Via: uk.ac.york.vaxa; Tue, 17 Nov 1992 11:02:34 +0000
Newsgroups: comp.infosystems.gis
Date:         Tue, 17 Nov 1992 11:00:00 GMT
              <GIS-L@UBVM.BITNET>
From:         Peter Halls <PJH1@VAXA.YORK.AC.UK>
Subject:      Re the pricing of digital (map) data

 "kclarke@everest.hunter.cuny.edu    Keith Clarke" writes

>Just to get the discussion going on this list, I volunteer the
>following:
>
>Geographic BASE data is the ultimate public good. There is almost
>NO finiancial incentive to make continuous digital map coverages
>to a consistent standard. On the other hand, the public (and commercial)
>benefits to having the data available are immense.
>
Fair comment.  Try telling that, however, to a financier controlled government
and administration who have absoluetly no concept that anything can, or should,
be done except for personal / private gain (and thus profit).  There is no
'right to know' in the United Kingdom.  Public Service seems now to be an
obsenity to be purged from memory.  All that matters is the profit entry on the
balance sheet - and the rate of return on investment.  If there is no financial
incentive then, it would appear that, government policy is that it is
unjustifiable.  We are constantly being told that such is a 'fact of commercial
life' and 'market forces in operation' and 'its in your best interests'.

I am rapidly getting the impression that the US may now be the ONLY nation
where public access to national data is deemed to be a right of its citizens,
rather than a (lucrative) source of revenue.  Maybe the correct way of looking
at matters here is that we have now taxed knowledge ... but that the revenue
may not be collected (and retained) by the state.

>Again, to get discussion going:
>
>Those folks in the U.K. and Ireland who are complaining about data
>costs. Use US data. Its good, free, consistent, and often available
>over Internet, as is the software to display it.

That is fine if, for example, your work is 'pure' research in GIS - ie where
the area under study is irrelevant.  For 'applied' research USING GIS, the
area of study is critical.  So far as I am aware, the US does not offer public
domain mapping of other nations at scales such as 1 : 50000, 1 : 25000 or
1 : 10000 - whilst it is just about possible to gain 1 : 25000 from SPOT
images (and THEY are not cheap here!!!) to get greater detail, such as is
necessary for much work in the environmental and archaeological sciences, would
require VERY large numbers of cloud free aerial photographs together with the
(expensive) photogrametric tools to render them into suitable digital base maps.

>At the same time,
>write to the officials in Government who are limiting access to the
>data and let them know your wishes.

Don't think that we are just sitting around moaning!  The basis for my original
posting was to try to obtain FURTHER information as a part of YET ANOTHER
ATTEMPT at changing the mind of government in a constructive manner.

Peter
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