Does geospatial data want to be free?
16 October 2009
V1 Magazine has published a news article by Matt Ball entitled: “Does geospatial data want to be free?”
The author delves into and takes a critical look at the issues of free versus fee geospatial data in the context of the current market place, technological innovations for collecting and re-using geospatial data and the potential of geospatial data to help understand our world.
In an excerpt from the introduction to the article, Matt Ball comments:
“The latest round of Google Maps innovation, with map updates that mirror the crowdsourced data approach of OpenStreetMaps (OSM), as well as the addition of parcels (a typically high-priced data set) has many data providers worried about their livelihood. The larger question here, beyond just Google’s moves, is whether online geospatial data want to be free.
Free and open access to information and data form the underpinnings of the success of the Internet. While information in the form of written content has predominantly been free for some time, the same hasn’t been true of all online information. There are successful business models where people pay for digital content (iTunes, Netflix, Amazon for e-books, etc.). However, there are growing trends of richer and more accurate geospatial data available for free access and manipulation online, which begs the question of whether licensed data has a future for online applications.”
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