Putting a screen grab from Google maps on biz website - allowed?

buglawton

I have asked this in the specialist Google Maps business forum and had no replies. So here goes on MSE.

The Google Maps view of China shows only Simplified Chinese Characters. For our B&B in China website which is aimed at Western visitors, we want to show maps with Pinyin (Roman lettering) street and attraction names rather than Character style - much easier for westerners to recognize, memorize and mention in emails.

We're eagerly awaiting Google Maps for China to bring out a Pinyin rendition, in the meantime we are thinking of taking screen prints from Google Maps, covering the Chinese script with Pinyin labels (for the streets near our B&Bs/Guest Houses) and publishing this on the relevant web pages as JPGs.

I've read through the Google Maps Ts&Cs and can't make out if this will be OK from a Rights point of view.

Anyone else familiar with this situation?

Browntoa

I read this as a no

http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/help/terms_maps.html

Photographic Imagery
[SIZE=-1]The photographic imagery made available for display through Google Maps is provided under a nonexclusive, non-transferable license for use only by you. You may not use the imagery in any commercial or business environment or for any commercial or business purposes for yourself or any third parties.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]You may not copy, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, translate, modify or make derivative works of the imagery, in whole or in part. You also may not rent, disclose, publish, sell, assign, lease, sublicense, market, or transfer the imagery or any part thereof or use it in any manner not expressly authorized by this agreement.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]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[/SIZE]

buglawton

Yes I have seen the above Terms before - I believe they apply to "photographic imagery made available for display through Google Maps". I do not wish to copy any photo images from Google, just the maps themselves. Because Google is explicitly saying "photographic imagery" I assume they are not referring to the maps themselves but mean for example the satellite imagery you see if you use the Satellite tab in Google Maps. Otherwise, why did not they simply say "Maps and Photographic Imagery" in the title of this section of the Terms?

Note that Google allows/even encourages the re-use of these maps via the Google API, including on business sites, so long as one is not charging for access to the map data.

fermi

You may not delete or in any manner alter the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices appearing in map information, including photographic imagery. Geocoding data for map content in Google Maps is provided under license by Navteq North America LLC ("NAVTEQ") and/or Tele Atlas North America, Inc. ("TANA") and/or other third parties, and subject to copyright protection and other intellectual property rights owned by or licensed to NAVTEQ, TANA and/or such other third parties. The use of this material is subject to the terms of a license agreement. You may be held liable for any unauthorized copying or disclosure of this material, and by using Google Maps you agree to make NAVTEQ and TANA third party beneficiaries of this agreement. Except where you have been specifically licensed to do so by Google, you may not use Google Maps with any products, systems, or applications installed or otherwise connected to or in communication with vehicles, capable of vehicle navigation, positioning, dispatch, real time route guidance, fleet management or similar applications.

You should note that even the map data not overlaid with a photographic image normally contains a copyright notice.

For the UK data this appears to be: (c) 2008 Google - Map data (c) 2008 Tele Atlas.

Lakeuk

Use the Google Map API

http://code.google.com/apis/maps/

Tutorial: Creating Your First Map
http://code.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=74725&topic=11364

buglawton

Fermi's post also does not contain a prohibition on using the map - just ensure that I reproduce the copyright notice on it too. No intention of altering the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices appearing in map information. It's what is not mentioned in this notice that has meaning to me - it does not say that we can't add to or modify the map itself.

Thought of using the API but it's big overkill for our modest purpose and Google are bound to bring out Pinyin sometime soon anyway.

Browntoa

The imagery is copyrighted and may not be copied, even if modified or merged with other data or software

buglawton

Browntoa wrote: »

The imagery is copyrighted and may not be copied, even if modified or merged with other data or software

So why don't Google's terms say this explicitly?

vetfred

As far as I can see, your situation is taken care of. The opening paragraph states: For business users, Google Maps is made available for your internal use only and may not be commercially redistributed, except that map data may be accessed and displayed by using the Google Maps API pursuant to the API terms and conditions.

There's no other option mentioned for business usage other than to go down the API route. If you do, you're then subject to the API terms and conditions.