Free Our Data: celebrates 4th Birthday!
Source:
UK Guardian Newspaper Technology Free Our Data campaign enters its fifth year
London: 11 March 2010
On the 9th March 2006 the UK Guardian Newspaper Technology supplement launched a campaign titled: Free Our Data with an article titled: Give us back our crown jewels that was published in the Guardian newspapers Thursday Technology supplement. The joint authors of the opening article Charles Arthur and Michael Cross and both journalists are still writing articles that demonstrate the value of opening up public sector information for re-use!
Entering the search term “Free Our Data” on the online Guardian Newspapers website shows that Charles Arthur and Michael Cross have since the 9th March 2006 written articles that reference the Free Our Data campaign 159 and 106 times respectively!
The yearly distribution shows:
After 26 years, on the 17th December 2009, The Guardian Newspaper Thursday edition (printed) Technology Supplement was printed for the final time. The Free Our Data articles moved to the Guardian online Technology blog and/or the main section of the printed Guardian newspaper. The following extracts reflected on the passing of the Guardian Technology Supplement and the Free Our Data campaign.
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Charles Arthur | Technology | 2005-2009 (an extract)
“But the internet is of course the driving force behind much of society today. And it seemed to me obvious that the Guardian's Technology section should try to direct some of that force to everyone's benefit.
Soon after starting on the section, I talked to Michael Cross, who provided our public sector coverage, about how we might go about creating a campaign for the section to pursue. What mattered? We agreed that public sector (impersonal) data held enormous commercial value – but that to realise that value also meant persuading government to let anyone use it, so that everyone could benefit from it.
The "Free Our Data" campaign kicked off in March 2006, and helped to influenced Tom Watson MP, who later ascended to the Cabinet Office under Gordon Brown: he in turn made the case throughout government.
"[Free data] has gone from being a minority sport to the mood music in the civil service," as one key figure told me recently. And, importantly, the campaign has succeeded: from April, key map and postcode data will be free, and more will follow. It has been worth the effort.”
Guardian Technology Blog article: Ten years of technology: 2008, posted 24th December 2009 states:
“But for the Guardian's technology team, it was an interesting year. The Free Our Data campaign, which had kicked off in 2006 with a crusading article Give us back our crown jewels started making serious headway.”
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Guardian Technology article: Watching the predictions: how did I fare in forecasting 2009?
Charles Arthur 8th January 2010
Prediction 29: The government will take a deep breath and acknowledge that it must make a significant part of Ordnance Survey's data available for free unfettered reuse – and will do it.
I was there at 10 Downing Street when Gordon Brown, flanked by Tim Berners-Lee (he invented the web, you know) and Martha Lane-Fox, announced precisely that. Actually, I'd have traded all the other predictions for this one – but this one is a great one, a huge year-end bonus to the Free Our Data campaign and to everyone who is going to benefit from it.
19/29
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The Guardian newspapers Free Our Data Campaign is unique within the European Union as there is no known equivalent elsewhere within Europe. Although the Free Our Data campaign has a UK base many involved public sector information stakeholders across Europe and elsewhere in the world have shown an interest in the campaign as it has highlighted the failures of European Member State Governments to adjust to the electronic information age.
The European Public Sector Information Platform report titled: Public Sector Information, PSI Media watch - UK Guardian: Free Our Data campaign - Years 1 to 4 - 2006-2010 summarises the activities of the Guardian Free Our Data campaign has been updated as the campaign enters its fifth year!
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The UK Governments policy on trading in public sector information has also given rise to other UK firsts that have had a worldwide impact such as OpenStreeMap. One of the drivers behind OpenStreetMap was the behaviour of the national mapping agency. Sir Tim Berners-Lee five-minute presentation and video at TED 2010 includes a number of OpenStreetMap clips of the worldwide updating of OpenStreetMap.
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The UK awaits the UK Prime Minister’s announcement that is expected during March 2010 as to whether the UK Government is ready to Free Our Data as put by the Guardian Newspaper campaign!
The recently published UK Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) response to the consultation of Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey reflects on developments that have an impact of public sector information and in particular geographic information. The APPSI response states (pages 9 and 10):
“3.14 But there are many other important likely market developments:
- The acquisition of basic data from crowd sourcing – i.e. the creation of map data directly using local sensing on the part of interested individuals. Astonishingly, OpenStreetMap (OSM) is not mentioned at all in the Consultation despite being one of the most dramatic developments in the last 5 years. Crowd sourcing in 2D and 3D is facilitated by Google Map Maker, Google Building Maker and Google Sketchup. To an extent such approaches might turn the chain from survey to delivery on its head as those who are the recipients of delivery merge with those who survey.
- The size of the present GIS market is estimated at £900m. APPSI members argue that, if second order demand is taken account of – meaning those who use OS products and GI data which has already been worked up and had value added – then
- this figure is almost certainly an under-estimate. The international evidence of large growth in use of Geographic Information when it is made freely available is unassailable. What is much more difficult to predict is the scale of revenue growth amongst private sector players. This will depend on new entrants, what is made available and on licensing terms, on the state of expenditure in the public and private sectors, etc.
- The Consultation distinguishes between the structure of the GI market and the structure of the OS market but it does not unpack the OS market into the same three sectors B2G, B2B, and B2C. In fact OS is positioned more in B2B and B2G which are the smaller segments of the market. In terms of the future market, then it is likely that B2C will grow ever more as smart hand held devices become ubiquitous.
- There will be an increasing need for digital data at different levels of accuracy, resolution or sophistication. The provision of "Lite‟ versions of products will come onto the agenda if it is not there already.
- Mashups will become ubiquitous. At present they are still the prerogative of experts. This is likely to change in the next 5 years.
- Data currently form the largest cost in the chain of hardware-software-data. This will change as new suppliers and new methods of creation emerge and "orgware‟ – people dealing with hardware, software, and data will become the most significant component. This is already happening.
- There will be increased demand for data produced at more frequent temporal intervals – and especially data current at any particular moment chosen. A good example of this is the detailed imagery data for Haiti produced by commercial satellite operators within a few hours of the earthquake. Measuring change through time (e.g. in land use) will require time-stamped spatial data. OS have not been good at this time trend capability to date.
- There will be increased demand for adding value to GI by merging different data sets – merging OSM content with Mastermap for example just as Yahoo Maps is now being linked formally with OSM, and just as Bing Maps is featuring in ESRI products.
- Some APPSI members argue that competition, less a priori need for a national mapping agency and risks of not having a complete data set are becoming more manageable. Risks associated with use of inconsistent datasets (i.e. a multiplicity of competing “core reference geographies”) are however increasing and are harder to manage. This suggests there are substantial benefits in using one standard Core Reference Geography.”