The line is creative expression. Copyright restricts copying of original, creative expression. Copyright law does not restrict copying of facts or ideas. "(b)

The line is creative expression. Copyright restricts copying of original, creative expression. Copyright law does not restrict copying of facts or ideas. "(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work." http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#102 http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#102 Thus, you can freely copy the facts (information) in google maps. Google may be able to claim copyright on map images it produces, but I'd expect courts would find that they are just a mechanical reproduction of factual information, limiting the copyright to just the presentation choices (colors, fonts, styling, etc.) From the same reference: "(b) The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material."