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First Google Maps Hack Takedown

Posted by timothy on from the how-about-an-ellroy-crime-site-map-of-LA dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Despite "users accelerating innovation" with Google Maps the 'hacks' are not immune from Google's legal team, who have taken down "Google Wallpapers for violating the terms of agreement. From a quick skim through the terms it would seem that most sites using the Google Maps data are in violation. Are Chicago Crime and Google Sightseeing next to go?" It may be a shame to shut down Google Maps offshoots, but that has to be the nicest take-down note I've ever seen; it's polite, friendly and reasonable. Update: 06/08 21:22 GMT by T : Below, a few more of the current uses for Google Maps. An anonymous reader submits "The AP is running a story about the multiple uses for Google Maps. Among the uses, Tracking sexual predators in Florida, Guiding travelers to the cheapest gas nationwide, Pinpointing $1,500 studio apartments for rent in Manhattan, and Finding crime in Chicago. It'll be interesting to see if Google allows these sites to remain online or not."

3 of 325 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Tough call by holovaty · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here are two pieces of evidence that Google does *not* disapprove of Google Maps hacks:

    1. A post to the official Google blog: http://google-code-featured.blogspot.com/2005/04/m apscraigslist-mashup.html

    "While we have no official API for Maps yet, work like this really is amazing and deserves recognition."

    2. http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2005/05/google_m aps_hac.html

    "They responded that they had every intention to not shut them down as long as their licenses permit it, and one of the engineers insinuated that they might be working on a Google Maps API or a similar way to build on top of Maps (he actually said, "to make them not hacks," by which I think he meant not unauthorized)."

    Disclaimer: I'm the guy that did chicagocrime.org, so I'm biased in favor of openness.

  2. Re:That is friendly, by russiste · · Score: 5, Informative

    (I'm the Greg mentioned on the page)

    Actually, we were expecting to go to Where 2.0 before the shutdown - the part about the conference on the page (as it was prior to the slashdotting) was not from the Google spokesperson.

    --
    Loopsh of fury.
  3. A more open content provider: USGS (links++) by expro · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is ludicrous to claim that Google invested that much in the original content, since everyone just gets it from US Geological Survey.

    So, go to the National Atlas and download and use to your heart's content. If that is not good enough, then go download all the data you can imagine. Still not enough, you can access all the layers via web services that comply with specifications published by the Open Geospatial Consortium at run time from your own web pages.

    Now, write your congressmen and tell them how you appreciate that they made all this available to you, the citizen, for free, instead of spending all that tax money only to add a fee that makes it prohibitive for all but corporations who can be gatekeepers to keep you out. And hope that this doesn't become another casulty of Iraq budgets.

    While you are at it, start a USGS support mailing list and an open source project to keep this sort of alive.