Archive for the 'GIS' Category

It looks like Europe is one huge step closer to free geodata coverage. A recent entry on OpenGeoData reports that a Netherlands based company donated their map data covering entire Netherlands. This is indeed great news!

There have been previous attempts to free up originally state funded and collected, yet currently privately owned geodata in many countries across Europe. However, nothing seem to have moved towards achieving that goal.

Desperate need for a freely distributable, modifiable and packageable geodata inspired many community projects through these years, the most successful being Open StreetMap. However, it was clear that surveying enough data to even a barebone map will take long long time with the open, wiki-like approach, due to the chicken-egg problem of reaching the critical mass of users.

With the recent donation of AND, things may finally speed up, as I expect further companies across Europe will act similarly. Once there’s enough data in there, various new appliances will be mushrooming. As the “entrance fee” for the geodata disappears, I expect new startups jumping in, all with their innovative ideas and enthusiasm, resulting in brand new ways of using all those precious things in that database.

Just can’t wait to try out those new services to come!