This is the last working draft of the Public Geodata press release which we will send about the Open Letter Third Reading.
Public Geodata asks Ministers: Do you support open access to geographic data?
Brussels, 30 August 2006 - The Public Geodata initiative, with the support of more than six thousand European citizens, is sending an Open Letter to the Environment Ministers of all twenty five EU member countries, asking them to support open access to state-collected geographic information in the context of the INSPIRE directive.
The INSPIRE Directive, which aims to establish a framework for EU geodata infrastructure, had its Second Reading in the Parliament on June 13th. The Parliament voted against the restrictions on access in the Council's initial common position. The Commission was concerned that "the [Council's] common position could have the effect of reducing rather than increasing the availability of spatial data."
Open access to geographic information promises to deliver large gains to Europe, both commercially and socially. As Jo Walsh, one of the founders of Public Geodata, and chair of the Public Geospatial Data committee of the OSGeo Foundation, points out, "[A] new generation of Internet-based mapping technologies are enabling citizens and companies to make 'geospatial mashups', combining geodata with local civic information to better understand the world around them. However, in Europe, these opportunities are being greatly limited, due to restrictions on access to data."
Markus Neteler, Director of OSGeo, and leader of the GRASS GIS Open Source geographic information analysis project, adds "The governments of the United States, Canada, and other nations have demonstrated that granting open access to basic geographic data is technically and economically the best thing to do."
Benjamin Henrion, a leader of the Public Geodata campaign, states: "Amendments adopted by the European Parliament this June guaranteed that the public would have the right to view, free of cost, geographic data collected by the state on their behalf. The Parliament took the right decision, and we hope the Council will accept their amendments."
Notes for Editors
- Where there is "open access" to data, it is available free of charge or for no more than the cost of reproduction, without constraints on the re-use or redistribution of data. Some National Mapping Agencies operate a "cost recovery" policy, licensing data to users at high rates. Others - notably in the US - place data into the public domain, where there are no restrictions on its reuse.
- It is estimated that fully 80% of all information collected by government has a spatial component. Geographic information is needed for environmental management, civic planning, and the coordination of transportation systems among many others purposes.
State-collected geographic information is a public good. As demonstrated by several studies, including that conducted by PIRA for the European Commission and KPMG for GeoConnections, the Canadian National Mapping Agency, open access to geographic information is the only way to realize its full social and commercial potential.
- INSPIRE is the proposed European Commission directive establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in the Community. It will impose a common technical framework designed to facilitate the exchange and combination of geographic information across member states; with special emphasis on environmental data for risk and disaster management.
- Both the Commission and the Parliament support amendments that would guarantee the public's right to search for and view geographic information collected by the state.
- The Council's original common position removed the public's right to open viewing of data, and provided an "intellectual property rights" exemption to National Mapping Agencies from submitting data to public search indexes. The Commission's response was: "The text of the common position leaves too much scope for data providers to refuse to give public access to their data and share it with other authorities."
Public Geodata (http://www.publicgeodata.org/) campaigns for open access to state-collected geodata. Despite having only been set up in February of 2006, Public Geodata now has over six thousand supporters from across Europe.
OSGeo (Open Source Geospatial Foundation http://www.osgeo.org/) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to support and promote the collaborative development of open geospatial technologies, data, and adoption of open standards for data exchange.
Open Knowledge Foundation (http://www.okfn.org/) was a founding partner of Public Geodata, and continues to provide active support for its activities.
Links
Contact Information
Benjamin Henrion +32-2-414 84 03 (fixed) +32-484-56 61 09 (mobile) bh at publicgeodata.org (French/English)
About Public Geodata
Public Geodata represents over 6000 citizens from every member state in Europe. It is an independent campaign originally begun to raise awareness of data policy issues within the Geographic Information Systems and geospatial software communities.