Slashgeo

Steve Coast writes "OpenStreetMap is an effort to create free maps of the world, mainly in areas like Europe where national mapping agencies have a monopoly on mapping data. The maps are created by annotating GPS traces or using photography. There is an active mailing list and wiki as well as a ever-growing code base and coders hacking away. We're also trying to raise a little money by selling some stunning posters."

All Points Blog tells us about the Beyond Mapping: Meeting National Needs Through Enhanced Geographic Information publication. Sounds interesting considering the questions tries to answer. Here's the first two, read APB's entry for the others: "1. How have mapping/geographic information activities evolved and what have been their fundamental underpinnings? 2. What is the nature of the research agenda related to the mapping sciences and how might this agenda be addressed by current and possibly future collaborations among many disciplines?"

Vector One offers an interesting reflexion on the debate between national mapping efforts and public-driven mapping such as OpenStreetMap. From the entry: "As can be seen, there is a wide difference between origins of national mapping agencies and their current operations. The word ‘mapping’ in their titles may confuse matters more than help, particularly to those who equate all spatial or a sense of ‘geospatial’ to the web map alone. These organisations are not solely map agencies. Their tasks and operations vary."

A colleague sent me a link to a text arguing why government spatial data shoud be free. The text focuses on the Canadian government spatial data policy. While it does not look up to date and seems rather one-sided, it still includes very interesting arguments. From the intro: "Since the 1980's the general trend has been towards cost recovery of [the Canadian] government information. At first glance, this policy appears to be a good way of sharing the costs of a government service among those who benefit from it, like a toll booth on a bridge or a user fee on an ambulance. However, there are significant problems with this approach." The same colleague pointed me to DataLibre.ca, a blog on the subject. Below I included links to numerous previous stories related to INSPIRE in Europe, OGC and GeoDRM, Canadian new free data and more.

From the All Points Blog, comes an interesting bit of conversation. From their summary : "Is there something a bit "off kilter" when federal agencies talk about using Google Earth (GE) or Microsoft Virtual Earth (VE) as their standard for a common operating picture (COP)? The reliance on a privately funded base map and imagery database for mission critical applications in homeland security and emergency management draws into question just how much Google or Microsoft have assumed the role of a public trust. In fact, the money that either company is investing in developing geospatial data for their mapping platforms runs into the tens of millions. If the market has spoken, in this case the federal government, then the market doesn't see any conflict using a system that is essentially funded by advertising. Are we not rendering The National Map as obsolete and do federal agencies differentiate the substance of each? Is the fact that GE or VE has become more accessible, easy to use, and more comprehensive drawn a comparison with federally-funded base maps that are sometimes bogged down with too many constituent requirements?"

For a more detailed summary as well as user comments, please visit the All Points Blog link above.

The DataLibre blog runs an entry on earth observation data policies, specifically discussing an April 2004 short summary on Canadian EO data policy. From the blog: "The paper also includes the following which is an excellent way to think about data pricing and its effects: - A direct association exists between pricing and its effects on public access and commercialisation of government agency information. Current pricing problems are having a deleterious effect on the affordability of spatial data in Canada, France, and the United Kingdom; - A direct association exists between the application of intellectual property rights and the degree of public access and commercialisation of government agency information. The greater the restrictions on access, the less successful dissemination programs will be; - Reducing prices and relaxing intellectual property restrictions on government datasets are significant factors improving opportunities for access and commercialization for stakeholders in the geographic information community." This is a recurring theme, several previous stories copied below.

Mikel Maron writes "The bill sponsored by Rep. Solorio, would close public access to public GIS basemap data. The bill is currently set for a hearing in the Governmental Organization committee on April 16th, and in the Local Government Committee on April 30th. The best time to stop a bad bill is when it is in committee. So the time to act is now. If you live in California, now is the time to contact your rep, and the members of the committee. More info here and here." Some related stories copied below.