Legal Issue???

[sukEEt]

I will be running a Mutants and Masterminds 3e game soon on FG and I am setting it in Berlin Germany, where I am living, now. What are the legal issues of pulling images off of google maps and editing a grid onto them to play directly onto a streetview map? I have already made a few and would like to post them on the forums also, but am hesitant to do so. Legal or nor, they look awesme ... sukEEt ...

[Trenloe]

If you posted one or two publicly and if they didn't show lots of the map then that *might* be covered by fair use - remember to include the relevant copyright statement/s. Beyond that, probably not. Read the legal stuff here: https://www.google.com/permissions/geoguidelines.html

[Valarian]

You could post the link to the Google map instead of the image. That would probably be fine

[sukEEt]

If you posted one or two publicly and if they didn't show lots of the map then that *might* be covered by fair use - remember to include the relevant copyright statement/s. Beyond that, probably not. Read the legal stuff here: https://www.google.com/permissions/geoguidelines.html

Thanks Trenloe, you are always there with the knowledge-bomb ... it is a shame, the maps look pretty ding-dang cool for 30 seconds worth of editing ... especially when you want to play a game in your home town ... maybe I will just make a set of instructions for the "theoretical" use of these particular maps for people to play around with.

Thanks again Mr. T

[Trenloe]

Also look at the "Can I alter your imagery for my project" - adding a fine grid *might* be OK as that isn't changing the underlying imagery.

[sukEEt]

You could post the link to the Google map instead of the image. That would probably be fine

thanks for the advice, but i have to edit it a bit to put a grid and emphasize the play-area ... i guess it will just be a personal use set of maps ...

[sukEEt]

Also look at the "Can I alter your imagery for my project" - adding a fine grid *might* be OK as that isn't changing the underlying imagery.

I also have to enhance the image to make it a bit clearer ... i also enhance the colors so as to make it look more like comic book colors ... meh, why can't stuff like that just be free with no strings ...

[damned]

meh!
fair use would apply in this situation if this was for your use in your own games and the maps were not for commercial or wide spread distribution.

the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; the purpose of the use is for hobby with a target audience of 6 persons
the nature of the copyrighted work; the work is a publicly accessible work without any access restrictions or cost
the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and the amount of work you are copying is all but infinitesimal
the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. there is no commercial impact on either google or its suppliers

[Trenloe]

That might well be (maybe), but the restrictions in altering images was the show stopper for sukEEt in the end.

[damned]

yes - but i dont think that googles restrictions can over rule copyright law.
google are happy for you to use the images so long as all copyright notices are included.
they dont want you altering the images because it contains their notice and logo and it would then appear that altered image was googles.
if you go along with all googles guidelines you can just use the work.

if you dont go along with googles guidelines then you would be subject to copyright but fair use case law also allows for the using and altering of other peoples images.
an example: https://whatisfairuse.blogspot.com.a...pyrighted.html

IANAL (or a coder) but I dont believe that the OPs use of altered images in his own campaign could constitute a breach of copyright.