Stop me if this has already been discussed. I am new to this forum but thought I would join just to share an idea that I had. I ask that you please critique the idea, because I don't want to put the work into it if it isn't going to be worth it.Google has developed a nice little interface over at http://maps.google.com. The bueaty of it is, it uses XML among other things to generate the maps which basically makes them open source. Alot of webpages have been written on how to take advantage of google maps and extract just the map from the page and play around with it.I thought it would be great to create an application like the flight sim moving maps application but have it use the already built google maps. All you would need to do is inject the lat and long from the flight simulator application every few seconds to get the map to update and move. Of course there would be other features, but that is the main idea.And since it is pure HTML/DHTML/XML whatever, it should be no problem to pull it into the kneeboard of fs9 at least.So, what do you think. Is there a want for something like this? Or would I be wasting my time?

I don't know what you mean by "open source" - I don't think XML has anything to do with this. The mapping is copyright - "Map data © 2005 NAVTEQ" so you would need permission from the copyright owner. "By using Google Maps, you do not receive any, and Google and/or its licensors (if any) retain all ownership rights in the imagery. The imagery is copyrighted and may not be copied, even if modified or merged with other data or software."

I presume he means the you can read the XML.While the raw data that Google uses is not copyrightable, the format that it is displayed in is protected... hence you could not use their straight XML without permission. Think of the phone book - in my area both SBC and Yellow Book publish the same raw data - names, addresses and phone numbers - yet each book is copyrighted - because they *format* the data slightly differently.Now if you took the raw data and dynamically created the roads in FS as an add-on I don't think that would be an issue. Still and all it seems like you'd be better off getting the raw data from whatever source Google got it from - (I'm not sure where they get their data) say, NGDC (National Geophysical Data Center) , or perhaps NASA, or maybe Delorme. Somewhere, someone has digitized the road maps of the USA - and that is where I'd suggest you start. Querying Google for several hundred fliers' locations at a time for map info would probably kill Google's server(s)... I don't think you want or should be reliant on Google's service for this.Take this for what it's worth - I'm not a lawyer - but I am very sensitive to copyright issues.Best wishesSenior Captain, Pier Glass Aviation

Sorry for my late reply.I'm not sure what you mean by "raw data" not being copyright. The images are copyright. As I pointed out:"By using Google Maps, you do not receive any, and Google and/or its licensors (if any) retain all ownership rights in the imagery. The imagery is copyrighted and may not be copied, even if modified or merged with other data or software."As for your other point about phone directories, The original list of phone numbers would be a "database" created by the phone company, which would be copyright, certainly under UK/EU law. I expect the publishers of the separate directories will have got the right to use the database from its copyright holder and paid for that right. It's a hard commercial world out there!

Mmm, what I am saying is that the raw data is not copyrightable. In the case of the phone book my phone number is *not* copyrightable because it is raw data. How you put it into a database or format it for the phone book is copyrightable. Thus, you can use the same raw data that SBC's phone book uses to build your own phone book. This very issue was brought up in the US many moons ago when Ma Bell first felt the sting of competition. Again, I'm not a lawyer, but as I recall the Supreme Court ruled that competing firms could use the same raw data, just not publish it in the same format.As far as Google's copyright is concerned, they are right. The images formed by their formatting of the raw map data is copyrightable, but the underlying facts - or raw data are not. Hence you can create your own maps, which are copyrightable, by using the same underlying raw data as Google.Thus MapQuest, Google, DeLorme, AAA, et al can create their own maps using the very same raw data. Otherwise, we'd all have the same maps. Facts are facts, and cannot be copyrighted. How we publish or format them is copyrightable. Who would hold a copyright on the fact that the elevation (MSL) at my home is 68 feet? No one, because it is a fact - raw data.I hope I've made clear as best I can what raw data is. Someone somewhere has the raw data that Google uses - probably a government agency - I doubt that Google (or AAA or MapQuest) went out and measured the world. And yes, they may have bought a database of the information - but technically they did not pay for the facts - they paid for the services the vendor gave them and the database format. Anyways, I wish him the best of luck, as I would love to have better mapping available since I'm a IFR (I Fly Roads) flight sim pilot.Senior Captain, Pier Glass Aviation

There may be differences between US and UK/EU copyright law relating to databases. In the UK, BT charges