Though i support the broad aims of INSPIRE, while researching the proposed Directive i found some inadequacies in the wording. The European Commission is given too much carte blanche to impose future licensing terms, and the impact of new standards in web mapping services that don't differentiate between 'viewing' and 'downloading' data remains unaddressed.
http://space.frot.org/docs/inspire_directive.html is my short analysis of the INSPIRE wording with respect to data access technology and licenses. A two-sub-clause modification is suggested that would avert many of the public access concerns raised around INSPIRE and the global debate on public sector geospatial data access.
The doc includes some details on observing the EC process and contacting relevant ministers, and i hope to flesh that out with further research. Raising awareness of the implications of the INSPIRE process, the views of unconsulted GIS constituencies and the importance of enhancing the public service remit of national mapping agencies, ought to be a good thing on whatever grounds you support INSPIRE.
EGIP Archive: http://www.ec-gis.org/egip/ Received on Thu Oct 21 17:50:47 2004
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