Free or Privatise Our Data

Michael Cross writes a very sensible piece on the Tories new "free" data plans.

It sounds like a variation of an old Who song "Meet the new government same as the old government" except that one would have to be wary of the Tories penchant to privatise anything that they can.

To judge by Cameron's speech, which makes no mention of the government's single largest data business, the Conservatives share this aversion to reform. The suspicion must be that the Tory solution is to try and sell off the mapping agency lock stock and barrel. Yet locational information is an essential component of nearly every public data set. To commercialise its supply would be to move in the very opposite direction of setting our data free.

Not for the first time I find myself strongly agreeing with Michael Cross. My one question is if the treasury are unable or unwilling to go down the centrally funded route what would you prefer - privatisation or trying to get the best out of the current model. I know which one I would choose.

A poll Michael?

I am not an internationally renowned expert

Contrary to some of the comments on Free Our Data I am not the "internationally recognised expert in Geographical Information and National Mapping who agreed with the analysis and conclusions" of the OS study into international geographic information trading models.

I do consult at the moment for OS on their GeoVation program but had nothing at all to do with this report. I have no idea who the expert was, apparently they do not wish to be publicly associated with the report (hardly surprising).

The redacted report tells us very little and leaves me wondering why so much that is already in the public domain has been excluded in this version. Hopefully the next version which will be less redacted after OS has got permission from the other mapping agencies will make a better read.

1 week left to catch a worm

Early Birds catch the worm and save money at GeoCommunity 09, the offer closes on 30th June. Why pay more?

Stunning program, the best ever and great value. Book now here

Who wants to be a GeoVator

The search is on for GeoVators (well almost on, you will have to wait a few more days to find out what we are up to).

If you think you might be a GeoVator or you just want to know what a GeoVator is mail me through the blog and I will send you an invite.

Come and Georant on the Soapbox

Got a pet geolove or geohate? Product to push or new business launch? Got an idea you want to share and test? Fancy babbling geo to a crowd in a bar?

If you want to stand on the GeoCommunity soapbox and have the mike for 5 minutes and 15 slides on autocue then mail soapbox@agi.org.uk with your name, organisation and a title of not more than 140 characters. We will be inviting the delegates to vote for the speakers that they want to hear.

Should be a fun conclusion to a great first day of GeoCommunity.

Watch out for the Digital Tomatoes, it could get messy!

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Is Location getting boring?

On Tuesday I moderated a panel on location at Being Digital. It's a slightly different event as there were only 10 minutes of powerpoint in the whole day! So there was a lot of discussion between panelists and delegates.

My panelists were a seasoned bunch of location gurus - Ed Parsons, Gary Gale of Yahoo, Jeff Kelisky of Microsoft, Andrew Scott from Rummble and James Parton of O2.

I did get a feeling of déjà vu talking about value and location. The consensus seemed to be that location would be an enabler rather than a solution or application.

The only disagreement amongst the panel was when one said that the iPhone was not mainstream. You can imagine the response from our iPhoned panel let alone the 150 or so in the audience.

The interesting question that we left too late was "what would happen if GYM pulled out of offering free mapping API's?" Is that a possibility, would anyone else step in, would digital business pay for an API? Maybe this is a topic for another day.

I don't think location is getting boring but I do think we need to move on from the novelty, ubiquity and privacy stuff and start talking about what is being done (not what could be)

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Biggest and best ever program at GeoCommunity '09

Just in case you have missed all of the publicity around the launch of the program for GeoCommunity. I thought I would give you a preview of my introduction to the conference brochure which will be off the presses very soon.

For the third time it is my pleasure to invite you to be part of the GeoCommunity at our annual conference in Stratford upon Avon.

The pace of change within the geo world continues to accelerate and the range of content and activity at this year's GeoCommunity reflects the broad range of interests of those who work with and benefit from geography in both traditional and new domains.

I am amazed at the quality and breadth of the program that the GeoCommunity team have created for you. We have blended the big topics and issues of the moment with learning opportunities and a celebration of the power of geography to transform people's lives and make a difference.

This year delegates at GeoCommunity will have some difficult choices to make between over 80 options across 7 streams of presentations, interactive sessions and hands on workshops. The implementation of INSPIRE and national and regional SDI's will be a prime interest for some of our delegates whilst for others the new Geoweb stream will provide an opportunity to demonstrate how neogeography is changing the ways we use, present and share information. In the Local Communities stream we go from crime reduction to the evolution of place names, there are streams on Visualisation, the Environment, Making the Case and GeoServices (GIS in the cloud) and a stream entitled All About Data with some very thought provoking presentations. Privacy is becoming a subject of increasing concern for some of us whilst others are more focussed on the benefits of pervasive location, the GeoCommunity will have the chance to join in a discussion on location and privacy with a group of experts.

You will also be stimulated, inspired and entertained by our 3 plenary guest speakers, Andrew Turner, an originator of neogeography and CTO of Fortius and founder of GeoCommons, Peter Batty, former CTO of SmallWorld and Intergraph and, to finish the conference, a truly stunning presentation from the teachers and pupils of the Grammar School at Leeds on the way GI is integrated into the whole curriculum.

On the second day there will be keynotes on the theme Realising the Value of Place from the leaders of our Platinum Sponsor organisations – ESRI UK, Ordnance Survey and Pitney Bowes Business Insight.

We wanted to give a platform to even more people to speak at the conference. This year we are launching the GeoCommunity Soapbox, 10 lightning pitches by GeoCommunity delegates on topics selected by the conference attendees. It promises to be a fun session, come and learn about “digital tomatoes”

A conference is not just about plenaries, sessions and workshops – we also need opportunities to catch up with old friends and make new ones. What better way to start than by coming up to Stratford on the Tuesday for the pre-conference activities and the ice-breaker evening with a quirky poet and a challenging quiz? On the second night we have our Black and White GeoCommunity party with our house band, The Twangs, plus a load of games and activities and of course a well-stocked bar and delicious eats.

GeoCommunity '09 is going to be the best GeoCommunity ever.

Join me in Realising the Value of Place. I hope that I will get the chance to meet you in Stratford.

Steven

You can view the program here

The Early Bird registration is here - why would you want to waste money by booking late?

Locating Being Digital

I am going to be moderating the Location panel at Being Digital tomorrow.

It should be a great event and apparently it will be powerpoint free which will be something of a shock to some of the audience and even more so to some of the presenters! I love the mashupevents stuff, they have a delightful energy and spontaneity which many other events just seem to lack. It could be the combination of the two founders Simon Grice and Tony Fish, two more different personalities it would be difficult to find in the London digital world.

Apparently the panel will be discussing where the value is in location, is it where you are now, where you have been or where you are going? I say apparently because I haven't got a clue where the discussion will go.

If you are attending the event you will be able to pose questions to the panel by tweeting with the hashtag #BDE or you can tweet me beforehand or mail me through the contact link on this blog. If you are there do come and find me.

If you haven't registered and want to come along the mashupevents team will take your money on the door.

Location based social networking

I have been doing quite a bit of travel recently. Nights away from home are always more enjoyable with some company. In the last 2 weeks I have twice tweeted "anyone going to be in xxx this evening?" Back have come replies and plans have been made for drinks, meals and fun conversations.

No applications, no location features (just a place name) no new networks to join and sadly no revenue model or advertising share. Sort of simple and old fashioned I guess but it works.

So I ended up having fun evenings talking geo with Bob Barr and Bill Oates. Next time I am in their neck of the woods I might just skip the twitter stage and phone them.

Do we overcomplicate things because we can?

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Who's making money?

Recently the flurry of location focussed or influenced startups seems to have slowed down. I can't think of many in the UK in 2009 and the story across the pond sounds similar (that should prompt a flurry of corrections)

I wonder if that is because of a slow down in innovative ideas, caution on the part of investors or concern on the part of geoentrepreneurs about there ability to be sustainable? How many location centric startups are generating material revenues let alone covering costs? Surely advertising is not enough with falling rates etc? How long can startups and their finders hang in there waiting for revenues to materialise?

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