Topic: SMSC April 2014: Crossing The City

[An_dz]

After the failure of last SMSC :p I'm enlarging the maximum size, now to the common laptop size of 1366x768. Enjoy your extra pixels for the contest. Oops, and yeah, this month topic is Crossing The City, I'm trusting you'll bring great pictures.

Rules

• Only one picture per user
  
• Picture max size: 1366x768 px
  
• Available picture formats: png or jpg
  
• Topic: Crossing The City
  
• You may use any pakset you want, but only one
  
• Zoom is allowed
  
• Choose one of the available licenses
  
• Please indicate if it's from a real game or not
  
• Please include a short description and mention the pak you've used
  
• Please include a name for your image
  
• You can upload the picture to an image hosting service like imgur, imageshack.us or photobucket and then post link to the image here.
• The nomination period ends at April 28th. Then, we'll make a poll to decide the winner(s)

Prizes:

• Compliments by the community
• Become the cover picture of our Facebook page
  
• Become the Simutrans homepage image

Terms:
You must post only images under the following licenses: CC0, CC-BY 3.0 or newer, CC-BY-SA 3.0 or newer.

[Junna]

Maybe the problem is the vagueness of the topic, and that is why? I mean, often I'm not sure what would be eligible and what wouldn't fit the topic assigned to the contests, so I never  get around to it.

[Sarlock]

I think the criterion is fairly wide, as long as it seems to fit the title in some abstract way, it's fine

I keep intending to join this but run out of time... I will have to make an effort this month, almost forgot!

[kierongreen]

The screenshot size is now larger than size of display supported on my computer... (not that that's a huge problem, but just saying!)

[An_dz]

Other topics were as vague as, and they were successful. The point is not fit the topic itself, but send a beautiful shot and surprise the voters. Last SMSC was very vague I agree.

I will never reject your screen by the assumption that it doesn't fit the topic, because the voting time is where this is decided. If the voter thinks it doesn't fit, it won't vote.

I don't think "Crossing the city" is that vague. You just take a screen with a tram, a freeway, a train line, a traffic jam, a river crossing a city with any size. I think that if I chose "Train crossing the small city" it's too strict. Just take a screen, send and hope to be the most voted.

@kierongreen
No problem, it's the maximum size, not minimum.

[kierongreen]

No problem, it's the maximum size, not minimum.

Indeed - and I have made composite screenshots before to get round this anyway. However equally realistically you have to be at the maximum resolution (or near it) to stand a good chance. Composition and design is of course important, however that extra resolution gives more detail which will likely make the picture more appealing.

[SilverHorse]

Crossing the city by train



During the second half of 19th century the train arrived to Burgos, a city in the North of Spain. The tracks were at the South of this beautiful city. There were several religious buildings and industries around the tracks, but very few houses.

Some decades later, the city grew, and a bad urban planning did not prevent constructions near the rail tracks. So, the train crossed the city. In the eighties, people began to protest against the tracks because there were some accidents. Later on, in the nineties, the National Government and the City Council arranged to build new tracks out the city, and two new stations for passengers (Burgos- Rosa de Lima) and freight (Villafría). Nowadays there is a boulevard instead the old rail tracks.

This screenshot is a created scenario and plays as Calle Madrid zone. I tried to recreate real buildings using pak 128 and these Addons:

Zeno' s Addons:

• Colourful oil tankers

Spanish Addons:

• Renfe Class 595 (Passenger Diesel Multiple Unit)
• Renfe Class 276 (Electric Locomotive)
• Pegaso Z-401 from Autobuses Urbanos de Burgos
• Mercedes-Benz O-3500 coach

You can get these and other Addons at: the Simutrans Boxroom.

Under CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

_{Fixed links --An_dz}

[sdog]

Indeed - and I have made composite screenshots before to get round this anyway. However equally realistically you have to be at the maximum resolution (or near it) to stand a good chance. Composition and design is of course important, however that extra resolution gives more detail which will likely make the picture more appealing.

I'm not so certain if it changes the results of the vote very much. At the vote page much smaller versions of the screenshots are shown. I think they influence the decission much more than the full size screenshot.

[Sarlock]

Name: Winter Morning

Morning sun rises on the river between the downtown core and the suburban north shore.  The freeway connecting the two areas sees heavy traffic volume during morning rush hour.

pak128 with pak128.Britain, addons and custom content.  From a real game with use of public player for enhancements.

[vorlon]

Scenic bypass

Upon entering the city centre, the highway changes into a wide boulevard bordered by noble cypresses. The gardener of the palace park and the local residents are happy to see the passing cars slow down, and admire the unique architecture of the old palace before continuing their journey on the boring, concrete-gray highway.
pak128 with add-ons, real game with (heavy) public player modifications

released under CC-BY-SA 3.0 licence

[prissi]

Since the bus service frequency is not so high (only one line crosses the city) the people from the freshly arrived Shinkansen rather walk to the big shrine, the biggest attraction of this town. Most of them just wait for local trains where they will transfer from the Shinkansen terminus.

pak64.japan 120.0, real game done for balancing, no public player interference at all.



License: CC0 is not possible for germans, since there one cannot give up copyright by law. The others are similarly strange: Why do we release them to make money? Anyway, choose one, I do not care.

[sdog]

CC-NC-... non-comercial licenses would (in the view of some) also prevent the screenshots to be posted to any page that generates income with adds. This excludes most social media sites like facebook.

ND no-derivatives is equally difficult as it would also prevent cropping.

[IgorEliezer]

License: CC0 is not possible for germans, since there one cannot give up copyright by law. The others are similarly strange: Why do we release them to make money? Anyway, choose one, I do not care.

Then CC-BY suits best. Say, if you don't care your screenshot can be used in a for-profit magazine or a monetized video on youtube, but still the publisher has to cite the authorship.

[Junna]

License: CC0 is not possible for germans, since there one cannot give up copyright by law.

Now that is bizarre! Is that why Germans are so odd about copyrights? I've never seen people so obsessed with their own work as Germans. They always want to control how things are distributed and get so touchy when someone has the audacity to contradict them (it's even happened on this forum a few times). I mean, things like that you can see from everyone, but a good many of them seem to be Germans for some reason, as if it's due to some strange culture of copyright-worship they have been taught. If denying copyright on ones own work is not recognised by law... They seem to think that as creators they are entitled to all manner of absurdities and often do not get along well in collaborative works as a result.


A slow coal train holds up a regular local stopping service at the Belwell Beeching Cross (!) railway station. Pak.Britain, modified by me, though no add-ons visible herein. The single line loop from the upper to lower line is used by infrequent goods trains.

No copyright, public domain, so on, so forth. I don't recognise the legitimacy of copyright legislation.

[sdog]

There is a frequent misconception with regard to german laws. It is very basically connected to the translation of the word 'copyright'.

Germany defines a concept of "Urheberschaft" you can loosely translate it as creator- or authorship. This is always bound to the person(s) who created a creation in the firstplace. What germans can always give away are the "Verwertungsrechte", the rights to economically exploit a creation. This can be done exclusively, and irreversibly, so if you buy all rights to print the latest book, rights for films, merchandise, theatre productions and so of Günter Grass it is nearly the same as buying the copyright in the UK or US. However, and there's i think a difference, for german courts, he will still be the author of the book. So you can not make a contract with him that prohibits him to say, in germany: "I wrote 'The Tin Drum'."

The second misconception is that this applies to germans. The nationality of the author or the place where it was created does not matter. The law aplies to germany only. So James Joyce is for german courts as much author of 'Ulysses' as Thomas Mann is author of 'Die Buddenbroks'. What happens to CC0 licenses or public domain is a bit complicated, and i'm beyond following it. It appears it just defaults to something similar to CC-BY.

So you can give all rights away, except the right to call yourself the author. CC0 would allow to do the latter, so outside of germany you can just take any CC0 work and call yourself author of it without infringing the original authors rights. If you cross the border to germany, austria or switzerland while doing it, you would infringe the authors laws.


Now, my personal view of this is: It is not such a big difference, in UK common sense considers a concept of authorship in the same way as it is done in germany. It would be preposterous not to consider Emily Brontë author of 'Wuthering Heights'.

[Leartin]

@sdog
I don't think that's the main problem. In Germany, there is this law:

Der Urheber hat das Recht auf Anerkennung seiner Urheberschaft am Werk. Er kann bestimmen, ob das Werk mit einer Urheberbezeichnung zu versehen und welche Bezeichnung zu verwenden ist.

Which states that the Urheber can decide wether the work has his name on it, and which name that would be. Because of that, the Urheber can decide that no name is needed. That does not contradict the German law. However, there is something worse in the next paragraph:

Der Urheber hat das Recht, eine Entstellung oder eine andere Beeinträchtigung seines Werkes zu verbieten, die geeignet ist, seine berechtigten geistigen oder persönlichen Interessen am Werk zu gefährden.

This basically means that the Urheber has a veto against any use of his work which "dangers his personal interest in the work", or, to put it in a sloppy way, if he does not like it, he says no. Sure, it's more complicated then that, but what is or isn't dangering the personal interest of the author is something lawyers can fight over for years - I'd say it's similar to the question "Do adds on a website count as commercial use of a work posted on it?"


"Yeah, do whatever you want, I won't USE my rights to stop you" is not exactly the same as "I give up my rights and CANT stop you anymore", but unless you plan to fight, what gives?



Actually, there is even more trouble. As soon as a screenshot shows something that reached "Schöpfungshöhe" (which means it's something that actually can be protected, is not generic) you can't just publish it without the permission of the author of that object, at least in German law. I never read anything about a permission from all pakset authors, so as a German, you are not even allowed to post a screenshot, why bother which licence it has?

[prissi]

The artistic licence of the 64 pak sets should cover this luckily.

[Leartin]

What would a screenshot even be, in terms of artistic licence? I don't think it covers that at all - and why should it, it's about code and programs, not about graphics, and unless they had a German lawyer on the team when creating it, why would they care about screenshot permissions? But without permission, it's just not allowed. Not that it matters, wouldn't stop me

[prissi]

A screenshot of a pakset is its intended use, would it. As such the artistic licence allow non-commercial use.

[Leartin]

Not sure what you are talking about. I assume pak64 has the same version of Artistic License as Simutrans, although it doesn't matter as they are similar enough, so here is what it allows:
1) You may make and give away verbatim copies... Not a verbatim copy, so does not apply.
2) You may apply bug fixes,... Definitely not what a screenshot does.
3) You may otherwise modify your copy of this Package in any way... Okay, maybe a screenshot is a modified copy.
...provided that you insert a prominent notice in each changed file... Uhm... okay, that could be tricky for a screenshot. Seriously, though, it's pretty clear that a screenshot is not what this paragraph is about.
4) You may distribute the programs of this Package in object code or executable form,... ...which a screenshot isn't.
5) You may charge a reasonable copying fee... Nah.
6. The scripts and library files supplied as input to or produced as output from the programs of this Package... Promising. A screenshot is neither script nor library, but it is an output, so maybe that works in our favor?
...do not automatically fall under the copyright of this Package, but belong to whomever generated them,... So I guess not. If the screenshot was mine, I could rip everything I see in it and all I ripped would be mine. I don't think it works that way.
7) C or perl subroutines... Nah, not interested
8 ) The name of the Copyright Holder may not be used... Nothing to do with it.
9) THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED "AS IS"... GOT IT, NO NEED TO SCREAM

Point 3 and 6 are borderline debatable. But Point 3 has so much in it that just makes no sense for a screenshot that it hurts. You can't do a manual page for a screenshot, you don't have executables, etc, so I don't think you can go with that. And Point 6 would not be "non-commerical use" but "complete ownership" - basically it states that I am the Urheber of whatever I produce with that tool. For Software, say, a paint-clone, that's fine. For a graphic pak it's basically the same as CC0, so I'd go with no.

Actually, even if it was true that Artistic Licence allows for non-commercial use, all the licences allowed in this contest are not non-commercial, so even that does not work out.


I'm not a lawyer, so all I can do is read what is there. Of what I've read so far, I came to the conclusion above, but I might have missed something.

[sdog]

A screenshot of a pakset is its intended use, would it. As such the artistic licence allow non-commercial use.

That opens another question, even if the artistic license would work as Prissi suggests, and it would allow screenshots, would the screenshot as derivative work have to be non-commercial as well? (and in turn would make posting on social media questionable)

Not sure what you are talking about. I assume pak64 has the same version of Artistic License as Simutrans, although it doesn't matter as they are similar enough, so here is what it allows:

[...]

Actually, even if it was true that Artistic Licence allows for non-commercial use, all the licences allowed in this contest are not non-commercial, so even that does not work out.

I'm not a lawyer, so all I can do is read what is there. Of what I've read so far, I came to the conclusion above, but I might have missed something.

Those are very good points, that
I suppose licensing existing pak-sets with a license more appropriate for art would be rather difficult as a large number of contributers would have to be identified and asked. (And bothered, since most have a very public domain attitude, and don't want to have to do much with licensing.)

qestion: shall i split the copyright discussion of the screenshot thread and move it somewhere else?

[isidoro]

From a practical point of view: who would claim copyright issues about a screenshot of ST?  What judge would believe that this use we are making here is of any importance?

And we have three ingredients here: the program, the paksets and the screenshot, each with their respective authors.  The final result is not possible without the participation of the three parts.  If I use photoshop and a picture to compose an image, what would be the copyright issues about that?  And what about if I use paper, a special patented pen, I take a picture of a countryside and compose a collage?  Would God/nature have to issue a special license for the corresponding part?

Masterpieces of art came when there were no copyright laws.  Real art is born from empty bowels.  Copyright has to do more with market than with art or authors...

[Hitardo]

I know I am off deadline.
And I am only sharing my picture with you.
I do not intend to participate in this pool.

Basingstoke: a good example



Basingstoke was a small village. With very few citizens, low salaries and no good connections.
But something happened, that changed it forever:

Mercedes-Benz decided to build a car factory to produce, at the time, its new B-Class model.
Basingstoke was the chosen place because of its good placing: near two steel factories and centred in terms of Mercedes-Benz dealerships.
Something very important, specially in a low priced car.

The factory needed work force, and that brought more people to the village.
A new bus service was introduced. Serving the factory, and the most important places of Basingstoke.

With the new Transportation Plan emerging in the country, Basingstoke was in the way of the two most important cities (Carmarthen and Weymouth), and the High-Speed Line was design to pass just outside Basingstoke, on the East.

The Mercedes-Benz B-Class was a success in the country, and the factory was one of the best of the Group.
Daimler Group then decided to raise another factory for commercial vehicles.
Again, choose Basingstoke.
The train infrastructures was created and enough to serve both factories. The land was cheap and the work force was good and well motivated.

Basingstoke grew to be a city.
A Tram Line was added, and the demand was growing each year.
The city limits grew, and touched the High-Speed Line.

The most recent highway of the country, A6 - that links the North East to the South of the country - was built, passing trough Basingstoke.
An important link to serve and distribute the cars built at the two factories, and a benefit for the people of the city.

Now, a Metro line is on the works at the city centre, and an Airport is being discussed.
Mercedes-Benz is willing to participate in the Airport, funding the goods part of the Airport, as a good input of Plastic for the two factories.

This image has Copyleft: allowing everyone tho use the rights of it.

I used pak128.Britain, with many addons.

[Spacethingy]

"Fly Past"
A big game championship final is on tonight! The pre-match show includes a fly-past across the city by the Red Arrows and Concorde.

CC-BY
A real game, modified with cheaty usage of schedule changing!
unmodified pak64 (they're mail planes, not Gnats...)



Are we allowed editing? If so, I'll use this one instead:

[IgorEliezer]

Would God/nature have to issue a special license for the corresponding part?

Uh these pitiful humans, I laugh at all this copyright drama. -- God/Nature

[sdog]

Afterlife Daily: "A Hundredth Eternity Purgatorium for Artist" Late famous landscape photographer has been sentenced to a katharsis for repeated and commercial copyright infringement of creation.


untwining this topic when splitting will be a katharsis on it's own...

[benste]

The Swiss Alps Scenario with the challenge of using the new SoftSlopes
After explaning for years the consistent supply of lumber going all over the map was causing capacity issues close to the grown city of Bern.

A bypass arround the city had to be built in addition to the crowded 2 way main route which initially passed at the east site of Bern and is now an essential part of the citys infrastructure with lots of bridges. This previously suburban now urban station is bypassed by some trains and frequently called at by other lines but most important for the cross Swiss / Germany Lumber traffic

[An_dz]

I'm extending the nomination period until tomorrow (April 28) 18:00h UTC. After this time I'll have time to create the poll.