Inquiry on Regulations for Using Maps in Research

Question

I am writing a paper where we aim to incorporate a map of remote communities in BC. We have obtained the map from a website, and they have granted us permission to use it. However, we also need to ensure compliance with Microsoft Bing's regulations. Could you kindly guide me on how to find and understand the regulations for using maps for research purposes?

Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Saghar Sadaghiani Greetings!

I am writing a paper where we aim to incorporate a map of remote communities in BC. We have obtained the map from a website, and they have granted us permission to use it. However, we also need to ensure compliance with Microsoft Bing's regulations. Could you kindly guide me on how to find and understand the regulations for using maps for research purposes?

Microsoft Bing Maps for research purposes require that you obtain the necessary permissions and licenses for any content you use, including maps. You may also need to provide attribution for the maps you use, depending on the specific terms of use. It's important to carefully review the regulations and ensure compliance to avoid any legal issues.

Incase if you haven't checked earlier, Please check this Microsoft Bing Maps Platform APIs Terms Of Use and Microsoft Bing Maps and Embedded Maps Service Terms of Use for more details.

Education or non-profit organization use. If you are using the Services with an Application that displays results for Education or Non-Profit use, then your Application must be one of the following: (i) publicly available without restriction (for example, login or password must not be required); (ii) available only to current students of your educational organization via your private network in order to provide education-related services; or (iii) available internally for free instructional use or available internally for non-commercial research use. Commercially-funded research projects and commercial company use for educational purposes are excluded from Education and Non-Profit use. "Non-profit" means a tax exempt organization. "Education" means use by public or private K-12 schools, universities, community colleges, or other collegiate level institutions, such as vocational schools, trade schools or career colleges, including their respective faculty, staff, and students.

Also, see See licensing use rights for usage restrictions.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

In addition to what Ashok said, it is worth noting that all Bing Maps account get 125,000 transactions free each year. So even if your scenario doesn't fall under the education category, there is still lots of free usage. The main thing to make sure is that copyright information that is on the map is clearly visible (not hidden behind something) in both any web version or screenshots.

As for your scenario, it sounds like you might be drawing things out on the map using imagery to generate missing content. If that is the case, here are a couple of things to consider:

• There is an Azure Maps tool for helping with this type of scenario: https://github.com/microsoft/satellite-imagery-labeling-tool There are links to hosted versions on that site that you can use without even setting up any sort of account or license.
• If the content is something that should be shared widely (e.g. adding missing roads and things), consider also adding the data to open street maps: https://www.openstreetmap.org/ Zoom into the area of interest and click the edit button at the top. It will show aerial imagery from Bing maps and provide tools for adding and tagging content.