[Freegis-list] Geographic/spatial data policies

[Michael Gould]

Brent,

Let's start by freeing up that PDF! :-)

Seriously, free data is next on the to-do list.  There are precedents 
that we need to exploit:  http://ocw.mit.edu and similar sites...
There's also talk that the pharmaceutical industry is showing signs of 
open source (data) collaboration: free up research results and everyone 
(whole industry) wins. I think that Nash's (from movie A Beautiful Mind) 
equilibrium principle (google it) applies in a limited sense also...but 
we need real economists to help here.

Another good source of people studying open source everything, is 
http://opensource.mit.edu

In the end the argument is economic, with a small e, that is, freeing up 
data to improve economic development.

Read the first 7 words in Clinton's 1994 executive order (creating 
NSDI)... no surprise.

cheers
Mike Gould



Brent Wood wrote:

>Hi all...
>
>While this list is primarily interested in Open Source Software, in some areas
>gov't funded data is the subject of a similar debate, regarding costs &
>distribution. Like my feelings on software, I believe the value of such data is
>in how widely it can be used, rather than how much money can be made from it,
>especially when the taxpayer funded the data collection in the first place.
>
>When it comes to OS GIS software, without good data, the software is of limited
>use.
>
>Anyway, a new book has been released which may be of interest. It discusses a
>range of issues & approaches:
>
>Licensing Geographic Data & Services
>by the National Research Council 
>
>ISBN 0-309-09267-1 (book)
>ISBN 0-309-54457-2 (PDF)
>
>or read/skim online at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/11079.html
>
>
>Brent Wood
>
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>

-- 

Michael Gould
Department of Information Systems
(Depto Lenguajes y Sistemas Informaticos) and TeIDE consortium
Universitat Jaume I, E-12071 Castellon (Spain)
e-mail: gould(AT)lsi.uji.es
http://www.mgould.com   **   http://www.geoinfo.uji.es