Australian spatial data policy : legal issues arising from data delivery via the internet
Bhalla, Gypsy
The Australian Government Spatial Data Access and Pricing Policyy was presented on 25th September 2001, listing the key aspects of provision of government held fundamental spatial data to the public domain. The policy has encouraged Australian Commonwealth government organisations to provide their data on-line free of cost to public domain users (as well as other Commonwealth, State and Territories), making the data accessible to all at a national and international level, an indication of the strong desire within government to make the fundamental data easily accessible to the public. However, this desire is tempered with concern for the risk of liability imposed by decisions based on inappropriate use, lack of knowledge about, misrepresentation of the data by the end-user or use of outdated data in decision support systems. These concerns are justified when examining the recent legal issues associated with misuse of spatial data or use of dated data for specialised applications, whether the error was made on behalf of the user or the data provider. It is clear then from the above, that there need to be mechanisms put in place to control to some extent, the dissemination of spatial data via the internet and limit the liability of data providers and minimise the probability of these incidents occurring.
Event: XXX FIG Working Week and General Assembly : Strategic Integration of Surveying Services
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