Licensing Geographic Data and Services (2004) / Chapter Skim
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4 Experiences of Government in Licensing Geographic Data From and To the Private Sector
4 Experiences of Government in Licensing Geographic Data From and To the Private Sector
Pages 67-102
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From page 67... ...
Because the report focuses on the role of government, the chapter begins by describing federal, state, and local government experiences in licensing geographic data and services from the private sector. It then outlines government experiences in licensing data to private businesses and members of the public.
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To the extent that they exist at all, restrictions imposed when licensing geographic data from the commercial sector must be consistent with this mission. · Limited Redistribution of Data.
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occasionally procures licensed data to support "science projects and research" (written testimony of USGS, p.
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; the Census Bureau plans to license downgraded coordinates for use in its Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system (TIGER) database and it will delay release of TIGER files containing licensed commercial data (written testimony from the U.S.
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In retrospect, the agency has been disappointed by this arrangement, which requires NOAA and all other government and private partners to purchase Raster Nautical Charts under license from Maptech (written testimony from NOAA Coastal Services Center [CSC]
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. 17 Vendors realize that the Census Bureau will not license data if it can collect the same information cheaper in-house (testimony of Don Cooke and written testimony from U.S.
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, and Space Imaging (testimony of Glenn Bethel) ; in written testimony (pp.
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In many cases, agencies use licensed data to update or correct existing government databases. License restrictions that limit government to extracting specific _____________ 25FEMA's Map Service Center saved "several years" by using Transamerica's restricted GeoIndex data to launch its computerized map retrieval system.
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34NOAA's experience with Raster Nautical Charts (see footnote 13) is an example (written testimony from NOAA CSC)
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Census Bureau's prolonged and ultimately unsuccessful negotiations with a commercial vendor; Scott McAfee testified on FEMA's prolonged and ultimately unsuccessful negotiations with Staten Island. 38Ironically, local governments often band together or form regional consortia to purchase data as an alternative to licensing data from commercial vendors (testimony of Bryan Logan, EarthData, Inc.)
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From page 77... ...
Agency missions and government laws commonly require widespread dissemination of government information.41 License restrictions that conflict with these requirements normally are unacceptable to agencies. To protect the proprietary interests of commercial companies from whom it has licensed data, a government agency may be required to enter into further licenses with all those to whom the agency has an obligation to disseminate the data.
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45 Written testimony from FEMA, p.
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In one case, the license permitted unlimited redistribution, and so, "ownership would not have added any benefit."50 In each of the remaining cases, the agency licensed data from the commercial sector because ownership was not an option.51 · U.S. Census Bureau.
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_____________ 54 Testimony of Glenn Bethel. 55 Written testimony from USDA, p.
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See Chapter 5, Section 5.4.1. 63See, for example, written testimony from USDA, p.
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However, some agencies assert that improved licenses and licensing practices may mitigate some of these drawbacks over time.64 4.2.6 State and Local Agency Licensee Experiences Like federal agencies, state and local agencies have experienced benefits and drawbacks in licensing geographic data from the private sector. Many of those benefits and drawbacks parallel federal agency experiences and are not repeated here.
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Although state and local governments are not large consumers of licensed data (e.g., in comparison to NGA) , federal agencies are increasingly looking to them for data and are understandably concerned by any arrangements that limit redistribution and reuse.
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102. 75The Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission Year 2000 Digital Orthophoto Consortium brought together more than 40 local governments and state and federal agencies to acquire digital orthophotography that spanned the commission's seven-county region around Chicago.
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Metro GIS facilitates data sharing among members, licenses data to outside users, provides a forum for exchanging best practices, and helps members coordinate their respective data collection programs.78 · Contract Work. Some agencies perform data development and processing services under contract to other government entities.
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Since then, various state and local jurisdictions have experimented with licensing geographic data to others at rates that exceed the marginal cost of distribution.84 Today, many -- but not all -- local government administrators believe that they have the legal authority to obtain copyrights on their geographic data, and have the right to distribute these data under license if they so choose.85 Nonetheless, most still refrain from imposing license restrictions on reuse outside government. Recent experiences in licensing by government to others include · Louisville and Jefferson County Information Consortium, Kentucky.
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From page 87... ...
Today, their Metro GIS organization sells custom GIS services for an hourly fee. However, the operation does not cover total costs, and Metro GIS is gradually phasing out fee-based services in favor of free distribution over the Internet.86 Nonetheless, many Metro GIS members continue to license data.87 · Palm Beach County, Florida, entered into an agreement to share portions of its proprietary geographic databases, including its most up-to-date digital orthophotography, with a consortium of insurance companies and an airborne data provider.
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In the past, and unlike most govern ment fee-for-service licenses, Radarsat users received an unlimited right to produce value-added derivative products.93 In particular, the rights were broader than those found in commercial satellite licenses, which typically prohibit redistribution of derivative _____________ 89Testimony of William Burgess. 90Kentucky Open Records Law § 61.870 et seq.
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Many countries have either implemented or are actively considering U.S.-style marginal cost-of-distribution rules.96 The committee found no example of a U.S. local or state government geographic data program that covered more than a small fraction of its total GIS budget through data sales or licensing to customers outside government.
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Some commercial providers believe that licensing restrictions on government data would burden their own organizations and their clients.100 Other companies have built their businesses around licensed data.101 In general, companies whose business models depend on adding value to data they gather from local, state, and federal agencies are less enthusiastic about a shift toward licensing to government agencies. Data providers whose primary business models involve selling imagery or low-value-added geographic products to government tend to be more enthusiastic about licensing to government.
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At the same time, many existing restrictions go unenforced.105 Some companies _____________ 102Navteq (testimony of Cindy Paulauskas) , DeLorme (testimony of David DeLorme)
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4.4.2 Summary of Commercial Experiences and Reflections Although some companies earn significant revenues from licensing geographic data, most revenue from sales to the domestic government agency sector and other domestic clients still comes from selling data acquisition and processing services.109 The data acquisition-for-hire model their annual subscription period ends (testimony of Chris Friel, GIS Solutions Inc.) ; DeLorme spends nothing on enforcement -- it is more cost-effective to invest in new products instead (testimony of David DeLorme)
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From page 93... ...
The geographic data industry is evolving rapidly. Some observers believe that existing product or fee-for-service models will eventually converge, making license restrictions looser but also more prevalent.112 Other observers argue that technology eventually will drive data acquisition costs so low that it will become pointless to distribute old data under John Palatiello, MAPPS)
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Validation. Consumers are often skeptical about the quality of licensed data.115 Some vendors believe that government or commercial-sector certification could increase sales.116 3.
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The interests of students, teachers, researchers, libraries, and university administrators in gaining access to geographic data are not necessarily aligned. Students and teachers may need legal and convenient access to data to accomplish class demonstrations, laboratory exercises, and class projects, but care little about the right to publish datasets or derivative products.
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Such efforts to improve the exploitation of public-sector information contribute significantly to maximizing its commercial, scientific, research and environmental use."123 4.6 SUMMARY 4.6.1 Government Experiences Licensing Geographic Data and Services from and to the Private Sector Despite recent interest in licensing, most federal agencies still prefer full ownership rights in the data that they acquire, when this option is available. Their reasons include increased flexibility in the use of such _____________ 122See Directory of Open Access Journals, |
From page 97... ...
In addition to utilizing outright purchases of data, agencies have experimented with a range of licenses to satisfy their missions, with mixed results. For the most part, agencies whose missions require broad dissemination find licensed data less useful than agencies that have small numbers of users or need licensed data as an input for making derivative products.
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From page 98... ...
In general, those providers whose business models depend on adding value to data gathered from local, state, and federal agencies at the cost of distribution tend to oppose government data acquisition through licensing. Those providers whose primary business models involve selling imagery or low-value-added geographic products to government generally welcome the prospect of licensing data to the government.
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From page 99... ...
Having presented the current state of licensing experiences in this chapter, we now proceed over the next three chapters to distill the legal, economic, and public interest underpinnings of U.S. data policy in preparation for the succeeding two chapters that look to future approaches to licensing and options that could address the interests of all stakeholders in geographic data.
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From page 101... ...
In this instance, the only existing preburn imagery that is sufficiently current and detailed to allow adequate vegetation mass estimates for model development is in the archives of a commercial satellite company.
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