<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Hi all<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">'user pays' and 'cost recovery' are by law not applicable to public data in SA. Custodians of public data are allowed to charge a minimal fee for making the data available (such as writing a DVD) but not for the data. An example of a policy in this respect is <a href="https://www.westerncape.gov.za/text/2013/September/draft-pricing-of-spatial-info-policy.pdf" class="">https://www.westerncape.gov.za/text/2013/September/draft-pricing-of-spatial-info-policy.pdf</a>.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">And the economic benefits to the country of making the data free to the public without restrictions on use far outweigh the cost of capture and maintaining the data. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">And it’s one thing to make the data free, another to make it accessible. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Some local efforts to make data accessible:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><a href="http://data.gov.za/" class="">http://data.gov.za/</a></div><div class=""><a href="http://southafrica.opendataforafrica.org/" class="">http://southafrica.opendataforafrica.org/</a></div><div class=""><a href="http://opendata.capetown.gov.za/" class="">http://opendata.capetown.gov.za/</a></div><div class=""><a href="https://wazimap.co.za/" class="">https://wazimap.co.za/</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">A group to collaborate with (were Code4SA): <a href="https://openup.org.za/" class="">https://openup.org.za/</a> </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Gavin</div><div class=""><br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On 15 Feb 2018, at 09:20, Sindile Bidla <<a href="mailto:sindile.bidla@geoilocate.co.za" class="">sindile.bidla@geoilocate.co.za</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type" class=""><div class=""><div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" class=""><div class=""><div class="">Dear List,<br class=""></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Most municipalities in the country are making it difficult to access spatial data that has been paid for through our taxes:<br class=""></div><div class="">1. selling of spatial data<br class=""></div><div class="">2. signing data agreements that prevent reuse<br class=""></div><div class="">3. providing access to spatial data only if conducting a municipal project<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I am proposing that we start a petition in this regard, because government policy is quite clear with regard to access to spatial data.<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">What I would like ideas on is:<br class=""></div><div class="">1. is there appetite from the community in this regard?<br class=""></div><div class="">2. should we have a single petition which will be sent to individual municipalities and key government department?<br class=""></div><div class="">3. is there an online platform that we could use?<br class=""></div><div class="">4. any other idea.<br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thank you.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div id="" class=""><div class=""><span class="m_33394833697435551HOEnZb"><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(136, 136, 136)">Sindile XJ Bidla</span></span><br class=""></div><span class="m_33394833697435551HOEnZb"><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(136, 136, 136)"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:none;border-width:0px;border:0px;margin:0;padding:0" class=""><tbody class=""><tr class=""><td colspan="2" style="color:#333333;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class=""><span class="size" style="font-size:16px">Geoilocate</span></b><br class=""></div></td></tr><tr class=""><td width="20" valign="top" style="vertical-align:top;width:20px;color:#1da1db;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class="">p:<br class=""></td><td valign="top" style="vertical-align:top;color:#333333;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class="">087 373 0982 <span class="colour" style="color:rgb(29, 161, 219)">m: </span>082
340 8538<br class=""></td></tr><tr class=""><td width="20" valign="top" style="vertical-align:top;width:20px;color:#1da1db;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class="">a:<br class=""></td><td valign="top" style="vertical-align:top;color:#333333;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class="">Block B3, Science
& Technology Park, East
London IDZ<br class=""></td></tr><tr class=""><td width="20" valign="top" style="vertical-align:top;width:20px;color:#1da1db;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class=""> <br class=""></td><td valign="top" style="vertical-align:top;color:#333333;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class="">Lower Chester Rd,
Sunnyridge, East London<br class=""></td></tr><tr class=""><td width="20" valign="top" style="vertical-align:top;width:20px;color:#1da1db;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class="">w:<br class=""></td><td valign="top" style="vertical-align:top;color:#333333;font-size:14px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" class=""><a href="http://www.bizwebhost.co.za/" style="color:#1da1db;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal;font-size:14px" class="">www.geoilocate.co.za</a><br class=""></td></tr></tbody></table></span></span><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div><br class=""></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">Africa mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:Africa@lists.osgeo.org" class="">Africa@lists.osgeo.org</a><br class="">You can UNSUBSCRIBE at https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/africa</div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>