At yesterday’s MEGUG Round Table meeting in Waterville, the topic of
Google Earth licensing was briefly discussed and legal notices from
Google minimally probed. With the increased utilization of Google
Earth there needs to be an increased understanding of what is
permissible and what is not.
In the simplest of terms, Google Earth, the free version is clearly
limited to the individual for home/personal use and for business or
government entities, limited to their internal use. If any use is
considered as a professional or commercial, then Google Earth Pro is
offered at the rate of $400 per year. After reviewing the professional
version’s license and user forums where this distinction has been
discussed, it appears that Google Earth Pro also has limitations.
So here’s the question – is there an authoritative listing of
permissible uses under each type of license from Google and, in so
defining, what distinguishes individual use from professional use? If
no such listing exists, shouldn’t this community ask Google to develop
one?
Sources examined thus far include:
Citing from http://earth.google.com/enterprise/earth_pro.html
Which Product is right for me? (License)
Google Earth - Free version for home/personal use
Google Earth Pro - Professional version for commercial use
Citing from http://earth.google.com/intl/en/license.html
Thank you for using Google Earth! By downloading, installing or using
this software or any portion thereof ("Google Software") you agree to
be bound by the following terms of service as well as the terms found
on our Legal Notices page at http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/help/legalnotices_maps.html
(together the “Terms of Service” http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS ).
The Google Software, and any portion thereof, are referred to herein
as the "Software."
1. USE OF SOFTWARE; RESTRICTIONS
Use of Software. For an individual end user, the Software is made
available to and may be used by you only for your personal, non-
commercial use according to these Terms of Service and the Software
documentation. For a business entity end user or government entity end
user, the Software may be used by you and your employees for internal
use according to these Terms of Service and the Software documentation
(individual, business, and government end users are collectively
referred to as "You" herein).
Citing from http://www.google.com/accounts/tos/highlights/utos-us-en-h.html
Terms of Service Highlights
About your responsibilities
Generally, our services are only for you personally to use. If you
want to redistribute a service, copy it, sell it or such like you’ll
have to get our express permission first.
Citing from http://www.google.com/accounts/TOS
Google Terms of Service
5. Use of the Services by you
5.5 Unless you have been specifically permitted to do so in a separate
agreement with Google, you agree that you will not reproduce,
duplicate, copy, sell, trade or resell the Services for any purpose.
Citing from http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/help/terms_maps.html
Google Maps/Earth Terms of Service
By downloading, installing, or using the Google Earth software,
accessing or using the Google Maps service (together, the "Products"
or "Services"), or accessing or using any of the content available
within the Products, you agree to be bound by the following: (1) the
Google Terms of Service (the "Universal Terms"); (2) the terms found
on our Legal Notices page (the "Legal Notices"); and (3) the
additional terms and conditions set forth below (the "Additional
Terms"). Before you continue, you should read each of these three
documents, as together they form a binding agreement between you and
Google regarding your use of the Products. Collectively, the Universal
Terms, the Legal Notices, and the Additional Terms are referred to as
the "Terms".
2. Restrictions on Use. Unless you have received prior written
authorization from Google (or, as applicable, from the provider of
particular Content), you must not:
(a) access or use the Products or any Content through any technology
or means other than those provided in the Products, or through other
explicitly authorized means Google may designate (such as through the
Google Maps/Google Earth APIs);
(b) copy, translate, modify, or make derivative works of the Content
or any part thereof;
(c) redistribute, sublicense, rent, publish, sell, assign, lease,
market, transfer, or otherwise make the Products or Content available
to third parties;
(d) reverse engineer, decompile or otherwise attempt to extract the
source code of the Service or any part thereof, unless this is
expressly permitted or required by applicable law;
(e) use the Products in a manner that gives you or any other person
access to mass downloads or bulk feeds of any Content, including but
not limited to numerical latitude or longitude coordinates, imagery,
and visible map data;
Citing from
http://groups.google.com/group/earth-pro/browse_thread/thread/542aebd86d624c03/4660b7828a4b0b3b?lnk=gst&q=#4660b7828a4b0b3b
This forum discussion calls into question what is actually permitted
with GE Pro;
see: http://earth.google.com/intl/en-US/licensepro.html
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