Open Govt (Geo)data
I’ve just been skimming the new report(pdf) from the UK Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform. It goes by the completely uninspiring name of “Models of public sector information provision via trading funds”, though the contents are anything but uninspiring. Broadly speaking, it outlines the economic benefits to society of making government data available at marginal cost (ie, $0; Ordinance Survey data by bittorrent? Note 19, p34).
So far I haven’t understood much beyond the executive summary (it’s full of the sort of maths and dry theory economists salivate over), but I believe this report will have a profound impact on the way governments handle their responsibility as custodians of information about society. It won’t be due to any altruistic motives, but rather down to the almighty dollar (or pound in this case). If you’ve ever had the misfortune to be ear-bashed by me over a few beers, you’ve probably heard me say “if you want to know what’s happening, follow the money”. Now the money has a reason to set the data free in a way we’ve previously intuitively understood but haven’t been able to prove. This report demonstrates some impressive economic returns that are possible from setting significant data sets free, such as the Ordinance Survey. It will take some time, but I believe we are now on a one way path towards liberalising the distribution of government generated data.
Tags: free data, ordinance survey, UK