-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Maps-L - "The Mapping Mess: Google vs. British OS"
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2008 09:43:23 -0000
From: Nicholas Verge <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
References: <[log in to unmask]>
Hi Russell,
You stated...
"The OS is supposed to be 100% self-funding and in theory receives no
federal gov't funds, so unlike the USGS it is not supported by tax
dollars. Currently income from the sales of paper maps is only about
10% of gross income, so license fees and digital data sales are the bulk
of their income."
This is a somewhat innaccurate view of the current state of affairs in the
UK. The keyword in your paragraph is "theory".
Your paragraph describes the view that the OS would like to present. What
the OS does not publicise is that the greatest proportion of its digital
data licensing revenues, comes from the licensing of its data to UK
Government (local and national) and its agencies. Dont think for one
minute that because the OS is a "trading fund" (a business wholely owned
by UK Government), that the UK Government gets access to OS data for free.
It dont.
The problem is that the OS is a government agency that has been granted
permission to be run as a quasi-business and wrt data distribution it a
monopoly. (Strange as it may seem, the law governing OS data distribution
and use is the 1988 Copyright and Patent Act and specifically the section
on Crown Copyright (ie about UK Government produced information)).
Moreover, the OS enjoys privelidges in UK law (eg right of access to
anywhere in the UK, the obligation of local and national government to
provide information to the OS about new developments etc) not provided to
any other private business and which might wish to compete in the
provision of UK mapping. Such priveledges sustain its monopolistic
position. Thus, we have the absurd position that government provides
information to the OS, and then has to pay the OS for a license to use
that information.
This sorry state of affairs is the result of the shortsighted idiotic
dogma of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Tory Party, when
what in power between 1979 and 1997. We are still suffering the
consequences thirty years later!
For more on mess around UK mapping and the reuse of other public sector
information, see
http://www.freeourdata.org.uk/blog/
Cheers
Nicholas Verge
On Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:18:35 -0000, Maps-L Moderator <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Maps-L - "The Mapping Mess: Google vs. British OS"
> Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:03:42 -0500
> From: Russell Guy <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> Here is a bit of news from the UK about Google wanting free access to OS
> data - and OS's response.
>
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/11/the_mapping_mess_google_v_os.html
>
>
> The OS is supposed to be 100% self-funding and in theory receives no
> federal gov't funds, so unlike the USGS it is not supported by tax
> dollars. Currently income from the sales of paper maps is only about
> 10% of gross income, so license fees and digital data sales are the bulk
> of their income.
>
> Cheers
> Russell Guy
>
> *******************************************************************************
> Russell Guy [log in to unmask]
> Omnimap.com http://www.omnimap.com/maps.htm
> International Map Specialists Tel.: 800-742-2677 (USA only)
> P.O. Box 2096 Tel.: 336-227-8300 (International)
> 1004 South Mebane St. Fax: 336-227-3748
> Burlington, NC 27216-2096 USA
> Past President (1996), International Map Trade Association
> ********************************************************************************
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nicholas J. Verge BSc. FGS
Geologist and geological remote sensing/GIS consultant
Earthscience Technologies,
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK.
Voice: ++ 44 (0)1491 572022 (office hours 0900-2200UTC, Monday - Saturday)
Email: [log in to unmask]
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