Open Knowledge Forum on Open Geodata April 15, 2005

http://www.okfn.org/wiki/OpenKnowledgeForums

The Open Knowledge Forum on geo-data brings together those who wish to use such data, for example in local government or at NGOs, with those working to produce it (for example by creating free of copyright maps).

The UK is one of the best-mapped surfaces on the planet, but our national mapping resources are highly-priced and administered by a semi-private company that acts as a monopoly based on Crown Copyright.

The Public Sector Information Directive emphasises the benefits and importance of access to geographic information. But local governments don't own the information they gather, and arguably millions are wasted providing expensive "viewing" services which present pictures of the data, instead of raw information.

This forum will be a discussion about different applications with a civic society focus, such as participatory planning or problem reporting, which could be initially built using free base maps and geocoding facilities.

For more information please see:

*

http://www.okfn.org/geo/
*

http://okfn.org/wiki/OpenGeoData