-------- Original Message --------
Subject:         Archiving of Geospatial Data
Date:   Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:33:39 -0400
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 From GeoSpatial.comIssue Date: June - 2010, Posted On: 7/19/2010

Geospatial Data Libraries: Users Deserve Adequate Archives
by Marcel Fortin

*O*pen data initiatives have recently been in the news worldwide, as
several important governments have made some of their data riches
available via the Internet for free. In Canada, a few municipalities,
including two of the country’s largest cities, Toronto and Vancouver,
have made their data available in the same fashion.

Open data initiatives take a tremendous amount of political will in
Canada, where Crown Copyright and government ownership of data have
always influenced and dictated data access policy. But times have
changed tremendously in the age of the Internet, and a new Canadian data
culture has emerged.

Demand for geospatial data has gone from a specialized niche area of
government and academic research to a world in which anyone can
participate in online cartography. This demand for geospatial data from
a broad range of users has put pressure on governments to react and
provide what’s seen as a civil right to public information.

It should be pointed out that in Canada—at least at federal and
provincial levels—because of Crown Copyright, citizens don’t own the
data created by government bodies, Queen Elizabeth II does.


Click here to read entire article: http://tinyurl.com/2daszm5


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