B. van Loenen

Developing geographic information infrastructures: the role of access policies

Within societies, information availability is a key issue affecting societys well‐being. For geographic information, a geographic information infrastructure (GII) facilitates availability and access to geographic information for all levels of government, the commercial sector, the non‐profit sector, academia, and ordinary citizens. Although the importance of access policies in the development of a GII is commonly understood, research that has assessed the impact of access policies on this development is scant. This article adds this perspective. Based on information acquired from case‐study and literature research, the author argues that open‐access policies do not always promote GII development and in specific instances are counter‐productive. These findings may explain why many nations still adhere to cost‐recovery policies instead of following access policies recommended by research. The article provides alternatives for changing current policies into new access policies that promote GII development.Within societies, information availability is a key issue affecting societys well-being. For geographic information, a geographic information infrastructure (GII) facilitates availability and access to geographic information for all levels of government, the commercial sector, the non-profit sector, academia, and ordinary citizens. Although the importance of access policies in the development of a GII is commonly understood, research that has assessed the impact of access policies on this development is scant. This article adds this perspective. Based on information acquired from case-study and literature research, the author argues that open-access policies do not always promote GII development and in specific instances are counter-productive. These findings may explain why many nations still adhere to cost-recovery policies instead of following access policies recommended by research. The article provides alternatives for changing current policies into new access policies that promote GII development.

The impact of the European privacy regime on location technology development

Location technology allows for the tracking and tracing of individuals. Developments in location technology allow for increasing levels of detail to keep an eye on ones private life. There are concerns that the privacy awareness among citizens and privacy legislation hinders the success and further development of these technologies. This article assesses the extent to which European privacy legislation blocks location technology development. This is accomplished through a detailed analysis of the Dutch legal framework and an overall review of the European legal framework for protecting individuals privacy versus private sector use of location information and public sector use in the intelligence services. The analysis shows that privacy legislation puts users of terminal devices in control of the decision if and when his location information may be used by private sector location-based services providers. Users often seem willing to allow this, judging by the increase in available location-based services. Privacy legislation is not as protective regarding the use for law enforcement and secret intelligence purposes: privacy of mobile device users may be intruded for these purposes. Certainly after 9/11, developments in law are directed at increasing the mandates of law enforcement and intelligence services. Therefore, the location technology industry is likely to prosper from the investments of the public intelligence sector. For both privacy law legislating private sector use of location-based services and legislation for (secret) public sector use, this article shows that the European privacy regime does not endanger further location technology development.

Privacy (Regimes) Do Not Threaten Location Technology Development

Location technology allows for the tracking and tracing of individuals. Users may increasingly be concerned about the abilities of new technology to keep an eye on ones private life. There are concerns that the increased privacy awareness among citizens and legislation may hinder the success and further development of these technologies. An analysis of the European legal framework for protecting individuals privacy versus private sector use of location information and public sector use in the intelligence services indicates that individuals should be most aware on intrusions in their privacy by intelligence services. The privacy legislation lets the user be in control of the decision if and when his location information may be used by private sector location based services providers. Users seem often willing to allow this, judging by the increase in available location based services. The privacy legislation is not as protective regarding the use for law enforcement and secret intelligence purposes. Thus the location technology industry is also likely to prosper from the investments of the public intelligence sector.

Evaluating the application of the multi-view spatial data infrastructure assessment framework

As a response to the growing interest in assessing Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs) the Multi-view SDI assessment framework has been proposed. The Multi-view SDI assessment framework collects multiple assessment approaches and methods with the aim to assess many different aspects of SDI in a comprehensive and unbiased way. Despite the potential strengths of the framework, its complex design raises concerns about its usability and applicability for SDI assessment. In this article we evaluate the application of the Multi-view SDI assessment framework. In addition, we ask the potential users of the framework to evaluate its applicability to assess SDIs. The results show that the framework could be applied to 21 National SDIs. Evaluation of the application process reveals that the completeness of assessment data and time needed to measure indicators depends strongly on the assessment methods used. It is recommended to use those methods that need less time to measure assessment indicators. The results also show that a significant part of the measurements could not be done due to survey questions not being filled in by the respondents. The results also show that the users tend to agree with the applicability of the Multi-view SDI assessment framework to assess SDIs.