Re: Do any GPS units let you upload your own maps?

On Apr 17, 12:22 pm, Dan Anderson <danderson2...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jack Yeazel wrote:
Well put, Jack... Look what's coming out:
http://abovethetimber.com/GPSmaps.htm

-I would say, it must mot very difficult (that's easy for me
to say!)... These maps are created from 10m DEM data to
come up with the contour lines... Roger says, however, he
has two computers running 24 hours a day to create the
maps... (I suggested he rent a Cray, but it couldn't afford
it)...

I wouldn't call it technically difficult. The problem is
that the format is proprietary. In the FAQ, he says
he tried to get a license and the answer was no. He
went ahead anyway. So, in the future, he might find
himself on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

I assume he copyrights his own work (his web page has
a copyright) but chooses not to respect another
company's intellectual rights.

Are you saying that simply creating your own data in the format to
load into a Garmin product is violating a copyright? I don't think a
"format" can be copyrighted. It can be patented like they do with
busses or other interfaces in computers. You can copyright a text
based command set, but I don't think that can extend to the binary or
the actual stream. Certanly I am not sure of this conclusion, but I
know Intel copyrighted the assembly language commands for their
initial CPUs, but they couldn't stop Zilog from using the same binary
patterns for the same instruction functionality. Wouldn't trying to
stop someone from using an upload protocol or a data format be
analogous?

Am I missing something here?

.

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