Catherine Doldirina, Prof. Lesley Jane SmithRiga, July 5-7, 2010 Symposium

“Space & Global Security of Humanity”

The context The project: IGMASS The principle of free and

unrestricted access to data Brief conclusions

Information society Production of data, information and

knowledge Geographic information systems

More industries and players involve into production of information

Globalisation as a catalyst of necessity to exchange information and have access to it

Information becomes absolutely indispensable for making decisions

Degree of processing affects the usefulness of information

Information: commodity vs. essential facility

GIS are infrastructures i.e.: enable applications are shared by communities at large are open

GIS link all types of information with geographic locations and are the new way of storing and presenting data and ultimately knowledge

Use of own system of small satellites Dependence on the existing systems

and monitoring programmes –national, regional and international

Continuous monitoring of the Earth Processing of global monitoring data Sharing the data and information

with those facing disasters

Humanitarian purpose of existence in the forefront

Socio-political significance of successful implementation and functioning

Educational impact of IGMASS

Enables exchange of data generated by different systems

Facilitates processing of data and their merging with information from various other sources

Driven by humanitarian considerations as well as the aim of achieving better life in societies

Different treatment of classified information

Various approaches to the protection of raw data, processed information and knowledge

Availability of data for commercial or non-commercial purposes

Ideal regime: complete freedom and openness, with “as few restrictions as possible” and “with minimum time delay and minimum cost”

Tensions in discussion of the data sharing principles: number of actors involved

Potential clash of regulatory regimes and status of data from independent missions when combining them within the system

Wide range of possible data uses

Addressing the regime of data exchange and use is essential

Humanitarian aspect is sufficient to adopt the principle of free and unrestricted access to data

Structure, goals and spheres of implementation of IGMASS support the viability of the principle as the basis of its functioning

kdoldyrina@yahoo.comljsmith@barkhof.uni-bremen.de