Once the Guardian are quick off the mark to report this one. This debate is about a 3D model of London. Licencing issues are the thorn in the side this time. I like CASA's report on it; in particular highlighting the age-old dilemma that Trading Funds face of making a financial return for their government owners compared with giving away the data for the public interest which, taken to its extreme, would bankrupt the OS. I quote CASA,
"Licensing is a minefield and Ordnance Survey particularly are constrained by balancing their public role with their commercial viability in dealing easily with these issues. It is unusual for companies, at least to date, to put 'free' software onto the web that enables users to map their data freely for all to see. Much of the debate therefore turns on what is 'free'."
Agree - a veritable mine field... Interesting though that it seems that only the Guardian are taking this debate on. Aren't the other newspapers/BBC etc interested?
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