Frigivelsen av kartdata i Storbritannia, som jeg skrev om i går, settes her inn i sin kontekst i et innlegg signert Tim Berners-Lee og Nigel Shadbolt:

We have demonstrated that we can integrate a whole range of data about your postcode — ranging from crime statistics to recycling, from travel times and timetables to adult education and healthcare provision. We have shown that freeing data is practical and economic to do.(…) Maybe someone uses the web to show schools close to you and their Ofsted reports, or the planning applications that might affect you, or the allotments available to use, or the crime rates in your area. Data is beginning to drive the Government’s websites. But without a consistent policy to make it available to others, without the use of open standards and unrestrictive licences for reuse, information stays compartmentalised and its full value is lost. Openly available public data not only creates economic and social capital, it also creates bottom-up pressure to improve public services. Data is essential in enabling citizens to choose between public service providers. It helps them to compare their local services with services elsewhere. It enables all of us to lobby for improvement. Public data is a public good.

The Guardian skriver at beslutningen om å frigi kartdata ble tatt på toppnivå i regjeringen. Det er nå standard praksis å vurdere frigivelse av offentlig sektors datakilder (selvsagt med unntak av persondata):

Government sources at the seminar at No 10 indicated that the concept of making non-personal government data free is now a standard consideration when examining datasets that have been collected.