Objectives

In concert with the ODRL intention to provide flexible and interoperable mechanisms to support transparent and innovative use of digital resources, the Geospatial Working Group will be focused on these endeavors in the publication, distribution, and consumption of geospatial resources which may include aerial photographs, digital orthophoto quarter quads (DOQQ), digital elevation models (DEM), Census boundary layers and attribute data, Computer Aided Design (CAD) datasets and any other types of data in countless formats that are proprietary (e.g shapefiles) or non-proprietary data. These data are typically compressed (e.g. gzipped) and require decompression software (e.g. Winzip) in order to be interpreted by a GIS system.

Why a Geospatial Profile?

Distributors of geospatial data, increasingly want to have more control over their data's movement and use, both for their own advantage and to protect the rights of third parties. The biggest concerns when dealing with geospatial data are privacy, information security, and property. Privacy and security rights are typically preserved by restricting access, use, and distribution to only those who are authorized to have access. Geospatial data pose unusual problems for the protection of property rights. A typical use of geospatial data involves extracting information from multiple data sets and integrating them to create a new data set, entering gray areas of intellectual property. It is therefore necessary to have detailed terms and conditions for the many aspects of access, use, and dissemination to protect the providers' interests. Historically, these agreements have relied upon subjective human judgment, the good will of users, the threat of litigation, and the discretion of individuals involved in the distribution process.

WG Chair: Elaine L. Westbrooks, Cornell University

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Last Updated on 2004-07-20