AGILE Data Access Initiative

• Proposed Nov 2008 by David Medyckyj-Scott• Supported by

– by SADL/K.U. Leuven, Belgium– IACM, FORTH, Heraklion, Greece. – EuroGeographics: liaison with NMCAs– ESDIN – In the UK, by the Joint Information Systems Committee

• Links to the implementation of INSPIRE; AGILE's involvement in the Persistent Testbed, and a possible European academic SDI

• Limited funding…

Whats the problem?

• Access to core geospatial data sets (topographic, administrative, hydrography, etc.) is critical for academic research in almost every discipline– more and more researchers, teachers and students appreciate the value of

introducing a spatial dimension to scientific investigation and problem solving

• National Mapping and Cadastral Agencies (NMCAs) are the leading providers of quality geospatial data across Europe

• In many countries it’s difficult for researchers to gain access to the sorts of data provided by NMCAs - many barriers exist

• Trans national research is even harder to do• But evidence is anecdotal…• Higher Education in Europe should be an important market for the

NMCAs– there are around 4,000 Higher Education institutions– with over 17 million students and 1.5 million staff

Two online surveys in 2009:

• Survey of NMCAs–Sent to 52 member institutions from 43 countries–Focus – “how easy is it for individuals in Higher

Education (HE) to gain access to the geospatial data sets produced by your organisation?”

• Survey of Academic Users – their experiences–Sent out on AGILE mailing lists and other forums

• Various other individuals have contacted us

Key Findings - NMCAs

• Topographic data provided by most agencies. Cadastral data is more restricted

• Majority make 80%+ of their data available and it’s current • Terms of use are similar

– e.g. not to be passed to 3rd party, not to be used for commercial research, restrictions on sizemaps published

• Most provide data on CD or DVD; 5 have on-line services• 16 NMCA’s did not respond to the question on negotiating a

national agreement and the other 2 said ‘No’ they were not interested

• Majority negotiate with institutions directly• 68% receive requests for data from individuals based in HE

OUTSIDE of their country, most try to provide data• Most would be interested in making their data available to

academics and students in other European countries

Key findings – User’s Experience

• Even spread of responses across the types of institutions respondents came from and their role e.g. researcher, teaching

• 30% geographers but wide spread across other disciplines e.g. civil engineering, earth sciences, planning

• 86% said it was very important or important for them to have access to geospatial data from their NMCA

• 50% said it was very important or important for them to have access to geospatial data for another European country

• Biggest barriers are cost of the data and complexity/restrictions imposed by the licences

• Most felt it was the responsibility of each institution to negotiate with the NMCA for access

Consequences

• Good evidence to persuade NMCAs there is a market• Basis for taking forward• Negotiating on an institution by institution basis is not cost

or time effective, national agreements are the way to go • Reciprocal licences are required for cross border access

and sharing but also requires a European wide access control scheme to be in place

• Organisations like EuroGeographics, AGILE, EuroSDR, OGC?, etc, need to come together to push through change