[geo-discuss] [Fwd: [Freegis-list] Converter for Map Library Files (.mlb) format?]

Mon Sep 25 10:50:42 UTC 2006

They haven't put up an explict copyright notice + license so one cannot 
say for sure. However looking through the list of data sources on:

   http://www.maplibrary.org/data_sources.asp

indicates that their data comes either from:

1. US government (definitely open)
2. The WHO (UN -- not sure of the status but would guess it is open)
3. Egypt and South African government (not sure of status)

Might be worth dropping them a line and asking them to put an explicit 
'open knowledge'[1] license on the material.

~rufus

[1] http://okd.okfn.org/

Mateusz Loskot wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Can the maplibrary.org mentioned below be considered as a public
> geodata provider for African countries?
> 
> Cheers
> Mat
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [Freegis-list] Converter for Map Library Files (.mlb) format?
> Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2006 18:53:43 +0200
> From: Bernhard Reiter <bernhard at intevation.de>
> To: freegis-list at intevation.de
> CC: sfischer at uni-osnabrueck.de
> 
> www.maplibrary.org
> has Libre Geodata for many African countries.
> 
> Unfortunately they only offer gratis, non-free software for windows,
> using the .ecw (ER Mapper) format for raster
> and presumetly their own format for vectors called map library files (.mlb).
> There is a short speficification available as well.
> 
> The site seems to partly be an advertisment side for the sponsor
> that offers zero cost proprietary software for some African organisations.
> 
> Does somebody now Free Software converters for the used formats?
> 
> I know that gdal can do .ecw, if you use proprietary libraries.
> Maplibrary.org claims that they have choosen the format because they could
> use it royalty free. This indicates that a Free Software implementation
> should
> be possible.
> 
> The .mlb format(s) seem to be quite easy to read.
> 
> It would be quite nice to enable the use of the data on GNU/Linux
> or other free operating systems.
> 
> Thanks,
> Bernhard
> 