Legal or illegal?

[+chip01]

I have devised a method of transferring the OS maps from the geocaching.com map enhancements of jri (scriptwright)to the custom maps of my Garmin Etrex 30. Apologies if someone has already explained this.

Firstly, I clear all the geocaching icons from the OS screen then capture the screen to the clipboard.(Ctrl/Printscr on a PC) Copy the clipboard into a photo editing program such as Photoshop. Trim the unwanted bits and save the image as a jpeg. Of course the higher the resolution of the screen the better the image. My screen is 1680x1050 which produces a good result.

The next stage, using Google Earth, has been documented thoroughly by other people but I will give my explanation anyway.

Open Google Earth and zoom to the area of the map. In the ADD menu select 'Add Image Overlay' and select the map jpeg you have saved. The map and an 'edit image overlay' panel should appear on the screen. Use the green markers on the corners of the map and the cross in the centre to adjust the map to exactly fit over the Google Earth image. There is a transparency slider on the panel which helps you to see your progress. Once you are happy with the result give the overlay a name and press OK. The overlay name should appear on the Places panel on the LHS of the screen. Right click on the overlay name and select 'Save Place as...' This will save a kmz file. Copy this file to the custom maps directory on your Garmin and you now have a Bing OS map on it.

The big question is: is it legal or not? And if not, which part of the process is illegal? Of course, if it is illegal then I will stop using it.

[+keehotee]

Or you could do it the easy way.....

Well documented on this forum, and been going on since Garmin introduced custom maps a few years ago I believe

[+chillypenguin]

I have tried the same thing. But then I found MobileAtlasCreator, and it does it all for you.

[+chip01]

I have tried the same thing. But then I found MobileAtlasCreator, and it does it all for you.

Thanks guys. As you can tell I am new to custom maps. I will try both methods.

[team tisri]

I have tried the same thing. But then I found MobileAtlasCreator, and it does it all for you.

 

Will it sort out merging of multiple tiles? I've got a huge trail map that I'd really like to get into my GPS, but the applications I've tried so far have made such a hash of geotagging the individual scanned sections it's worse than useless.

[+chillypenguin]

Yes, it will split and merge multiple tiles and can be configured with the tile size limit.

Give it a try its free, and you don't even have to install it. And it works on Linux, MAC and Windoze.

[+MartyBartfast]

No-one's commented on the legality of it yet though?

[+eusty]

In theory it would be illegal as the OS maps are copyright....although I doubt they would worry too much if it's just you doing it!

[+keehotee]

In theory it would be illegal as the OS maps are copyright....although I doubt they would worry too much if it's just you doing it!

 

I didn't think copyright prevented you from making copies for your own personal use?

 

7. Acts that do not infringe copyright

 

“Fair dealing” is a term used to describe acts which are permitted to a

certain degree (normally copies of parts of a work) without infringing

copyright, these acts are:

i. Private and research study purposes.

...

viii. Producing a back up copy for personal use of a computer

program.

 

From http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/ukcs/docs/edupack.pdf

Edited June 18, 2012 by keehotee

[dodgydaved]

FWIW:

 

From

 

www.gpstraining.co.uk

 

"However, please be responsible and only create a Garmin

Custom Map from a map that is in the public domain, you hold

the copyright in, or you have permission to use from the

copyright holder."

[team tisri]

No-one's commented on the legality of it yet though?

 

That would depend on the specific maps rather than the software itself. It would also most likely depend on the use of the digitised versions and whether it was classed as "fair use" or not.

 

Then for good measure there's the question of whether it's technically illegal but generally accepted, such as the discussion recently about people who buy CDs and then rip them to use in their own MP3 player (which I believe was technically illegal but clearly something that just about everybody with an MP3 player does).