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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Subject: | RE: GISList: GIS Data Depot download limits |
| Date: |
06/10/2002 07:58:41 AM |
| From: |
Weaver, Chris |
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Thank you Dimitri for such a good article on the situation.=20=20
Although my surprise/irritation was genuine my post was not
mean-spirited, it was merely in response to a surprise change in policy
and no more than I'm sure 100's have said under their breath. Even as a
avid reader of Spatialnews, I didn't know that downloading policies were
changing. It was not certainly meant as a "flame" to the list, geocomm,
or a personal attack towards anyone. (If you felt it was, I'll be more
than happy to apologize, but let's take it off GIS-L in the future)
Minus the personal attack, I achieved what I was hoping for... a lively
discussion... although somewhat too lively for my taste. It seems
though that everyone has taken the "straw man" tax statement to heart
and beaten it to death. It was put there in an effort to draw out
commentators who might have remained on the sidelines. In fact I
believe we have had a fairly good discussion and many points of view
were shown. We as a "GIS Community" even got an unofficial, or maybe
even official, viewpoint from Geocomm. I learned several things today
from our contributors. Thanks Anthony and Dimitri and others!
Have a good evening!
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: Dimitri Rotow [mailto:dar@manifold.net]=20
Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2002 4:13 PM
To: gislist@geocomm.com
Cc: bduff@usgs.gov
Subject: RE: GISList: GIS Data Depot download limits
>
> Chris "Tired of paying for data I've already paid for with my taxes"
> Weaver
>
An understandable sentiment, but don't slam Geocomm because Uncle Sam is
ripping you off. The problem is not that Geocomm operates their site
sensibly, like any good business should, the problem is dumb policies at
USGS that end up denying public access to public data so that those who
do
not wish to use a commercial service don't have other options.
There is nothing wrong with Geocomm charging for the convenience of
finding
lots of cool data at a single site, being able to have it written to CD,
etc. We're very lucky to have Geocomm as a resource and I for one hope
the
site continues to thrive. As much as I like to get data for free, I
also
value my time and convenience enough to appreciate Geocomm's service.
Obviously, many people feel the same way because the site continues to
grow
and develop greater presence in GIS.
In most cases, the Geocomm data is available at other sites at no
charge. A
problem only arises if Geocomm or similar commercial sites are the only
way
to get to public data provided by USGS. However, that's not Geocomm's
fault, it is USGS's fault for denying public access to public data.
It's a
little like yelling at your local copy shop for charging a copying fee
to
make copies of tax forms because your state or federal governments are
too
inept to provide enough copies for people to use. The problem is
ineptness
on the government's side and not the service provided by a commercial
vendor
who is helping you out.
In terms of exclusivity I think the main data at issue are the SDTS
DEMS,
which were pulled off the USGS site and provided to Geocomm in an
effectively exclusive deal about a year ago. Since then, USGS has
denied
applications (such as ours) to provide totally free access to that data.
Instead, they have provided it only to another commercial site. I think
it's very wrong that USGS embarked on a de facto privatization of public
data, but I sure don't blame Geocomm for the decisions that USGS made.
At
least with Geocomm distributing the data there is *some* way to get it.
If you don't like it that USGS has shafted you, contact the person who
is
said by USGS to be in charge of the shafting:
Beth L. Duff
USGS, National Mapping, Business Development
12201 Sunrise Valley Dr., MS508, Reston, VA 20192
703-648-4621, 703-648-5939 (fax), bduff@usgs.gov
Send Beth an email or call her up on the telephone and ask her when she
will
provide the SDTS data sets for public distribution by people who want to
host free access sites. The last few times we've sent them a proposal
they
disappeared.
Our proposal is very simple: If USGS allows us access to those SDTS DEMS
we'll make a disk image and place it on our servers for free download by
any
webmaster who wants to host a mirror site. What we are most interested
is
in breaking the bandwidth logjam. Because of the artificial scarcity
induced by the ineptly sudden withdrawal of SDTS DEMS from the USGS
website,
any one website that offers them for free at a reasonable transfer rate
will
be rapidly overloaded. Geocomm's efforts to provide a public service
for
free are a good case in point. As long as USGS artificially withholds
the
data to keep it scarce, it doesn't make sense for any single
organization to
stand up and have their business shot in the head by peak demands.
The obvious solution is to
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