General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, "The Yellow Book"

[Beltway]

This report is now online.

_General Location of National System of Interstate Highways: Including all Additional Routes at Urban Areas Designated in September 1955_, also known as "The Yellow Book" because of the color of its cover, published by Bureau of Public Roads, 1955.
https://ia600300.us.archive.org/13/items/generallocationo00unitrich/generallocationo00unitrich.pdf

This report was utilized in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which authorized the funding mechanism to build the 41,000 mile Interstate Highway System.

[froggie]

A number of the scans in that PDF are of such poor quality as to be unusable.

[Beltway]

A number of the scans in that PDF are of such poor quality as to be unusable.

Yeah, it would be nice to find a better copy online ...

[dgolub]

A number of the scans in that PDF are of such poor quality as to be unusable.

Yeah, it would be nice to find a better copy online ...

Agreed.  Also interesting how they don't show route numbers in there.

[froggie]

^ That's because route numbers weren't assigned yet in 1955.

[J N Winkler]

It looks like Hathi Trust has a better copy, or at any rate a copy that doesn't look like you are seeing the pages through a fish tank:

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000968362

No guarantees fold-out pages have been unfolded for scanning, though--this has been a problem with every book digitization service I have found, and comes into play especially with engineering reports and prospectuses for 1940's-1950's public authority turnpikes.

[JasonOfORoads]

It looks like Hathi Trust has a better copy, or at any rate a copy that doesn't look like you are seeing the pages through a fish tank:

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000968362

No guarantees fold-out pages have been unfolded for scanning, though--this has been a problem with every book digitization service I have found, and comes into play especially with engineering reports and prospectuses for 1940's-1950's public authority turnpikes.

One thing that irritates me about Hathi Trust is that they provide these reports, which by federal law are public domain and thus not copyrightable, under a license that prevents bulk-downloading. A quick search reveals that this is because Google did the scanning. However, since it is a work of the federal government (which again is not copyrightable), Google does not have the right to restrict the distribution of this work in any form. As such, at some point I will download all the individual pages from Hathi Trust, combine them into a single PDF, and upload it to my site to be made available for download.

[kkt]

It looks like Hathi Trust has a better copy, or at any rate a copy that doesn't look like you are seeing the pages through a fish tank:

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000968362

No guarantees fold-out pages have been unfolded for scanning, though--this has been a problem with every book digitization service I have found, and comes into play especially with engineering reports and prospectuses for 1940's-1950's public authority turnpikes.

One thing that irritates me about Hathi Trust is that they provide these reports, which by federal law are public domain and thus not copyrightable, under a license that prevents bulk-downloading. A quick search reveals that this is because Google did the scanning. However, since it is a work of the federal government (which again is not copyrightable), Google does not have the right to restrict the distribution of this work in any form. As such, at some point I will download all the individual pages from Hathi Trust, combine them into a single PDF, and upload it to my site to be made available for download.

The original is copyright-free, yes.  However if Google did the work of scanning it, they get copyright in their scans.  Find an original somewhere and scan it yourself.

[JasonOfORoads]

The original is copyright-free, yes.  However if Google did the work of scanning it, they get copyright in their scans.

That's not how copyright works.

[kkt]

The original is copyright-free, yes.  However if Google did the work of scanning it, they get copyright in their scans.

That's not how copyright works.

Images are copyrightable even if you have no copyright in the scanned image.

[JasonOfORoads]

The original is copyright-free, yes.  However if Google did the work of scanning it, they get copyright in their scans.

That's not how copyright works.

Images are copyrightable even if you have no copyright in the scanned image.

Only if it's a transformative work. This is a derivative work, which shares the copyright status of the underlying work -- that is, public domain.

Edit: Think about a sound recording that's in public domain. If I take a vinyl record for a sound recording that was published in, say, 1918, and convert it to an MP3, do I automatically own the copyright or license for the song?

[NE2]

Only if it's a transformative work. This is a derivative work, which shares the copyright status of the underlying work -- that is, public domain.

Not exactly. A derivative work only shares the original status if it's a viral "share-alike" license. You can do whatever you want with public domain material and claim whatever you want, but if it's a true copy you don't own any copyright: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman_Art_Library_v._Corel_Corp.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

It looks like Hathi Trust has a better copy, or at any rate a copy that doesn't look like you are seeing the pages through a fish tank:

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000968362

No guarantees fold-out pages have been unfolded for scanning, though--this has been a problem with every book digitization service I have found, and comes into play especially with engineering reports and prospectuses for 1940's-1950's public authority turnpikes.

One thing that irritates me about Hathi Trust is that they provide these reports, which by federal law are public domain and thus not copyrightable, under a license that prevents bulk-downloading. A quick search reveals that this is because Google did the scanning. However, since it is a work of the federal government (which again is not copyrightable), Google does not have the right to restrict the distribution of this work in any form. As such, at some point I will download all the individual pages from Hathi Trust, combine them into a single PDF, and upload it to my site to be made available for download.

The original is copyright-free, yes.  However if Google did the work of scanning it, they get copyright in their scans.  Find an original somewhere and scan it yourself.

In that case, everybody on here owes me money!
http://www.roadfan.com/47usint.jpg

[kkt]

It looks like Hathi Trust has a better copy, or at any rate a copy that doesn't look like you are seeing the pages through a fish tank:

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000968362

No guarantees fold-out pages have been unfolded for scanning, though--this has been a problem with every book digitization service I have found, and comes into play especially with engineering reports and prospectuses for 1940's-1950's public authority turnpikes.

One thing that irritates me about Hathi Trust is that they provide these reports, which by federal law are public domain and thus not copyrightable, under a license that prevents bulk-downloading. A quick search reveals that this is because Google did the scanning. However, since it is a work of the federal government (which again is not copyrightable), Google does not have the right to restrict the distribution of this work in any form. As such, at some point I will download all the individual pages from Hathi Trust, combine them into a single PDF, and upload it to my site to be made available for download.

The original is copyright-free, yes.  However if Google did the work of scanning it, they get copyright in their scans.  Find an original somewhere and scan it yourself.

In that case, everybody on here owes me money!
http://www.roadfan.com/47usint.jpg

Did you file with the Copyright Office and put a copyright notice on your scans?

[NE2]

Did you file with the Copyright Office and put a copyright notice on your scans?

That hasn't been necessary for years (since 1989?).

[kkt]

Did you file with the Copyright Office and put a copyright notice on your scans?

That hasn't been necessary for years (since 1989?).

It isn't necessary for you to claim actual damages but it is if you want to claim punitive damages.