So this isn’t copyright law it’s contract law - you and whoever owns the thing you want to see or copy or use reach a deal.” 1Īnd the overall terms of use here are almost impenetrable they read as though almost nothing is allowed without a lot of work: These are limits that are different from copyright protection, since the law says what is and isn’t copyrighted and you can own a thing without owning the copyright. The path to an answer here starts with the overall terms of use for Google Maps/Earth - and remember, terms of use are “the limits somebody who owns something you want to see or copy or use puts on whether or not he’ll let you see or copy or use it. The answer is that Bill is perfectly free to use maps from Google Maps (the online map service accessed at ) or Google Earth (the software downloadable at ) for his purposes– as long as he follows some basic rules.Īnd we can only wish that Google made it a bit easier to find that out. And The Legal Genealogist is delighted to see that so many people are now stopping to think about the legal issues before they use something - rather than paying the price afterwards. “What I would like to know,” he asks, is if there are “legal ramifications of copying these maps from Google Maps to my records and reprinting to have physical copy for a more permanent storage?”

He wants to use Google Maps to locate small towns and hamlets where his ancestors have lived and his family members now are living. But, it occurred to him, there could be issues with using one particular type of map. Like most genealogists, reader Bill Smith is very conscious of the value of maps in his research.

Google maps earth view