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

Tue Nov 14 15:34:28 UTC 2006

Dunno john & Malcom!

Check out the links i sent you and perhaps share what you know with them!

I agree on the parallelism John with openspectrum.  The UK Guardian 
group are pretty good and you may want to write to Jack Scolfield 
(http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/) or Charles Arthur and Michael 
Cross (http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1726229,00.html) 
and see if they will cover a story from a eu perspective on spectrum.

Cheers
t

wilson wrote:
> so who is campaigning on open geodata- in the UK? - where have 
> advocates made in-roads on this issue internationally?
>
> through platforms such as flickr, geodata is fast becoming both an 
> easy to use and an expected feature
>
> the arguments for "open geodata" as a common public good etc, are 
> pretty much in parallel to the advocacy of "open spectrum"
>
> John
> http://openspectrum.org.uk/
>
>
>> From: "Malcolm Matson" <cityman at city.co.uk>
>> Reply-To: Discuss list on the World Summit on Free Information 
>> Infrastructure<wsfii-discuss at lists.okfn.org>
>> To: "Discuss list on the World Summit on Free Information 
>> Infrastructure"<wsfii-discuss at lists.okfn.org>
>> Subject: Re: [wsfii-discuss] Europe's GeoData belongs to the public?
>> Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:22:37 +0000
>>
>> Hi Tracy,
>> As I said, I am not expert on this - but I thought that under the UK 
>> Freedom
>> of Information Act, any charge for information provided HAS to be 
>> related to
>> the 'cost' of retirving it and sending it and NOT to recover any costs
>> related to its origination?  Maybe I am wrong.
>> Thanks for drawing this to our attention.   Hope to see Jim F. drive 
>> across
>> the border from India today to join us!
>> Malcolm
>>
>> On 14/11/06, Tracey P. Lauriault <tlauriau at magma.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>> Cheers Malcom!
>>>
>>> The issue is in the UK is that you can get the data but at a very high
>>> cost and with very restrictive use.  Making the tax payer, the citizen
>>> pay twice and keeping the data out of the hands of social researchers,
>>> ngo's who want to do a poverty analysis, and regular citizens who want
>>> to study their neighbourhoods.  Also there are restrictions in
>>> publishing what you have bought as well.
>>>
>>> Do well at the panel in Pakistan!
>>>
>>> t
>>>
>>>
>>> Malcolm Matson wrote:
>>> > Hi Tracy - it's not my speciality but has anyone looked at this
>>> > important issue from the standpoint of the UK 'Freedom of Information
>>> > Act 2000 <http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/20000036.htm>'?  Might
>>> > be worth it.
>>> > Regards (from Pakistan where I am with Vickram and colleagues)
>>> >
>>> > Malcolm
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > THE *OPLAN* FOUNDATION
>>> >
>>> > *Malcolm J Matson*
>>> >
>>> > 77 Andrewes House, London EC2Y 8AY, UK
>>> > tel. +44(0) 20 7638 2344 : mob. +44(0) 7977-407845
>>> > malcolm.matson at oplan.org <mailto:malcolm.matson at oplan.org>
>>> >
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>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On 14/11/06, *Tracey P. Lauriault* <tlauriau at magma.ca
>>> > <mailto:tlauriau at magma.ca>> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >     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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>>> >
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