Map Schmap

I recently received this email from some company calling itself Schmap. Briefly, what they had to say was this

:: Schmap: Oslo Photo Short-list

Hi Atulya,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the fourth edition of
our Schmap Oslo Guide, to be published early January 2008.
(Link to Schamp's site where the photo was to be found)

While we offer no payment for publication, many
photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap
Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and
are free of charge to readers.

A quick background check of Schmap revealed that it was in fact some genuine thing, and according to reader reviews, purported to be a "wikitravel meets Lonely Planet" online travel guide. And they sure had a smart way of sourcing their content. Without paying a cent for their photographs, and without worrying about copyright claims, they are relying on photographer's egos (The photographs are credited to them, remember) leading them to grant permission to use their photos for the guide(s). Fair enough. I was more than glad to agree. It can't be too long before they can rely on the same route to source their text content and reviews as well. Basically, not too long before the likes of Lonely Planet and Frommer's are driven out of business.

PS: Having established Schmap's credentials, a quick google of the mail's contents revealed that I was most certainly one of a multitude of people contacted this way.

And a further check to see what photo of mine they had actually decided to use proved to be a bit of a disappointment actually. The selected photo was an arbit, out of the way, almost an apology of a snap, taken almost as an afterthought in front of the Nobel Freddsenter (Nobel Peace Center) in Oslo. Apart from its obvious, current claim to fame, it used to be a disused railway station. Still, not a very impressive building, and certainly not an impressive snap.

Well, for now, who cares...