Posted by
Marcel Fortin on
Jun 02, 2006; 6:55pm
URL: http://civicaccess.416.s1.nabble.com/Re-CivicAccess-discuss-Digest-Vol-7-Issue-40-tp643p654.html
Thanks Tracey,
You're right, we definetly do have a long way to go in the public realm,
but, on the academic side, we have also come a long long way. When I
started at the U of T in 1999, we had access to maybe 2 or 3 Canadian
geospatial datasets taking up roughly about 1 gig of space mostly taken
up by one orthophoto set). In 2006, I have access to probably over 100
Canadian geospatial datasets taking up over a terabyte of space, without
counting the free Canadian data on the web. Again, most of this is of
course through academic licensing, but I think things will progress for
the general public as well. That's my hope at least. Maybe I'm too
optimistic? I imagine everyone else on this listserv has hope
considering the existance of the civicaccess group and listserv.
I will try and add links and other docs as you request in your message.
Marcel
Tracey P. Lauriault wrote:
>>
>
> Marcel;
> I partially agree with you, we do have much to celebrate, however, after
> having spent thousands of dollars on data to do some quality of life
> indicator work at the scale of the city, and trying to do some
> demographic analysis of my neigbhourhood and some school catchment
> areas, i feel we have a long way to go for the average citizen - not the
> specialist - getting easy and free/no cost access to some useful data.
>
> Having said that, Marcel, would you be so kind as to look at our
> resources page and see if there are additional resources we can add
> there? You could just post them to the list if you like or put em up on
> the wiki. That would be really great!
http://civicaccess.ca/wiki/Resources>
>>So, a failure? I don't think so. I think we have to build on some of these
>>successes and not try and compare ourselves to the U.S. too much.
>>The federal government is not oblivious to the fact that data are mostly
>>free in the US. In many cases federal and provincial hands are tied because
>>of Crown Copyright and licensing policy, or they think their hands are tied
>>See Werschler's "Dissemination of Government Geographic Data in Canada :
>>Guide to Best Practices" at
>>
http://cgdi-dev.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/Best_practices_guide/Guide_to_>>Best_Practices_v12_finale_e.pdf
>>Our data cultures are different and we can't change that overnight.
>>
>
> i added this ref doc to the wiki here -
>
http://civicaccess.ca/wiki/Politiques>
>>The Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA) along with
>>the Canadian Association of Public Data Users (CAPDU) have worked hard at
>>negotiating data deals over the years.
>
>
> I've added the orgs here -
>
http://civicaccess.ca/wiki/Organizations/Organismes> if you have some good refs, fire em over and I will get em listed!
>
>>What we in the ACMLA have done is
>>demonstrate the need for their data, how they can be used (something they
>>don't always know), and how we intend to use them. The most effective
>>argument we often have, however, is the ability to demonstrate to them a
>>similar deal with another organization (this also works with industry). The
>>strategy is often used at the provincial and local level. I realize again
>>that these are academic deals but it does demonstrate the power of
>>negotiation and communication and the usefulness of building on past
>>successes.
>>
>>Marcel
>>
>>
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>>
>
>
>
>
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------------------------------
Note: I am currently on research leave.
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If you require help with maps or Geographic Information Systems, please
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Marcel Fortin
GIS and Map Librarian, University of Toronto
130 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 1A5 416 946 0522