IS EVERYONE HERE FAST ASLEEP? was: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] OKF / OSGeo response to the consultation on opening Ordnance Survey data

[Frank Warmerdam]

Schuyler Erle wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-02-22 at 16:26 +0100, Jo Walsh wrote:
>> dear all at OSGeo,
>>
>> In sending this mail I'm following the protocol for letters of support 
>> coming from OSGeo:
>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Protocol_for_requesting_letter_of_support
>>
>> As you may have heard, there's a public consultation running in the UK
>> on options for open licensing national mapping data maintained by
>> Ordnance Survey.
> 
> Is everyone on this mailing list dead? Or asleep? How is it that no one
> has responded to this inquiry yet? Have we not, at least some of us,
> been agitating for the proposed outcome for years? Does this issue not,
> at least in principle, affect us all? Have you all forgotten that "your
> software is awesome, but it's useless -- without data"?
> 
> I want to go on record as being 100% in favor of OSGeo providing a
> letter of support for this response to the OSGB consultation. The
> principle of Open Public Data is completely in harmony with the ideals
> and objectives of the OSGeo Foundation. This is a chance for us to see a
> change for the better in Ordnance Survey policy, a change that will
> serve as a signal example to other NMAs around the world.
> 
> *Please* simply respond to the previous email with at least a +1 or a
> single word of support, if you'd like to see the OSGeo Board respond to
> this request in the affirmative. *Please*, for the love of God, don't
> let us as a community deserve to be ashamed of ourselves for our own
> ungenerous apathy. According to the Board's protocol for such things,
> you only have a few hours, so pipe up now, while you have the chance.

Schuyler,

I've reviewed the protocol for a letter of support, and I don't see any
requirement for actual comment or +1's on the discuss list.  Showing
support is most important if anyone has spoken against a proposal or
if it is likely the board will be inclined to do nothing lacking
community support.

In this case I think Jo's position paper is not controversial and the
consultation with the community via discuss is being taken as pro-forma.

I will state, for the record, that I strongly support the proposed
submission and will support it at the board level.  I forsee no
problems with the board as a whole.  The response is completely in
keeping with OSGeo's position on the importance of there being a
body of quality free geodata.  The most obvious and critical source
of such data is national mapping agencies which are already mandated
to prepare and maintain base mapping layers.  All they need to do is
fine tune their licensing and financing models to unleash lots of
innovation.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent