[Geodata] Re: [Aust-NZ] NZ geodata on OSGEO?

[Brent Wood]

--- shoaib <saburq at gmail.com> wrote:

> Brent, thanks for taking the initiative on this
> 
> If we come up a minimum set of layers with an open licence for NZ then
> we can feed that info back to OSM as well. I think they would be
> interested in extending their data model to support additional layers.
> 
> For example there is talk of moving to a topological model so that
> routing using OSM data becomes possible
> (http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Routing).


Hi Shoaib (et al),

At present, I understand that Gavin Treadgold, who is very active in NZ in the
GPS arena, and is also involved with Sahana development, is working with OSM
regarding the bulk loading of the NZ road centreline data.


Regarding my suggestion, the range of layers available, and the presence of
some raster data susggest to me that a more traditional GIS approach for
managing & overlaying these datasets is more appropriate than trying to fit
things into OSM. Although, I guess if OSM data is WMS/WFS available, then some
vector data could me managed there & still accessed from another application,
but I don't see that happening in the short term.

> There is also an example of contours being added to OSM.
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/gravitystorm/2273971905/in/photostream/
> 
> What would be best way to start? Perhaps a page on the Aus-NZ chapter
> wiki listing layers and links to data?

One issue; despite much of the data being available under a pretty open
licence, it is not generally available online, either for download or via a web
mapping application. Which is one reason that an initiative like this is
viable.

Anyway, such links are not really available, despite the data being freely
redistributable. This is the main reason I suggested OSGO may be interested in
hosting this data as an example of a national free dataset made available via
FOSS software. The small geographic size of New Zealand make such datasets more
manageble than many other countries, which was also a consideration. 



Regarding licencing, as mentioned on the geodata list:

see
http://www.linz.govt.nz/docs/topography/topographicdata/topodtabase/licence-agreement-1.pdf

This is for the raw data as supplied by the appropriate government body. Once
purchased (or otherwise obtained), as described in clauses 4-7 in the above
document, the data can be freely copied, modified & on-supplied, with a couple
of provisos (basically noting that crown copyright is applicable to the
original data & a disclaimerfor errors & omissions waiving any liabilities).

This licence covers the road, property & topographic data. 

So, we can either buy a copy ourselves (a few hundred $$) or find a friendly
agency or business who is prepared to pass on a copy of the data thay have
obtained. At present, a few members of the Aust-NZ OSGEO chapter who have
access to copies of these data are following this up, to see what can be made
available at no cost.

Other data is available elsewhere, such as census & electoral data from
Statistics New Zealand. See http://www.stats.govt.nz/copyright.htm,
where it states that generally data supplied from them can be freely
redistributed but should acknowledge them as the source (but note that privacy
concerns apply to some census data).

There are other layers which can probably be made available, maritime
boundaries, parks & reserves, etc, but such layers are somewhat peripheral &
can be followed up once the main datasets are sorted out. Indeed, having such a
system available online for the core data may help stimulate various bodies
into making other data available.

I had intended to progress this concept further on the Aust-NZ list before
introducing it to a wider group (including geodata), to work through licencing
and data supply issues, but it spread faster than I'd planned :-)


Cheers,

   Brent Wood