APPSI responds to Ordnance Survey consultation
Source: Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI), UK
APPSI’s response to the CLG consultation on Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey: published
London: 9 March 2010
The UK Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) has published: APPSI's response to the CLG consultation on Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey.
The announcement states:
APPSI has today submitted its response to the DCLG consultation on Policy options for geographic information from Ordnance Survey.
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The Executive Summary states (reference pages 1 and 2):
“The main conclusions in regard to this Consultation of those APPSI members who were not conflicted by reasons of their employment are as follows:
i. We believe a much better approach would first have been to take an overview of the national information infrastructure and assess the real needs for Geographical Information (GI) as part of it, rather than concentrate simply on what is presently available from Ordnance Survey. That is only a sub-set of what is presently used and much of it derives in part from other providers. APPSI stands ready to engage in these more fundamental considerations.
ii. The options offered are constrained but, of those offered, we believe Option 1 has no merit and Option 2 provides the cleanest model and potentially the greatest benefits. But we recognise that this is an irreversible step and – whilst it will be very difficult to make work – we on balance support Option 3 as a staging post towards it, with a review of the benefits and consequences of this first step within three years. We suggest that government accepts this two-stage process in their policy for OS.
iii. Any change from the current model depends on enduring financial support from the taxpayer at a level sufficient to maintain the quality of the relevant GI. We are unable to compute how much this might be because of the paucity of figures on costs in the Consultation documents, question marks over some of the figures that are provided and the savings to other public bodies (e.g. Local Authorities) if Options 2 or 3 are selected.
iv. We are clear that there is an overwhelming case for enhanced governance and regulation of Ordnance Survey plus formal specification of an agreed Public Task. Indeed, given the complex supply chain of GI, the governance structure may well have to be extended across government and we suggest a possible precedent.
v. Of the data sets suggested under ‘OS Free’, we believe these to be useful but the lack of topographic data in vector form will reduce the applications which developers can create. Of those cited, the boundaries of administrative, political and statistical areas are essential, as is some detailed postcode data (Code-point data suffer major inaccuracies in rural areas: Address Point would be a much better solution).
vi. Less complex, restrictive and expensive licensing is crucial to the success of the government’s initiative: in particular, OS should not have any Intellectual property Rights in derived data.
vii. We echo the argument of the Public Administration Select Committee that a definitive National Address Register is long overdue. We note that Defra has now taken leadership in this matter and will support this endeavour.”