Access to Marine Data on the Internet for CZM
561
Often a novelty at the outset for many organisations, websites can
unfortunately rapidly become outdated, unattended to, with broken internal and external
links, and in some cases may even have moved to a new address or no address at all.
Many sites fall into a state of disrepair when the originator moves on, or the company
employed to do the work does not continue, or the client runs out of finances.
Although many people can see the obvious advantages that data and
information system, GIS or Decision Support System (DSS) would bring to coastal
management, as yet, GIS software is generally still too complex to be used successfully
by the coastal applications specialist, or offers too many functions which are not
necessarily needed for many applications.
In the context of maps, there are many concerns, especially in the UK, about
provision of access to data. The main concern is one of giving unrestricted access to
data and information, with the fear that (a) people may use the data for other purposes,
which may include selling it on for commercial gain, (b) using it for a purpose other
than that for which it was intended, and (c) that it will undermine attempts at cost
recovery. To some extent such fears are perhaps a little unjustified, as one has to ask the
question 'are end-users looking for the raw data or just information?' Unfortunately,
judging by the number of images, scripts and graphics that are 'borrowed' (effectively
stolen?) from websites, it would appear that many people do in fact not only seek
information but also the data! There is genuine concern from organisations such as the
Ordnance Survey and others about providing access to map data, especially if the
original data was expensive to capture, and they are driven by the need to recover costs.
Trusting people to be honest about getting access to data and paying later is not really a
realistic option. Others are less concerned or are willing to provide data and
information at lower costs. Unfortunately, and this may be a left over part of the UK
culture from the days of government bodies like e.g. ADAS, many people expect to be
able to get hold of data and information for free or for very little outlay; the same also
goes for software. Where it becomes costly to purchase and there are recurring costs,
then in all likelihood people will try to borrow datasets or copy them illegally. For the
academic community some headway has been made through deals that provide the
educational and research community with discounted datasets, although in the current
climate of economic restraint and cutbacks, the ability to purchase even these is not
always a possibility, and besides there may be restrictions placed on the data if the
research work is part of a commercial consultancy. The question of copyright also
always pops up; who owns the data/information? Copyright is limiting the amount of
data and information that can be freely transmitted and shared for coastal management
purposes. There is still no real data standard for geospatial data in the UK, data is still
collected and stored in many different formats, held in inaccessible locations, and
catalogued with no consistent Metadata standard. By and large, the 'real' geospatial
datasets are few and far between on the Internet, only being available where the aim is
to distribute datasets to a wider community. At present relatively few sites in the UK
deliver maps that are in, for example, vector format, most offering instead small
sections of raster maps.
Freedom to post information on the Internet is in many ways beneficial to
many people, but also is unfortunately open to abuse, not only in terms of what people
place on websites, but also what they get access to.
561
Often a novelty at the outset for many organisations, websites can
unfortunately rapidly become outdated, unattended to, with broken internal and external
links, and in some cases may even have moved to a new address or no address at all.
Many sites fall into a state of disrepair when the originator moves on, or the company
employed to do the work does not continue, or the client runs out of finances.
Although many people can see the obvious advantages that data and
information system, GIS or Decision Support System (DSS) would bring to coastal
management, as yet, GIS software is generally still too complex to be used successfully
by the coastal applications specialist, or offers too many functions which are not
necessarily needed for many applications.
In the context of maps, there are many concerns, especially in the UK, about
provision of access to data. The main concern is one of giving unrestricted access to
data and information, with the fear that (a) people may use the data for other purposes,
which may include selling it on for commercial gain, (b) using it for a purpose other
than that for which it was intended, and (c) that it will undermine attempts at cost
recovery. To some extent such fears are perhaps a little unjustified, as one has to ask the
question 'are end-users looking for the raw data or just information?' Unfortunately,
judging by the number of images, scripts and graphics that are 'borrowed' (effectively
stolen?) from websites, it would appear that many people do in fact not only seek
information but also the data! There is genuine concern from organisations such as the
Ordnance Survey and others about providing access to map data, especially if the
original data was expensive to capture, and they are driven by the need to recover costs.
Trusting people to be honest about getting access to data and paying later is not really a
realistic option. Others are less concerned or are willing to provide data and
information at lower costs. Unfortunately, and this may be a left over part of the UK
culture from the days of government bodies like e.g. ADAS, many people expect to be
able to get hold of data and information for free or for very little outlay; the same also
goes for software. Where it becomes costly to purchase and there are recurring costs,
then in all likelihood people will try to borrow datasets or copy them illegally. For the
academic community some headway has been made through deals that provide the
educational and research community with discounted datasets, although in the current
climate of economic restraint and cutbacks, the ability to purchase even these is not
always a possibility, and besides there may be restrictions placed on the data if the
research work is part of a commercial consultancy. The question of copyright also
always pops up; who owns the data/information? Copyright is limiting the amount of
data and information that can be freely transmitted and shared for coastal management
purposes. There is still no real data standard for geospatial data in the UK, data is still
collected and stored in many different formats, held in inaccessible locations, and
catalogued with no consistent Metadata standard. By and large, the 'real' geospatial
datasets are few and far between on the Internet, only being available where the aim is
to distribute datasets to a wider community. At present relatively few sites in the UK
deliver maps that are in, for example, vector format, most offering instead small
sections of raster maps.
Freedom to post information on the Internet is in many ways beneficial to
many people, but also is unfortunately open to abuse, not only in terms of what people
place on websites, but also what they get access to.