Wikipedia talk:Wikipedians/Cartographers

Am I a cartographer?

 * Sourceforge projects and not wikipedia. Regards, Ojw 13:39, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Honestly, Ojw, I must say I am a bit confused. Your user page has a link to a map gallery that I assume you created. So if that is the case, yes, you are a cartographer. If you create/edit/update maps (hobby or for a living), that would qualify you. I don't see the reference to the above website, though? Rarelibra 20:01, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

"own work" or not?
A bit of a newbie question here:

My current work on Wikipedia is former countries and at the moment I've started with Prussia. To go with this, I've made a heap of location maps (see User:52 Pickup/Maps). These maps are based on the maps provided by a group in Mainz and their work has been used quite a lot on the German and Dutch Wikis. The maps are not simply copied, rather the borders and outlines have been taken and the maps recoloured to suit. In some cases, information from multiple maps have been merged (eg. adding Prussian border provinces to an international map). The German and Dutch users who have used these maps to make new ones have uploaded them with the licence of "own work", while I have not. Which is correct? I don't want to do the wrong thing here, but I would also like to continue this work and help out here with maps of former countries. - 52 Pickup 19:41, 12 October 2006 (UTC)


 * 52 Pickup - once you modify the actual existing structure of the map, it becomes your own work. When a user (like myself) issues out a public domain GNU, you can download the map and change it to your own suiting. It is then your own work. But an example of when this is not the case is when a user, say, downloads a map and simply changes a name or text with the original colors and such remaining the same. If you look at the maps I produce (mostly administrative level divisions of various countries) - these are taken from a master dataset that I created using quite a variety of sources and digitizing the information in or modifying/updating the information to be current, etc. In many cases there are clearinghouses that supply data for free use, and again - once modified the data becomes your own work. Hope this helps. Rarelibra 19:53, 12 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that. So which is the licence that I should use? It doesn't really matter to me, but I don't want to have my images deleted for using the wrong licence - that has happened before. - 52 Pickup 15:35, 13 October 2006 (UTC)


 * 52 Pickup - it's all up to you. If you want to release your stuff and not worry about it, you can go full public domain. If you want them to credit you with attribution, do a GNU version. Cheers! Rarelibra 15:41, 13 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Rarelibra. I've fixed the licences now to PD and I hope I can help out here with more maps in the future. - 52 Pickup 15:57, 13 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Look forward to seeing your work! If you need any help or advice, I'm always available. :) Rarelibra 15:59, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

historical maps project
please have a look at this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_historical_atlas and discuss there how do you imagine it like cartographer, thanks, Tblazko 10:49, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Montrealais, you are not a Cartographer!!
Your gallary has only photo's that you have taken, no maps! --DelftUser 20:45, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

WP Former Countries, Cartography department
The Former countries WikiProject has been established to improve the quality and accessiblity of articles on now-defunct states. For each entry, we would like to have (at least) a location map for the country in question. The project is still starting up, but we should soon have a big list of entries that require such maps. If you are interested in helping out, sign up here. This department will work closely with WP Historical Atlas. - 52 Pickup 08:19, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Me on the list
I put my name on the list since I've done some work on creating an atlas. DelftUser removed my name and I thanked him, in a cynical way. If you guys want a limited list, so be it, but I don't agree. I believe in co-operation. BTW: Not Rarelibra started the change, Delftuser did. Electionworld Talk?  17:47, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I have worked with Electionworld for some time now, and his contributions towards the Atlas are quite worthy in his having a place on this list - if not for at least having the resources capable of helping people. I say his name deserves a place on the list... anyone else have an opinion? Rarelibra 19:29, 25 June 2007 (UTC)