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The US is very fortunate to require all government-produced cartographic data is solidly in the public domain. This is not the case in most countries. You can
by Nitramp 12y ago
The US is very fortunate to require all government-produced cartographic data is solidly in the public domain. This is not the case in most countries.
You can make the argument that making these maps costs money, so those that benefit from the maps should actually pay the government for them - thus people who don't need these maps don't have to pay for them through their taxes.
I'm not entirely sure I subscribe to that - often having something publicly available like some kind of a utility is more beneficial to everybody than properly allotting the cost.
But I don't think it's clear cut in the case of maps, and in any case it's a reasonable argument to make.
- hawkice 12y agoSo, the census needs maps (and best we are able to double check that, as it is used to apportion representatives). But also: the modern nation-state is, in many ways, founded on the notion of maps. A nation exists not just by itself but instead of and in place of other government. So it's pretty reasonable to assume public maps come from a time where e.g. the western border of the country was fuzzy and who controlled what was information of great importance. For instance, if it's 1823 and I'm looking to farmstead, a map both legitimizes, in some way, American rule, and delineates reality about Comanche raids (which were not something you'd want to bump into). I generally like open government, but I think this particular practice may come from a history where maps were more interesting and relevant to the integrity of the nation-state.