Creative Commons & Spatial Information
Wayne Patterson | August 14, 2009
One of the most important issues currently facing Government is intellectual property management of public sector information; particularly spatial information. NSW requires a system of intellectual property management for spatial information that:
– improves access and re-use;
– maximises its potential; and
– addresses the challenges and opportunities of the Web 2.0 digital environment
The copyright system known as Creative Commons is regarded by many as the solution to these needs.
Creative Commons is an automated and standardised open content licensing system, which enables users to easily obtain access to, and re-use, copyright materials.
Licences are comprised of four conditions (attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives, and share-alike), which can be combined to form six different licences. Licences also exist in three forms: a plain language ‘common deed’; a full legal licence; and a machine-readable code.In the public sector, and in general, Creative Commons’ popularity is on the rise.
Creative Commons-based licensing is being introduced for public sector information in Queensland via the Government Information Licensing Framework (GILF). The National Government Information Licensing Framework, under the auspices of the Ministerial Online and Communications Council, is promoting the roll-out of the GILF model across all Australian jurisdictions.
A recent state parliamentary inquiry recommended the introduction of Creative Commons-based licensing for public sector information in Victoria.
Creative Commons has already been adopted for use in the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology; and is currently being considered by the Office of Spatial Data Management.The Cooperative Research Centre on Spatial Information (CRC-SI) which is is undertaking research on the application of Creative Commons to spatial information. For more information, please visit the CRC-SI website, Project 3.05 Data access and reuse: policy, law technology and management.
Given the trends described above, the NSW Spatial Council is currently considering the potential application of Creative Commons to NSW Government spatial information.
I’m part of that team, and we want to know what your thoughts are on this issue?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Creative Commons licensing for NSW Government spatial information?
- Is spatial information special in this regard? Does it require particular systems of intellectual property management?
- Are there any alternative systems of intellectual property management that ought to be considered?
Wayne Patterson is Senior Project Manager at CS2i.
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