ditigising a map for a free data set.

[Peter S Galbraith <GalbraithP@dfo-mpo.gc.ca>]

If I use a nautical chart and digitise the coastline to some
degree of precision, can I then slap my own (free) license on the
data set?

Or is that a partial `reproduction' that falls under the
original's chart copyright?

If getting the lat and lon of the coastline is considered a
partial reproduction: Using that argument, I couldn't use a chart
to pick out the position of a city and publish that.  Where's the
line?  Is it like code?  (Use more than a few lines and copyright
applies, so the lat/lon of a city is okay, but not some extended
part of a coastline?)

This came up on the GMT mailing list.  Thanks for your opinion.

Peter