terms of use. Check with your lawyer before clicking!
http://mt0.google.com/mt?n=404&v=w2.61&x=3&y=5&zoom=13
The servers that the images in GE come from use some kind of authentification so you can’t download from them outside of GE. Gmaps happily sends tiles to whoever requests them though, whether you are requesting them via the gmaps api or by clicking a link like the one above.
Eric. I’m still a tad confused or unsure.
The gmaps server is still Google’s property? Or they running them off a public server(public funds/ownership)?
But I take it, you mean. Public as in, freely accessible, but still owned by a private entity?
When I see public, I thinking along the lines of taxpayer funded or the like.
KoS
I meant public as in no visible access restrictions, just like the rest of the internet.
The difference is that you could possibly get in legal trouble for requesting the url I posted above. Usually if you don’t want people downloading something from your web server then you put it behind a password.
Ok thanks. Just want to make sure I totally understood.
Words now-n-days have mulitple meanings, sometimes.
I didn’t click the link.
I’m in the clear, no nice men in suits with briefcases.
KoS