Flexible Licencing Policy

Bentley Systems has introduced an innovative new "sustainable licensing" business model based on annual Portfolio Balancing. Through Portfolio Balancing, new purchasers of Bentley product licenses, along with existing Bentley SELECT subscribers, can annually exchange underutilised Bentley software for software of equal value (based on current list price) that meets existing or upcoming needs. As Bentley COO Malcolm Walter explained, "Over the years we have learned that our user organisations' software needs change as their businesses change, which is a given in AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction). The mix of applications now required could be very different from the mix in... (read more)

2011-03-04 12:00:00

Land Policy and Administration

The importance of good land governance to strengthen women's land rights, facilitate land-related investment, transfer land to better uses, use it as collateral and allow effective decentralisation through collection of property taxes has long been recognised. The challenges posed by recent global developments, especially urbanisation, higher and more volatile food prices, and climate change have raised the profile of land and the need for appropriate national land policies. However, efforts to improve country-level land governance are often frustrated by technical complexities, institutional fragmentation, vested interests and lack of a shared vision on how to move towards good land governance and... (read more)

2010-06-28 02:41:47

Government Approves New Map Policy

The union cabinet in India has approved a national map policy that draws a distinction between maps for defence and civilian purposes. "Under the policy, there will be two kinds of maps - the defence series maps and the open series maps," Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after a cabinet briefing here. "The open series maps will be available to the public...and the users can do value-addition to these maps to reflect their needs," he said. The Survey of India has been given the task of preparing both variants of the maps, he said. The cabinet also approved amendments... (read more)

2005-05-30 12:00:00

Major Step in US Open Data Policy

US President Barack Obama has signed an Executive Order to make government-held data more accessible to the public, declaring that information is a valuable resource and strategic asset for the United States. The Memorandum establishes a framework to help institutionalise the principles of effective information management at each stage of the information's life cycle to promote interoperability and openness. The Executive Order is the latest in a series of actions - started in 2009 - in support of increasing access to and transparency of government information. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) immediately followed with a Memorandum to the... (read more)

2013-05-13 04:19:50

OGC forms Spatial Law and Policy Committee

The Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has chartered a committee of the Board to specifically address the "spatial law and policy issues" which will influence development requirements of the Consortium's technology process. The Spatial Law and Policy Committee (SLPC) will be chaired by OGC director and Executive Committee member, Kevin Pomfret, and will be organised under board leadership as an educational forum to include both select member and community participation. In the past, legal issues associated with spatial data and technology were primarily a concern for lawyers that worked with or for the government.... (read more)

2009-03-02 01:07:24

Need for Policy-willingness and People-readiness

FIG, together with IHO, is supporting the call for expanding integration between land and marine geospatial information data creators. This announcement was made by president Cheehai Teo of FIG during the UN-GGIM meeting in Cambridge, UK, last week. To increase this collaboration, it is necessary that the UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (GGIM) takes policy-willingness and people-readiness into account in their efforts to increase the use of geospatial information at large by governments of Member States. The UN-GGIM in Cambridge officially concluded on Friday afternoon after three days of delegate meetings. See-upcoming issues of GIM International magazine... (read more)

2013-07-29 04:10:25

Nigeria Needs Federal Commitment to its Geodata Policy

GIM International Interviews Jide Kufoniyi

Nigeria has all the prerequisites to install an effective national geospatial data infrastructure (NGDI) from which all its 170 million inhabitants would benefit. The country has many educated professionals, a national policy concept, money, lots of projects, more and more data, etc. But what is missing is the will to make a conscious effort to implement an NGDI in order to facilitate coordination of the geospatial resources and provide easy access to data such as Earth observation images. So says Jide Kufoniyi, president of the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment and member of Nigeria’s National Geospatial Data... (read more)

2015-04-10 10:48:59

Precision Agriculture for People, Planet and Profit

A Policy Perspective on Data-driven Farming

The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) has a clear vision: sufficient food that is also healthy for everyone – financially healthy for farmers, growers and fishermen, healthy for consumers and good for nature and the environment. In a nation as small and populous as The Netherlands, that is not without its challenges. Furthermore, the Dutch government is focusing heavily on expertise and innovation in order to strengthen the international position of the country’s agricultural sector. Precision agriculture has been identified as one of the ways to achieve these goals. But does data automatically mean knowledge and... (read more)

2019-02-19 02:57:50

Research Reveals Scope of Open Geospatial Data Across Europe

Open data is available from the majority of European National Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registry Authorities (NMCAs), a new survey has found. Research by the Open European Location Services (ELS) Project reveals that 98% of respondents provide at least some of their data free of charge. Of these, 37% make all their data available under an open licence. Whilst open data models vary, more than 85% provide view and search services, 72% enable downloads and 67% allow its re-use in products. Users include public authorities, public services, research and education as well as commercial companies. This survey provides a snapshot... (read more)

2017-12-06 11:24:18

EU Seeks Views on Implementation of INSPIRE Directive

The European Commission, Directorate-General Environment, is inviting comments on the implementation of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE) Directive (2007/2/EC). The consultation is being held seven years after the Directive came into force to assess whether actions being taken to establish a spatial information infrastructure are still on course to meet the Directive’s objectives. Views are sought from stakeholders including INSPIRE national contact points, regional and local public authorities who produce or use spatial data and services, the academic sector, the private sector and European citizens. High-quality information and informed public participation are the cornerstones of... (read more)

2014-01-22 03:14:52