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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | Re: GISList: GIS Data Depot download limits |
| Date: |
06/10/2002 07:58:40 AM |
| From: |
Glenn Letham |
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Ok... many of you know that I'm not one to let these things slip by sans
comment!
It appears that Chris (and others) are having a difficult time adjusting to
the new era and changing e-commerce models. I'm not surprised and your
frustration is understood. However, as we have indicated before, GeoComm is
a private business and even though some of you may feel different, we
provide a valuable service to the GIS industry at large.
Some of you are now speculating that we are in dire need of revenues,
yadayadya, however, the reality of it is that the time has come for us to
move forward and progress with the e-commerce model that is working very
well for us. Contrary to popular belief, traffic has steadily increased ever
since we opened the doors (so to speak) and after several years of
operation, we are very well positioned in all of the major search engines
and have thousands of links into our various resources. This does not happen
over night and believe it or not, it comes with a fairly hefty price tag.
That's enough about our business model for now... Chris or Anthony, if your
interested in our business model I suggest you contact our President to
discuss our business plan further.
I won't allow myself to get drawn into a war of words with some of the
frustrated few... I will point out though, that what GeoComm is going
through is not much different than what many other successful e-commerce
sites have done. The GeoCommunity has a vast wealth of knowledge and
resources in addition to a vast collection of data, all conveniently
accessible from one site. You can get you news, your data, enter
discussions, rant on a list, look for a job, browse GIS bids etc... all in
one convenient location. We have been imitated and copied yet we still keep
on growing.
It's often difficult to adapt to change, however, you have to expect it.
Believe it or not there are thousands of GeoComm account holders out there,
many of them that gladly pay for premium access to data.
As for the person who feels that the GeoCommunity is a low-traffic site you
couldn't be further from the truth! Randy is somewhat correct in that to
satisfy the overwhelming demand, we have added a tier to data access, making
it more accessible to people willing to pay a nominal access fee.
As a reminder, DRGs and DOQs are accessible only to account holders, the
rest of the data is still available for download.
Occasionally we take flak for charging a fee as well as serving ads,
however, believe it or not the ads serve a purpose. I bet everyone at some
time has seen an ad that has caught their eye and turned them on to a nifty
product that they have been waiting for! For our corporate clients, the
vast, targeted audience is very attractive (and so it should be!).
Finaly, have you purchased a USA Today lately (or any other paper of
magazine for that matter)? Note the news, resources, crosswords, and ads!
Anthony and Chris, remember, you are dealing with a business here (and a
succesful one at that). I respond to you out of respect for the rest of the
people on the list that you have also decided to vent to, however, I don't
really feel that I owe you any detailed explanation. If you decide to ever
pay for the services we provide I will be glad to answer your concerns.
Regards
Glenn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Glenn Letham, Managing Editor
ThinkBurst Media, Inc
ph: 850-897-6778
fx: 850-897-1001
The GeoCommunity
http://www.GeoComm.com
&
The WirelessDeveloperNetwork
http://www.WirelessDevNet.com
The web's largest GIS News Wire!
email: editor@geocomm.com
Subject=subscribe daily newsfeed
Send your news enquiries and submissions to
pr@geocomm.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony Quartararo" <ajq3@spatialnetworks.com>
To: <gislist@geocomm.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 1:03 PM
Subject: RE: GISList: GIS Data Depot download limits
> Robert & Chris,
>
> This issue was beaten to death when the deal was inked with USGS/Geocomm
> some time ago. GeoComm took a lot of flak from many people, including me,
> right or wrong. But to justify GeoComm changing it's provisioning of the
> data (a la pricing structure) after the fact is a slippery slope. What's
> next, only 4k at a time unless you pay for better speed?
>
> This will continue to be a thorny issue for the USGS, because as
impossible
> as it may seem, GeoComm may not be around forever, especially if revenues
> are dependent on ads as you make clear. What is the Survey going to do to
> provide this data, yet again, to the public if that were to happen ?
Sure,
> it took more ongoing tax money each year to support the data provisioning
> and other great services that the USGS provide(ed)(es), but it was
> consistent and not co-dependent on market fluctuations and the whims of
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