[wsfii-discuss] Europe's GeoData belongs to the public?

Tue Nov 14 01:00:50 UTC 2006

A few people at WSFII Dharamsala asked me about access to Geographic 
Data (e.g. maps, census, environment data & maps, radar images, 
satellite images, air photos etc.) for their countries and cities in 
Europe. 

These data are hard to access for a number of reasons and I would like 
to point you to an important what is happening in Europe that will 
eventually determine how all European Member Nations address issues of 
access and cost of these important civic data sets.  The UK position on 
full cost recovery is the worst and it is influencing others.  If you 
want *open and free - as in no cost - access to the GeoData your 
national governments collect with your tax dollars, and you do not want 
to pay for it twice - i recommend you act on the following:*

    Open GeoData - http://publicgeodata.org/

    On 23 January 2006, the Council of European Union has formally
    adopted a common position on the Inspire Directive, which stipulates
    that *Geographic Data collected by National Mapping Agencies all
    over Europe should be owned by such agencies and not by the Public*

    *The Open Knowledge Foundation Open Data Manifesto -
    http://okfn.org/geo/manifesto.php*

    Geodata is a public good. Open access to it, under a 'Commons'
    (ShareAlike) license, is the best way to see its full benefits
    realized by industry and citizens. At the same time such an
    arrangement, by requiring users to redistribute updates and
    improvements to the data, promises to deliver more and better data
    for less.

    *Free Our Data : The Blog* - http://www.freeourdata.org.uk/blog/

    Free Our Data is the campaign started by Guardian Technology
    <http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/> beginning with the
    article Give us back our crown jewels
    <http://www.guardian.co.uk/Technology/weekly/story/0,,1726229,00.html>.
    The argument is simple: by charging for data that is collected
    (sometimes with the force of law) by government-owned bodies, the
    government is holding back the growth in public and private use of
    that data which could benefit the UK overall. That is, a short-term
    "gain" hides a much bigger loss in terms of entrepreneurship, jobs
    created and competitive edge lost.

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