Plagiarism?

So(I notice I start a lot of posts with this word), since everyone is blowing this whole plagiarism up to the size of the Goodyear blimp, I'm going to ask a question, and feel free to throw rotten tomatoes- or stones- if you wish to.

When I wrote my book, I had to do some research on the state of Wyoming. I needed information on trees, wildlife, and I used a map. NOW, since I used said map and I copied the names of cities, towns, or villages and used them in my book, that is a form of plagiarism, is it not since I didn't credit the map maker or websites?

It was all getting rather nit-picky over at DA and SB so I figure I better double check to see if I'm also guilty of plagiarism.

What say ye?

My Take...

on this whole plagiarism thing. As a writer I view plagiarism as cheating. An author should create their own words. Sure, it's okay to paraphrase or even use information learned when researching a topic, but darn it all, use your own words. Not someone else's. It's cheating and it's being lazy.

I wonder, did Janet Dailey get as much flack after she plagiarized La Nora? I mean, in that instance it was a hell of a lot more than a few sentences. And is Janet Dailey still a member of RWA? Hmm. I think that requires some research.

Now can we let this whole subject die already? I'm so effing sick of it.