Statement support publicgeodata - Revision history

Neteler: +cat

2010-11-14T20:31:36Z

+cat

Neteler at 15:43, 23 August 2007

2007-08-23T15:43:37Z

Arnulf: added link and banner to reject inspire

2006-08-25T12:35:40Z

added link and banner to reject inspire

Wiki-JoWalsh at 19:49, 23 March 2006

2006-03-23T19:49:19Z

Wiki-SchuylerErle: /* OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org */ typos

2006-03-03T15:10:44Z

OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org: typos

Wiki-SchuylerErle: /* OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org */ editing for conciseness

2006-03-03T07:58:30Z

OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org: editing for conciseness

Neteler: draft statement (still too long)

2006-03-02T23:03:35Z

draft statement (still too long)

New page

'''This page is provisional, and the following declarations are not approved by the OSGeo board.'''

== OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org ==

Comparing the geospatial developments in the U.S. and Europe, there are
strong indications that undue restrictions in the availability of
georeferenced data slow down the development and limit the information
available to the public and organizations about their environment. In
this spirit, the OSGeo Foundation promotes and supports

* interoperability of data and software, enabling the public to access and process spatial data with no barriers;
* availability of at least base cartography to the citizens with well defined free licenses (in the sense of freedom).

Interoperability is more than agreeing upon file formats. It comprises
basically two dimensions, the longitudinal interoperability (i.e.,
time) and the transversal interoperability (sharing data across users
communities). Data readability over long time is of particular
interest for data maintained by public administration and long-term
projects. Data readability also covers sharing across different user
communities, independent from software or operating system used
(addressing the freedom of software choice).

In short, data access, in particular in Web Services, is tripartite:

* right to access (or possibly "view"),
* right to reuse (download), and
* right to redistribute freely.

Without open access to data, neither OpenSDI type efforts or open
standards efforts can achieve what they need to. With no data, there
is simply nothing to express or to share.

Data released to the public by governmental institutions, being
generated as research results or by private companies, need to be
protected to keep the freedom of their usage. Protection does not
imply the unavailability of a data set but the appropriate licensing
to grant the data availability to the public and organizations. Free
access (in the sense of freedom) to base cartography can be seen in
the following context:

* reasonable data licensing, free access granted without political or technical barriers;
* open formats: patent-free, well documented formats;
* availability of free software to enabling the citizen to manage such data.

Distribution of spatial data is cheap in the Internet age. Indeed
maintaining and managing them costs more than the transaction
itself. The governments of the Unites States, Canada and other states show
that granting free access to base cartography is feasible and induces
growing markets.

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. While a lot of
datasets are available in Northern America under a public domain
licence, little geographic data is available under open access terms
in Europe. It is instead made available at monopoly prices by national
mapping agencies. Restricted access to geographic data for the public
and businesses due to high costs and narrow licenses means fewer
services and fewer jobs in Europe.

The current petition "publicgeodata.org" aims at rejecting the
directive proposal by the European Parliament. If not, INSPIRE will
entrench a policy of charging citizens for information they have
already paid to collect, enforced by state copyright over geographic
information. The INSPIRE Directive risks holding back the economic
and social potential in maps and location-based technology in Europe
by many years.

'''About the Open Source Geospatial Foundation'''

The [http://www.osgeo.org Open Source Geospatial Foundation](OSGEO), is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies and data. The foundation was formed to provide financial, organizational and legal support to the broader open source geospatial community. It will also serve as an independent legal entity to which community members can contribute code, funding and other resources, secure in the knowledge that their contributions will be maintained for public benefit.

For more information, write to info@osgeo.org and see http://www.osgeo.org/

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:31, 14 November 2010
Line 30:		Line 30:
	For more information, write to info@osgeo.org and see http://www.osgeo.org/		For more information, write to info@osgeo.org and see http://www.osgeo.org/

		+	[[Category: Board]]
		+	[[Category: Letters of Support]]
	[[Category:Public Geospatial Data Committee]]		[[Category:Public Geospatial Data Committee]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:43, 23 August 2007
Line 29:		Line 29:

	For more information, write to info@osgeo.org and see http://www.osgeo.org/		For more information, write to info@osgeo.org and see http://www.osgeo.org/
		+
		+	[[Category:Public Geospatial Data Committee]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:35, 25 August 2006
Line 1:		Line 1:
	'''The following declarations are now approved by the OSGeo board.'''		'''The following declarations are now approved by the OSGeo board.'''
		+
		+	http://publicgeodata.org/files/Banners/attachments/banner2.png
		+
		+	[http://rejectinspire.publicgeodata.org Vote for Public Maps - Reject INSPIRE!]

	== OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org ==		== OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:49, 23 March 2006
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	'''~~This page is provisional, and the~~ following declarations are ~~not~~ approved by the OSGeo board.'''	+	'''The following declarations are now approved by the OSGeo board.'''

	== OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org ==		== OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org ==

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 In the domain of cartography and geospatial analysis, the term "Open Source" has an important meaning not simply for software, but for data, as well. In the absence of detailed and comprehensive data to work with, the utility of geospatial software becomes drastically reduced.
-Distribution of spatial data is cheap in the Internet age. Indeed, maintaining and managing spatial costs more than the transaction itself. The governments of the Unites States, Canada and other states show that granting free access to basic geographic data is technically and economically feasible, and helps to spur innovation and the growth of commercial markets. The contrast in public access to geographic data between, for example, the United States and Europe, suggests that undue restrictions on the availability of geodata slows down economic and technological development, and limits the information available to the public and organizations about important civic issues, such as health and the environment.
+Distribution of spatial data is cheap in the Internet age. Indeed, maintaining and managing spatial data costs more than the transaction itself. The governments of the United States, Canada and other nations show that granting free access to basic geographic data is technically and economically feasible, and helps to spur innovation and the growth of commercial markets. The contrast in public access to geographic data between, for example, the United States and Europe, suggests that undue restrictions on the availability of geodata slows down economic and technological development, and limits the information available to the public and organizations about important civic issues, such as health and the environment.
-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 tax-paying public. While a lot of datasets are available in North America in the public domain, very little geographic data is available under open access terms in Europe. Instead, most state-collected geographic data is only made available by national mapping agencies at monopoly prices. Restrictions on access to geographic data for the public and businesses - due to high costs and narrow licenses - means fewer services and fewer jobs in Europe.
+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 tax-paying public. While a lot of datasets are available in North America in the public domain, very little geographic data is available under open access terms in Europe. Instead, most state-collected geographic data is only made available by national mapping agencies under monopoly pricing schemes. Restrictions on access to geographic data for the public and businesses - due to high costs and narrow licenses - means fewer services and fewer jobs in Europe.
 The current petition at http://petition.publicgeodata.org/ aims at rejecting the directive proposal by the European Parliament. If it is not rejected, INSPIRE will entrench a policy of charging citizens for information they have

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 == OSGeo foundation statement on supporting publicgeodata.org ==
-Comparing the geospatial developments in the U.S. and Europe, there are
+In the domain of cartography and geospatial analysis, the term "Open Source" has an important meaning not simply for software, but for data, as well. In the absence of detailed and comprehensive data to work with, the utility of geospatial software becomes drastically reduced.
-* interoperability of data and software, enabling the public to access and process spatial data with no barriers;
+Distribution of spatial data is cheap in the Internet age. Indeed, maintaining and managing spatial costs more than the transaction itself. The governments of the Unites States, Canada and other states show that granting free access to basic geographic data is technically and economically feasible, and helps to spur innovation and the growth of commercial markets. The contrast in public access to geographic data between, for example, the United States and Europe, suggests that undue restrictions on the availability of geodata slows down economic and technological development, and limits the information available to the public and organizations about important civic issues, such as health and the environment.
-Interoperability is more than agreeing upon file formats. It comprises
+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 tax-paying public. While a lot of datasets are available in North America in the public domain, very little geographic data is available under open access terms in Europe. Instead, most state-collected geographic data is only made available by national mapping agencies at monopoly prices. Restrictions on access to geographic data for the public and businesses - due to high costs and narrow licenses - means fewer services and fewer jobs in Europe.
-In short, data access, in particular in Web Services, is tripartite:
+The current petition at http://petition.publicgeodata.org/ aims at rejecting the directive proposal by the European Parliament. If it is not rejected, INSPIRE will entrench a policy of charging citizens for information they have
-* right to access (or possibly "view"),
+In light of this growing evidence, the OSGeo Foundation promotes and supports:
-Without open access to data, neither OpenSDI type efforts or open
+* the public availability of a basic minimum of useful state-sponsored geographic data, under well-defined licenses that guarantee the right to use, reuse, and redistribute that information, without limitation;
-Data released to the public by governmental institutions, being
+* the use of interoperability standards in both data and software, to guarantee that the public can access and make use of state-sponsored spatial data over the long-term, without technical barriers, such as patent encumbrances or undocumented data formats.
 '''About the Open Source Geospatial Foundation'''