User:ShadowMasterCM/Google Sources

As a Waze editor you are NOT allowed to use any external / unauthorized sources, INCLUDING Google sources!

Even tho Google purchased Waze several years ago, Waze [and its editors] is NOT licensed to use Google Maps [GMaps], Google Street View [GSV], or any other Google resource that is not found directly INSIDE the Waze Map Editor [WME].

Google Maps uses a mixture of data, owned directly by Google, as well as data from external sources. Google has paid for licensing of data from those external sources, however those licenses do NOT extend to Waze.

All the data that Google has included inside of WME for access, is either data 100% owned by Google, or possibly in some cases include external data that has a license that DOES include Waze access.

So even tho many of the images appear to be identical, we as editors can not know for sure what is legally allowed or not.

The smarter than me people at Google have already sorted all this out and included it in Waze/ WME/ WME Street View [WSV] for me.

Waze had to delete an entire country due to copyrighted information used to edit its database.

It is important to remember to never use URL links to any of these external sources, even 'casually' in a communication platform like Chat or Forums. The mere presence of the link could be cause to pursue Waze about copyrighted data use.

To avoid any confusion, be sure to always use a PermaLink, created directly from WME to the internal images. An editor can then open WME Street View to access the images being discussed.

There are some cases where an exact image is desired for a discussion, or some of the editors in the discussion may not have direct access to WME. In cases like this an editor can take a screenshot of the image displayed in WME, and then share that image directly in the discussion.