Access to Geographic Scientific and Technical Data in an Academic Setting

Data availability is a key issue affecting society\u27s social well being. Information technology has increased the availability of and improved access to data. The academic community that uses spatial data is one of the groups that has taken advantage of fast and inexpensive opportunities to share data and knowledge in a relatively unfettered fashion across digital networks. However, pressure by the private sector to increase protection for databases through database legislation, self-help measures (contracts, licensing and technological methods for limiting access) and movement by some local governments towards revenue generation from sales of data are decreasing or threatening to decrease access to information for academics. This research explores current and potential access to information principles having substantial potential for promoting sharing and openness for scientific exploration. Current laws and policies on intellectual property and access to information are explored in the context of such principles. A literature study and a questionnaire are used to investigate the access to data environment of academia using geographic data in accomplishing academic research. Current problems are assessed, and legal constraints are analyzed. Whether or not adhered to, an assessment is made in each project of the productivity of scientists compared to the actual principles followed and the extent and nature of problems encountered. Productivity is assessed on a dataset level. It is measured in terms of satisfaction by scientists with the principles imposed upon scientists for accessing that dataset, the extent of problems encountered by scientists when confronted with the specific access principles, and the accomplishment of research goals under the constraints imposed. This research has resulted in new knowledge that should help inform policy makers and scientists themselves of the means by which a satisfactory environment for accessing data might be maintained or accomplished. Ultimately the results are used to supply evidence of academic community practices that would be supported or not supported by a range of legal options for protecting databases, some of which are currently before Congress

Open National CORS Data Ecosystems: A Cross-Jurisdictional Comparison*

Developments toward Open Government Data (OGD) also affect the data from National Continuously Operating Reference Station (NCORS), an infrastructure supporting standard and precise positioning in spatial activities. The application of OD policies on NCORS data (OD-NCORS) varies per country. This article explores the approaches and impact of OD-NCORS in three European countries: Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Understanding the differences in the implementations may benefit other countries in their strategies to implement OD for their NCORS. It may also provide insights for organisations considering OD for other data. The research found that the key factors affecting OD NCORS implementation are the national governing nature and the existence of commercial CORS networks. There is no single approach for OD-NCORS implementation that fits every national context

Brave New Open Data World?

There is a growing tendency to release all sorts of public data on the Internet. The greater availability of interoperable public data catalyses secondary use of such data, which leads to growth of information industries and better government transparency. Open data policies may, nevertheless, be in conflict with the individual’s right to information privacy as protected by the Data Protection Directive. This directive sets rules to the processing of personal data in the European Union. Technological developments and the increasing amount of publicly available data are, however, blurring the lines between non-personal and personal data. Open data may not seem to be personal data on first glance especially when it is anonymised or aggregated. However, it may become personal data by combining it with other publicly available data or when it is de-anonymised. In this article, we argue that these developments extend the reach of European Union privacy regulation to open data, which may obstruct the implementation of open data policies in the European Union

INSPIRE Empowers Re-Use of Public Sector Information

Ready access to public sector information offers unprecedented opportunities for the development of new products and applications and to make existing processes more efficient and effective. These developments have perhaps the greatest opportunities in the field of geographic information. Although the Directive on the re-use of public sector information (PSI Directive) was specifically drafted to address the needs of re-users , the Directive establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) is equally important for re-use of public sector information regarding the physical environment. INSPIRE requirements promote that geographic information, concerning 34 spatial reference and various environmental themes, can be found and is physically attainable on the Internet. With the requirement to provide datasets and service metadata, the obligation to conform to INSPIRE data specifications, and the requirement to do this through discovery, view, and download services, INSPIRE makes a significant contribution to the re-usability of public sector information

Assessing Geographic Information Enhancement

Assessment of geographic information infrastructures (or spatial data infrastructures) is increasingly attracting the attention of researchers in the Geographic information (GI) domain. Especially the assessment of value added GI appears to be complex. By applying the concept of value chain analysis to geographic information, this paper provides a research framework for unambiguously assessing GI value adding. The framework is applied to two types of geographic information in the United States and Europe. The presented research shows that the framework allows for true comparison of GI enhancement in different jurisdictions. This should result in better understanding of the level of GI enhancement in a specific jurisdiction and accordingly in effective decisions stimulating GI enhancement, geographic information infrastructures and information societies

The STIG – A new SDI assessment method

To stimulate the Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI) development effectively and efficiently, it is key to assess the progress and benefits of the SDI. Currently, several SDI assessment methods exist. However, these are still in an infant stage and none of these appear to meet the requirements of practitioners. As a result, SDI decision makers are still without any guidance on the performance of their SDI. In the financial sector stress testing is commonly used to assess the sustainability and success of the system. This work presents an early stage of a longer research activity by introducing the subject, underlying concepts and proposing a projection of an assessment method from FI to SDI. While this work already identifies a key scenario to begin with, concrete realisations remain part of the future work.  Based on a review of the nature and concept of the SDI and Financial Infrastructure (FI) we conclude that the stress test methodology is likely to be an appealing alternative way of assessing SDIs. The Multi-factor Stress tests (Hypothetical and a Non-systematic Subjective scenario model) are most promising as a basis for SDI assessment. A first draft of the Stress Test for Infrastructure of Geographic information is presented: the STIG.

Towards Voluntary Interoperable Open Access Licenses for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)

Access to earth observation data has become critically important for the wellbeing of society. A major impediment to achieving widespread sharing of earth ob-servation data is lack of an operational web-wide system that is transparent and consistent in allowing users to legally access and use the earth observations of others without seeking permission from data contributors or investigating terms of usage on a case-by-case basis. This article explores approaches to supplying a license-based system to overcome this impediment in the context of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. It discusses the benefits and drawbacks of the explored approaches and suggests an integrated legal and technological approach for supplying an effective web-wide sharing environment for earth observation data

Assessing the Openness of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDI): Towards a Map of Open SDI

This paper introduces the Open Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Assessment Framework as a new approach for assessing the openness of SDIs. Open SDIs are SDIs in which non-government actors such as businesses, citizens, researchers and non-profit organizations can contribute to the development and implementation of the SDI, use spatial data with as few restrictions as possible and benefit from using these geographic data. A pilot application of the new framework resulted in the Map of Open SDI in Europe, which aims to show the level of openness of national SDIs in Europe. The map could become a relevant and practical tool that shows the status of Open SDIs in Europe and supports decision makers and practitioners in making their own SDI more open

Stakeholder analysis of the governance framework of a national SDI dataset – whose needs are met in the buildings and address register of the Netherlands?

National spatial data infrastructures are key to achieving the Digital Earth vision. In many cases, national datasets are integrated from local datasets created and maintained by municipalities. Examples are address, building and topographic information. Integration of local datasets may result in a dataset satisfying the needs of users of national datasets, but is it productive for those who create and maintain the data? This article presents a stakeholder analysis of the Basisregistratie Adressen en Gebouwen (BAG), a collection of base information about addresses and buildings in the Netherlands. The information is captured and maintained by municipalities and integrated into a national base register by Kadaster, the Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency of the Netherlands. The stakeholder analysis identifies organisations involved in the BAG governance framework, describes their interests, rights, ownerships and responsibilities in the BAG, and maps the relationships between them. Analysis results indicate that Kadaster and the municipalities have the highest relative importance in the governance framework of the BAG. The study reveals challenges of setting up a governance framework that maintains the delicate balance between the interests of all stakeholders. The results provide guidance for SDI role players setting up governance frameworks for national or global datasets.The H2020 European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tjde202021-09-20hj2020Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog