Request to host the "greek" CORINE land cover map at OSGeo

[Nikos Alexandris]

Dear Public Geospatial Data Committee at OSgeo,

I kindly request your attention concerning a dataset I would like to
upload on a server relevant with public geodata.

It is about the "greek" part of the CORINE2000 land cover/use map [1]. I
know many people who would like to have this dataset beforehand since
they are interested to work with it but lack of some technical skills to
build it using the tiles provided by EEA. The dataset is about ~86MB
(tarzipped).

In addition I have prepared a tutorial _in greek_ which is both, an
introduction to GRASS-GIS and a step-by-step description on how to build
the "greek" CORINE map [2].

*I can sent the tutorial if asked, it's a 2.6MB pdf file*.

The tutorial is a follow-up to the _first_ tutorial (in the greek
language as well) published back in May 2008 [3] in the blog Tilaphos
[4].

There are several reasons for which this blog was chosen to publish the
tutorial and kindly accepted by Mr. Zachariadis [5]. The blog is
dedicated to the promotion of public information to... well, the public!
Among others, Mr. Dimitris Zachariadis has implemented important open
access datablogs [6].

Having said that, I would like the current tutorial to be published in
the blog Tilaphos and the dataset to be available at Public Geospatial
Data at OSGeo. A link and a short comment about what P-Geodata-OSGeo is
will be placed in the blog Tilaphos.

I hope there are no objections and any licensing issues [10].

Thank you for your attention.
Kind regards, Nikos



-----
[1] http://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/dataservice/metadetails.asp?id=950

[2] The tutorial still needs a last check! Part I of the tutorial deals
with the CORINE map for the Peloponnese peninsula, and part II,
describes the reprodution process of the "greek" CORINE map.

[3]
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Educational_Content_Inventory#.CE.9F.CE.B4.CE.B7.CE.B3.CF.8C.CF.82_.CE.B1.CE.BE.CE.B9.CE.BF.CF.80.CE.BF.CE.AF.CE.B7.CF.83.CE.B7.CF.82_.CF.84.CE.B7.CF.82_.CE.B2.CE.AC.CF.83.CE.B7.CF.82_.CE.B4.CE.B5.CE.B4.CE.BF.CE.BC.CE.AD.CE.BD.CF.89.CE.BD_CORINE2000_.CE.BC.CE.B5_.CF.84.CE.BF_GRASS_.CF.85.CF.80.CF.8C_.CF.84.CE.BF_Ubuntu-Linux_8.04
and
http://tilaphos.blogspot.com/2008/05/grass-gis-corine-2000.html

[4] http://tilaphos.blogspot.com/

[5] Actually, I have to credit the idea about writing a tutorial in
greek to Mr. Zachariadis

[6] Datablogs:

1. a fire-datablog which gets MODIS-FIRMS hotspots and returns distance
from closest city/town using the Geonames geographical database [7]

2. a community maintained datablog concenrning environmental issues over
the greek territory [8].

3. a "datablog-reforest", also community maintained, which is an open
access database for burned areas in Greece [9].

[7] http://tilaphos-fires.blogspot.com/

[8] http://tilaphos-reforest.blogspot.com/

[9] http://eco-topos.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post_18.html

[10] Copy-pasted from EEA's webpage:

Rights:
        EEA grants free access to all its data/applications provided
        that the user agrees:
        · to acknowledge the source as follows: Copyright EEA,
        Copenhagen, 2007
        · to display a link to the EEA web site
        http://www.eea.europa.eu 
        · not to use the data/applications for commercial purposes
        unless the Agency has expressly granted the right to do so


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[Martin Spott]

Hi Nikos,

Nikos Alexandris wrote:

> I kindly request your attention concerning a dataset I would like to
> upload on a server relevant with public geodata.

Admittedly I'd like to leave the legal stuff to someone who has better
expertise on this topic ....  If it's just about _storing_ the data in
whichever form, I think we have multiple opportunities to offer.

Nevertheless I'd be very careful about this clause:

> Rights:
>         EEA grants free access to all its data/applications provided
>         that the user agrees:
[...]
>         ?? not to use the data/applications for commercial purposes
>         unless the Agency has expressly granted the right to do so

So, _if_ OSGeo would provide public hosting for such a dataset, I guess
they would be liable to ensure that users are going to obey the given
rules ....  and I don't have the slightest clue how this would have to
be accomplished.

Cheers,
        Martin.
--
 Unix _IS_ user friendly - it's just selective about who its friends are !
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[Nikos Alexandris]

On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 19:36 +0000, Martin Spott wrote:

> Hi Nikos,
>
> Nikos Alexandris wrote:
>
> > I kindly request your attention concerning a dataset I would like to
> > upload on a server relevant with public geodata.
>
> Admittedly I'd like to leave the legal stuff to someone who has better
> expertise on this topic ....  If it's just about _storing_ the data in
> whichever form, I think we have multiple opportunities to offer.
>
> Nevertheless I'd be very careful about this clause:
>
> > Rights:
> >         EEA grants free access to all its data/applications provided
> >         that the user agrees:
> [...]
> >         ?? not to use the data/applications for commercial purposes
> >         unless the Agency has expressly granted the right to do so
>
> So, _if_ OSGeo would provide public hosting for such a dataset, I guess
> they would be liable to ensure that users are going to obey the given
> rules ....  and I don't have the slightest clue how this would have to
> be accomplished.
>
> Cheers,
> Martin.

Hello Martin!

Thank you for your response. My understanding is that it's not mine or
any other's responsibility if anyone will misuse such a dataset.

The "Rights" are very clear. Do you think putting this small text (or as
a README.txt file?) with the link to EEA's webpage along with the
dataset is not enough?

Thank you for your attention, Nikos

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[Martin Spott]

Nikos Alexandris wrote:
> On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 19:36 +0000, Martin Spott wrote:
> > Nikos Alexandris wrote:

> > Nevertheless I'd be very careful about this clause:
> >
> > > Rights:
> > >         EEA grants free access to all its data/applications provided
> > >         that the user agrees:
> > [...]
> > >         ?? not to use the data/applications for commercial purposes
> > >         unless the Agency has expressly granted the right to do so
> >
> > So, _if_ OSGeo would provide public hosting for such a dataset, I guess
> > they would be liable to ensure that users are going to obey the given
> > rules ....  and I don't have the slightest clue how this would have to
> > be accomplished.

> Thank you for your response. My understanding is that it's not mine or
> any other's responsibility if anyone will misuse such a dataset.
>
> The "Rights" are very clear. Do you think putting this small text (or as
> a README.txt file?) with the link to EEA's webpage along with the
> dataset is not enough?

Phew, I'm unqualified to give proper advice here. Every time _I_ was
attempting to get my hands onto CORINE data I hit a web site with
restricted access. Therefore I _assume_ that this dataset is not for
public, anonymous consumption ....  nevertheless I'd be happy to hear
educated advice on this topic.

I just would like to point out that we should stay clear of any data
distribution with 'uncertain' restrictions. On the other hand, if
there's some official statement by the copyright holder which
explicitly permits distribution via anonymous dowload, I'm certain
we'll find a way to do so.

Cheers,
        Martin.
--
 Unix _IS_ user friendly - it's just selective about who its friends are !
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[Nikos Alexandris]

On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 22:07 +0000, Martin Spott wrote:

> Nikos Alexandris wrote:
> > On Mon, 2009-01-26 at 19:36 +0000, Martin Spott wrote:
> > > Nikos Alexandris wrote:
>
> > > Nevertheless I'd be very careful about this clause:
> > >
> > > > Rights:
> > > >         EEA grants free access to all its data/applications provided
> > > >         that the user agrees:
> > > [...]
> > > >         ?? not to use the data/applications for commercial purposes
> > > >         unless the Agency has expressly granted the right to do so
> > >
> > > So, _if_ OSGeo would provide public hosting for such a dataset, I guess
> > > they would be liable to ensure that users are going to obey the given
> > > rules ....  and I don't have the slightest clue how this would have to
> > > be accomplished.
>
> > Thank you for your response. My understanding is that it's not mine or
> > any other's responsibility if anyone will misuse such a dataset.
> >
> > The "Rights" are very clear. Do you think putting this small text (or as
> > a README.txt file?) with the link to EEA's webpage along with the
> > dataset is not enough?
>
> Phew, I'm unqualified to give proper advice here. Every time _I_ was
> attempting to get my hands onto CORINE data I hit a web site with
> restricted access. Therefore I _assume_ that this dataset is not for
> public, anonymous consumption ....  nevertheless I'd be happy to hear
> educated advice on this topic.
>
> I just would like to point out that we should stay clear of any data
> distribution with 'uncertain' restrictions. On the other hand, if
> there's some official statement by the copyright holder which
> explicitly permits distribution via anonymous dowload, I'm certain
> we'll find a way to do so.
>
> Cheers,
> Martin.

You are right Martin. I will direct a question to EEA directly I think.
I have to be 100% sure since in my tutorial I demonstrate the use of
wget :D. So, if there is really a problem with that, I'd better remove
it from the tutorial before it gets published.

Thank you for your critical view upon this. Maybe someone else in the
committee is informed about this?

Cheers, Nikos


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