[OSGeo-UK] Re: CKAN for open geodata

[Joanne Cook]

Hi Jonathan,

I hadn't thought of linking in to CKAN but it makes a lot of sense. I think it's worth looking at various recent discussions about the type of metadata we would need for it to be usable, but it's a good place to start and saves reinventing the wheel. There are also other repositories of useful data (my knowledge is biased to the UK), but we could start with a collection of links to all of these options.

Thanks- and sorry you couldn't make the meeting in May- the next big one will be in September

All the best

Jo

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Joanne Cook
Senior IT Support and Development
Oxford Archaeology (North)
01524 880212
http://thehumanjourney.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Gray" <jonathan.gray at okfn.org>
To: "Joanne Cook" <j.cook at oxfordarch.co.uk>
Cc: "William Wilcox" <billwilcox at wilcox53.freeserve.co.uk>, "uk" <uk at lists.osgeo.org>
Sent: 26 June 2008 16:41:19 o'clock (GMT) Europe/London
Subject: CKAN for open geodata

Bill, Jo,

Regarding your comments on a portal or datastore for geodata, the 
Comprehensive Knowledge Archive Network (CKAN) is a registry of open 
knowledge 'packages' - such as large datasets or collections of content 
- and includes geodata:

   http://ckan.net/tag/read/geodata
   http://ckan.net/tag/read/geo
   http://ckan.net/tag/read/osgeo

We've put in some effort to add geospatial datasets - and it would be 
great if others could think of any other packages to add!

At the moment it has a bare minimum of metadata - but adding support for 
domain specific metadata is something that we've certainly spoken about 
before. I believe Jo Walsh raised the question of adding support for 
geospatial metadata [1]. Any suggestions about how it could be developed 
to better meet the requirements of the (open) geodata using community 
would be much appreciated!

We've also spoken with the Internet Archive about mirroring large 
datasets, and publishing datasets in multiple formats - and they were 
enthusiastic.

I put myself down to come to the meetup in May, but unfortunately wasn't 
able to make it in the end. I look forward to meeting people at future 
events though!

Warm regards,

Jonathan Gray
The Open Knowledge Foundation

[1] http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-discuss/2007-October/000601.html

Joanne Cook wrote:

> 5) Finally- the data- the biggest issue is that the basic mapping
> data just isn't there, unless you are affiliated with a university or
> council. However, we could provide advice on how to use openstreetmap
> data, and I certainly like your idea of a portal for other types of
> data, or at least links to where it might be found.

William Wilcox wrote:

 > I started to think about your comment about lack of data. It is all
 > very well having these great programmes but without data they are of
 > little use. What about a wiki or data store for free datasets? People
 > can upload them for use by other members. Obviously a moderator could
 > verify that each set of data was actually free! This would not only
 > promote OS Geo but offer a 'beginner' a starting place to find data.
 > It would be a 'package' - an OS programme and OS/free data with which
 > to work with!




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