How have the Mission Planner Developers managed to get around the Restrictions laid down by Google Earth regarding the use of Google Earth/Maps imagery and geo data for the Mission Planner software?
It appears that the use of any bulk downloaded , offline stored tiles, tiles stitched together, etc is illegal?
It also appears that the use of these maps to provide navigation and guidance for any autonomous vehicle is illegal.
It also appears the use of cached maps data is illegal other than 'to improve the user experience while having not internet connection' but for short term only. Storing cached maps for more than 30 days is also illegal.
It seems they have done everything to make it illegal and impossible to use the content in our type of applications!
Has Google provided special dispensation to permit its use by Mission Planner , and this community, for this Open Source application?
I have dug deep on the DIY-d forums and have not been able to find any guidance on this issue. I am not sure if Google would litigate in these issues, but they have the might to pull it off....
Some excerpts from from Google terms and conditions:
http://www.google.com/help/terms_maps.html
2. Restrictions on Use. Unless you have received prior written authorization from Google (or, as applicable, from the provider of particular Content), you must not: (a) copy, translate, modify, or make derivative works of the Content or any part thereof; (b) redistribute, sublicense, rent, publish, sell, assign, lease, market, transfer, or otherwise make the Products or Content available to third parties; (c) reverse engineer, decompile or otherwise attempt to extract the source code of the Service or any part thereof, unless this is expressly permitted or required by applicable law; (d) use the Products in a manner that gives you or any other person access to mass downloads or bulk feeds of any Content, including but not limited to numerical latitude or longitude coordinates, imagery, and visible map data; (e) delete, obscure, or in any manner alter any warning or link that appears in the Products or the Content; or (f) use the Service or Content with any products, systems, or applications for or in connection with (i) real time navigation or route guidance, including but not limited to turn-by-turn route guidance that is synchronized to the position of a user's sensor-enabled device; or (ii) any systems or functions for automatic or autonomous control of vehicle behavior; (g) use the Products to create a database of places or other local listings information.
AND:
https://developers.google.com/maps/terms
(c) No Navigation, Autonomous Vehicle Control, or Enterprise Applications. You must not use the Service or Content with any products, systems, or applications for or in connection with any of the following:
(ii) any systems or functions for automatic or autonomous control of vehicle behavior; or
(iii) enterprise dispatch, fleet management, business asset tracking or similar applications. If you want to engage in enterprise dispatch, fleet management, business asset tracking, or similar applications, please contact the Google Maps API for Business sales team to obtain a Google enterprise license. (If you are offering a non-enterprise implementation, you may use the Google Maps API(s) to track assets such as cars, buses or other vehicles, as long as your tracking application is made available to the public without charge. For example, you may offer a free, public Maps API Implementation that displays real-time public transit or other transportation status information.)
Can anyone throw some light on this please? How are the MP users protected, if at all?
The Nampilot..
Comments
I suggest to the OPs of this thread that they carefully review every single TOS for every piece of software on their computer and for every on-line service they use, and then, after applying their own interpretations, that they count up how many "laws" they are breaking every minute their computer is switched on. Or even off. That should keep them busy and out of our hair until at least next October. As for us here being "defensive" what do they expect when they blather and on about our "illegal" activities. Total nonsense and a huge waste of everyone's time. On the other hand, Gisela and Joe, be sure to check under the bed before retiring, there may be a Googleman lurking under there!
Your right mP1, my wording of that statement was bad, I should have said.
Google has worked hard to promote the Openness of Android and also at the same time to decrease that openness so it could find more ways to control it and profit from it.
I meant that programs produced for Android were often open source, not that modifications to Android itself were completely open.
MP is using GMap.Net. Two years ago, Google asked the developer of GMap.net to remove access to Google Maps because he is not using the offical API (which is not allowed in the Terms of Service).
http://greatmaps.codeplex.com/discussions/252531
He refused to do it. As GMap.Net is still working with GMap.net I assume Google did not sue him, but anyway it should still violate the TOS.
@Gary
Google has worked hard to promote open source Android and also to decrease it's openness so it could find more ways to control it and profit from it.
mP:
Thats not actually true. While Android source is open to look at and take, its not open in terms of public contributions. They are very much important distinctions. There have been releases where the source was not available until much later. Im just saying dont give commendations that are not true.
Google for the moment does not care because as you stated use by MP is insiginificant and not worth the bother. Google doesnt want the competition to use their maps and then resell, thats all they are really concerned about, as in car gpds products.
Apple has similar terms as Google. You cannot use their maps for control of an autonomous vehicle. ie. using road data to follow a road. Your are ok to show telemetry information of the location of your drone on the map. The map data is passive, and not being used for 'real-time' guidance. That's all happening on the drone, so no potential legal threat to google/apple for providing incorrect data.
I have an app published using Apple MapsFind My Drone which uses maps. It was approved. Driodplanner and Andropilot are also using Google Maps, no issue. And if you want to know if Google know about it. I went to a Python Dev Day last weekend, and the google employee giving a talk about google app engine (or whatever it is called now) was fully aware of drones and 3DR. Anecdotal, but Google knows about this stuff.
And also to be honest the information is provided to Google for a cost, by other companies. And those companies terms license it to google but not just to pass on to others. Apple uses Tom Tom data for example.
That said, it would be good to use mapping solutions that use better map data, like Ordnance Survey Maps in the UK.
@Bill:
The API for Android has different terms...
@all:
Anyways, let's all be clear about what is the ultimate goal of Google's terms... It becomes clear when you check the conditions on caching and offline use. The most important thing for Google is that people use their services online because only then, they can collect and correlate more data about each individual to even more effectively place their advertising and make money with that. THAT is the whole story.
Together with Eric Schmidt's recent public statements e.g. about private drones or the NSA, it is also very obvious that Google's long term agenda is to be the one and only place on this planet which holds practically every possible data about each individual, which would de facto be pretty close to world domination (no fun intended) because the potential for abuse of such a collection of data is enormous.
Just that alone should be a reason to immediately terminate usage of Google products in any kind of application where any kind of personal data is involved, including and especially mapping of any kind.
In short: Who cares about the terms? Google is evil, find another solution to get maps!
There are a lot of GPS apps for tablets and phones that use Google Maps/Imagery. I have been using OziExplorer for years and it has had the ability to use Google Maps/Imagery for quite a while.
Basically regardless of what Google thinks it's "rights" are in relation to Google Earth, the reality is, Mission Planner is much more of an advertisement of Google Earth for Google than it is ripping them off for somebody elses gain.
Simply it would not be of any reasonable benefit to Google to react hostily to this use.
Any action would cost them more than they could possibly gain financially and it would produce a lot of bad press.
Makes about as much sense as New Coke basically just a bad idea.
Google actually wants people to use it's assets, they just don't want them to be completely ripped off or to present any liability to them.
Google has worked hard to promote open source Android and also to decrease it's openness so it could find more ways to control it and profit from it.
But they really don't seem to pursue anything where there is no net gain for them.
I can see the OP's point - I own a Tacx Fortius, and for me to use their training software (which uses Google Maps), *I* (not Tacx!) have to pay a Google licence to use it. It's not cheap either. So why is MP any different, if *I'm* the one who would be asked to pay the licence?
...Noci,sorry,that was more like joke question,but for sure you might attract they attorneys attention,when they smell blood attorneys go for it.....also i use OVI maps,its better resolution for my country....also UAV who can fly at 1000m would be good enough for gis maps of your area..
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