[euopendata] Dutch gov releases two major data sets

[Ton Zijlstra]

Hi all,

Yesterday the Dutch government has announced two things:
- the cadastral geodata sets will be made available for free, starting
January 1, 2012. Currently the data costs 50.000 Euros.
- the Dutch government is spending 4 million Euros to make up to date high
quality satellite images of the entire country available for re-use. This,
it seems, as a precursor to the coming EU infrastructure for satellite
imagery/ earth observation that should be available by 2015.

More at
http://www.epsiplatform.eu/news/news/dutch_government_will_release_geodata_and_satellite_images

This is another sign that the Dutch government is making steps to remove
charges for data. Already the Minister for Economic Affairs ordered the
Chamber of Commerce to stop charging companies for their registration in the
company register. Which raises hopes also the charges for then accessing the
register will be done away with.
And now the Ministry for Infrastructure and Environment is ordering the
cadastral service to stop charging for their core data sets.

With the Ministry for Foreign Affairs releasing IATI data on aid spending
just weeks ago, and the formal launch of the Dutch data portal by the
Minister for the Interior, as well as a Dutch data re-use competition in
which also the Ministry for Education/Culture/Science is participating, it
seems a lot of effort by many different people inside and outside government
is paying of in tangible steps. Especially the removal of charges is a
significant sign, I think, even though the Ministry of Finance as of yet is
silent on the topic of open data. :)

best,

Ton

-------------------------------------------
Interdependent Thoughts
Ton Zijlstra

ton at tonzijlstra.eu
+31-6-34489360

http://zylstra.org/blog
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