[geo-discuss] NIMSA consultation report

[Jo Walsh]

I imagine that many people on this list filled out the National
Interest Mapping Services Agreement public consultation last autumn. 
I was really quite surprised to hear anything back as a respondent, 
even if it was just the summary PDF on the same day as the press
release which Heather Brooke sent onwards.
http://www.info4local.gov.uk/searchreport.asp?id=24397&heading=widdecombe

I am perplexed by this phrase, and would love to receive any
enlightenment from list members as to its possible meanings:

"It is clear that a distinction needs to be made between support for
Ordnance Survey and support for National Interest Mapping. Both are
considered worthy, but it can no longer be considered axiomatic that
support for one implies support for the other."

This reminds me of the statements that were used to re-engineer the
BBC; the idea of putting public services out to contract among
different companies (Channel 4, ITV etc) against earmarked funding.

The consultation document otherwise mentions briefly, that users want
more data covered by public interest agreements, and broader and freer
access to it. 

3.4.23 "In all cases, over 70% of respondents indicated funding by
ODPM or under a similar agreement as the most appropriate means of
funding the service. As highlighted above, responses may well be
influenced by respondents being in a position (through the
consultation) to influence the scope of NIMSA and perhaps ultimately
to gain access to an augmented product offering from the Ordnance
Survey, at limited direct cost."

Give 'em an inch, they want a yard, more or less?
But the final paragraph does convey a lot; positions this debate at
the centre of a much bigger sociopolitical debate, about access to
publically funded information, and public funding of commercial
activity:

"Finally, it is clear that any financial support for Ordnance Survey will
clearly continue the tension that arises when publicly-funded data
collection is exploited commercially. In the responses to the
consultation, NIMSA could not be isolated from the wider debates on
Public Sector Information and the different models for its re-use."

I am glad to see this openly recognised, rather than nodded at and
pushed away, as seems to be happening in the EC process.


-jo