swiss open geodata: opportunities and threats

Open geodata: Opportunities and threatsRalph Straumann, @rastrauErnst Basler + Partner, Zurichalso: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

ITSL Workshop March 9, 2016

ITSL Workshop on Open Geodata, 9.3.2016 2

EBP’s business fields in Switzerland


EBP’s operational bases

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EBP and data We use open data, government-issued and other We help government (and private institutions)

produce data, derive data, assess data quality, disseminate data, etc.

We are project-driven, and so is data we handle – free or not

We don’t usually publish data(there’s not really a stock of in-house data)

We advocate open data policies, e.g. in strategy consulting

We are an institutional member of Opendata.chITSL Workshop on Open Geodata, 9.3.2016

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«Opportunities and threats»For who? To whom?

Private companies? Individuals? Government and administration? Budget? Society? All end-users? ...

ITSL Workshop on Open Geodata, 9.3.2016


All too common mis-labelling

http://geolion.zh.ch/opendata




All too common mis-labelling


OGD = easier data gathering and lowered entry barriers Ex: price for communal geodata:

0–20kCHF per commune [Buogo & Moullet 2012]

Data monopolies or oligopolies are abolished data not (with)held by service providers anymore (e.g. cadastral surveyor, SBB)

Hence: Lowered barriers to entering a market. New data products or applications become viable.


License jungle Plethora of licenses in federal, cantonal and municipal

offices (and also other data providers, e.g. ODbL for OSM), PD for NaturalEarth)

License, usage conditions, usage restrictions, requests, ..., sometimes contradicting

Licenses that are incompatible with certain uses e.g. OSM

For some licenses: Virality- E.g., what is a collective work, what a derived work?


License jungle: opendata.swiss


«Data debt» (cf. «technical debt»)

«In the long-term, one of the biggest challenges of Open Data is not to have the raw data publicly available, but to provide and consume up-to-date and high quality services based on the original data. As a consumer, you have to keep in mind that everything is a cache, as long as you are not the owner of the data. You are in a dependency chain and you are not in control of the whole chain.»

http://geo.ebp.ch/2014/03/31/services-or-raw-data




Data debt and unintended consequences App with outdated data: Kataster der belasteten Standorte

(Interactive Things)

Refusal of data access: Mailboxes, OSM and Swiss Post


Data debt App with outdated data: Kataster der belasteten Standorte




Not law – but open data ethics?Charter for Public Statistics in Switzerland (2014): e.g., statistics are mandated, respondents give informed consent, data is provided to the public, etc.http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/news/publikationen.html?publicationID=4876

3D Ethics Charter («3D OK»): e.g., avoid bias, use reliable and current data, document source data, reference changes in the data, etc.http://3dok.info/WordPress3/les-principes-de-la-charte/?lang=en

http://geo.ebp.ch/2014/06/05/open-data-rechte-und-pflichten

http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/news/publikationen.html?publicationID=4876



http://3dok.info/WordPress3/les-principes-de-la-charte/?lang=en






Not law – but open data ethics?Charter for Public Statistics in Switzerland (2014): e.g., statistics are mandated, respondents give informed consent, data is provided to the public, etc.http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/de/index/news/publikationen.html?publicationID=4876

3D Ethics Charter («3D OK»): e.g., avoid bias, use reliable and current data, document source data, reference changes in the data, etc.http://3dok.info/WordPress3/les-principes-de-la-charte/?lang=en

... and OGD? Signatories of these kinds of charters are usually official-ish bodies How can we achieve commitment of relevant actors?











FinancesHow should OGD be financed? Ex. Swisstopo:

- Geodata dissemination revenue of 13 MCHF vs. production costs of 250-300 MCHF

- Swisstopo’s (FLAG Office; «Führung mit Leistungsauftrag und Globalbudget») options: compensation, reduction of mandate or of revenue-to-cost ratio

Threat for taxpayers (preparatory effort for uncertain gains through OGD)

http://opendata.ch/files/2012/07/OGD_Studie_Schlussversion.pdf





FinancesVGI (e.g. OSM) to the rescue? various inherent biases in crowdsourced data OSM provides a service to the public, not ‘service public’ (in

the Swiss sense)

http://geo.ebp.ch/2014/06/25/operational-use-of-crowdsourced-data-energic-workshop-presentation

http://geo.ebp.ch/2014/09/19/the-data-workers-manifesto








FinancesVGI (e.g. OSM) to the rescue? biases in crowdsourced data OSM provides a service to the public, not ‘service public’










FinancesVGI (e.g. OSM) to the rescue? various inherent biases in crowdsourced data OSM provides a service to the public, not ‘service public’ (in

the Swiss sense)










«Hacksploitation» and sustainable impact

http://brianchang.info/2016/02/28/hackathon-be-gone.html




«Hacksploitation» and sustainable impact«Entsorgung Zürich» app (citizen) vs. «Sauberes Zürich» app (government)

«Trainshare» app (citizen) vs. «SBB-CONNECT» (gov-owned entity)

http://opendata.ch/pressearchiv/offener-brief-zur-smartphone-app-sauberes-zuerich http://trainshare.ch

http://opendata.ch/pressearchiv/offener-brief-zur-smartphone-app-sauberes-zuerich



http://trainshare.ch/

http://trainshare.ch/


Finally Confusion of terms: What are we talking about even? In our projects, OGD can make data gathering more efficient OGD affords newly viable applications and data products More competition and innovation over rent-seeking


Finally, finally Lack of legal knowledge: License jungle, license-application

conflicts Know-how transfer, legal consultation Best practices for data providers/license issuers Simple, universally adopted geodata licenses

Data debt and liability Technical solutions Legal implications? Open data ethics?

Financing OGD Political solutions

Hackathons and intellectual property Prior clarification of intellectual property Open data ethics and community management


Contact, follow-ups

Ralph StraumannErnst Basler + [email protected] @rastrau

swiss open geodata: opportunities and threats

Government & Nonprofit