[OSGeo-Discuss] distributing "read-only" vector files?

[Stephen Woodbridge]

maning sambale wrote:
> Before anything else, let me introduce our dilemma.  We are a
> non-profit geo-research institution.  In many cases we produce
> geospatial datasets no other local institution can create in my
> country at the moment.  What we create are sometimes benchmark info
> useful to various research and policy initiatives.  At the moment we
> have two broad users the public (we provide free download of pdf maps)
> and special interest group (requesting for GIS data).  We always want
> our datasets to be used by other geoshop.
> 
> However, we have several concerns regarding the release of GIS data:
> 1.  Securing "data integrity" - once released we cannot guarantee that
> the data will be distributed from other sources with

I think the best you can do here while trying to be relatively open is 
to publish your data and provide md5 sums of the data or the tar balls. 
If anyone is concerned about the source of the data or the correctness 
of the data then they can easily verify it from your distribution web site.

> alterations/changes.  Some of this data may contain critical info that
> if used (coming from altered data), our institution "might" be blamed.

There is nothing stopping someone from making up false data without 
using your data and publishing it as your be your data. Again making it 
clear the the data is available only from your site and providing an 
easy way to verify its correctness makes it easy to to people to 
validate against it.

> 2.  Ensuring corrections will be reported back to us for data enhancement.

The best you can do here is have users sign a contract and audit them if 
needed. This is not a technology issue.

> 3. Ensuring non-commercial use of the data

This has to be done via contract and legal obligations of the users. 
This is not a technology issue.

> I'm sure these concerns are not unique to us but also common to other
> institutions.  I am hoping we can discuss options on how we can
> resolve the above concerns in areas both technical and institutional
> policy.
> 
> Any ideas?

If you are trying to be open, then be open! Look at OpenStreetMap and 
how they do it. They have a page of license violations also.

If you want to be closed and controlling, then write an application the 
manages all these issues and provides whatever GIS tools your potential 
clients need and have it run off of encrypted data, and fear the day 
when someone hacks you code and frees your data.

Another alternative might be to build an application framework like 
google maps where you keep all your "secret" data on the server and only 
allow your users to interact with the server.

My $0.02,
   -Steve W