Talk:TopoZone

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Can someone please explain the copyright issue of maps accessed by TopoZone? It is said that original work of U.S. government agencies are in the Public Domain. What TopoZone presents appear to be USGS maps, which would mean they are in the Public Domain. However, the maps have a Copyright Notice "Copyright 1999-2003 Maps a la Carte, Inc.". How can that company "Maps a la Carte" use Public Domain material and put restrictions on it, or can it not? It would be nice to use some USGS maps in Wikipedia. How is the first sentence in this article to be interpreted, which starts "While the topography maps are still free"? Are they free or not, despite the Copyright Notice?Ratzer 07:58, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I can't answer most of your questions, but the place where the article describes the maps as "free" it means free as in beer. ^L_Wizard @ 10:10, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I read somewhere (I don't recall were) but this is because topozone adds something extra to the maps and are therefore allowed to charge money/copyright it. The biggest thing I notice are the edges of UTM zones (look at terra server). ChristopherM 18:07, 9 November 2006 (UTC)