Comments on: The economic half life Geodata http://www.edparsons.com/2008/08/the-economic-half-life-geodata/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:11:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Tim Woolford http://www.edparsons.com/2008/08/the-economic-half-life-geodata/#comment-152099 Tim Woolford Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:59:42 +0000 http://www.edparsons.com/?p=516#comment-152099 With ground level imagery I think the value will decline in the immediate term, but then increase as the historic aspect of the image becomes more relevant. For example: http://www.london5151.com/streets1/html/Cleveland-Street-W1.shtml are images of Cleveland Street in central London. The Middlesex Hospital was still standing when the images were captured. As the site has now been demolished so these 'viewsheds' can no longer be created, thus making the images unique. Obviously the concept of value is always relative. With the move to digital imagery (and storage) there is also the bigger issue of whether we will be able to retrieve and view images captured in 2008 on a computer in 2028, but thats another (big) issue. Tim With ground level imagery I think the value will decline in the immediate term, but then increase as the historic aspect of the image becomes more relevant.

For example:

http://www.london5151.com/streets1/html/Cleveland-Street-W1.shtml

are images of Cleveland Street in central London. The Middlesex Hospital was still standing when the images were captured. As the site has now been demolished so these ‘viewsheds’ can no longer be created, thus making the images unique. Obviously the concept of value is always relative. With the move to digital imagery (and storage) there is also the bigger issue of whether we will be able to retrieve and view images captured in 2008 on a computer in 2028, but thats another (big) issue.

Tim

]]> By: Daniel http://www.edparsons.com/2008/08/the-economic-half-life-geodata/#comment-151942 Daniel Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:33:21 +0000 http://www.edparsons.com/?p=516#comment-151942 And an added criticism or whatnot to add suggestion: One must keep in mind that some of we Americans did not sign the document that the ASPRS sent out for member signature, so that this current Administration could plan for the upcoming Landsat Continuity Mission to become 'commercialized' through the USGS. The irony being -- that the acts that Clinton had signed into legislation were to boost an industry based on the premise that public domain datas would be beneficial to the industry to create 'derived products' from them, as well as affordable to access for scientific purposes and institutions. Unfortunately, this President doesn't see it that way -- and instead sees the dollar signs, that I would argue will only serve to limit the industry due to the massive costs associated. I mean, we can sit here and argue tooth and nail about what legislation was passed and who was responsible for setting up a system wherein this data would have been freely available to society in a more immediate fashion -- or we can pat the USGS on the back once again for not getting the job done the way they were required to from day one. It's really up to anyone in the discussion to place everyone in check, in the hope that everyone begin doing the right things for once. And an added criticism or whatnot to add suggestion: One must keep in mind that some of we Americans did not sign the document that the ASPRS sent out for member signature, so that this current Administration could plan for the upcoming Landsat Continuity Mission to become ‘commercialized’ through the USGS.

The irony being — that the acts that Clinton had signed into legislation were to boost an industry based on the premise that public domain datas would be beneficial to the industry to create ‘derived products’ from them, as well as affordable to access for scientific purposes and institutions. Unfortunately, this President doesn’t see it that way — and instead sees the dollar signs, that I would argue will only serve to limit the industry due to the massive costs associated.

I mean, we can sit here and argue tooth and nail about what legislation was passed and who was responsible for setting up a system wherein this data would have been freely available to society in a more immediate fashion — or we can pat the USGS on the back once again for not getting the job done the way they were required to from day one. It’s really up to anyone in the discussion to place everyone in check, in the hope that everyone begin doing the right things for once.

]]> By: Daniel http://www.edparsons.com/2008/08/the-economic-half-life-geodata/#comment-151941 Daniel Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:27:38 +0000 http://www.edparsons.com/?p=516#comment-151941 The question you raise is interesting though has always been an obvious issue in regards to Remotely Sensed data. But, you're also raising this question in reference to a mid-resolution source which is very typically only used in visualization environments as a texture-layer. Thus, it would be wiser, and based on my own experience with the data and application -- is that the question be more specifically pointed toward higher resolution sources, and not Landsat, as Landsat will always retain a very high level of value due to its use as said. I can take the USGS dataset and produce the best ever base-map of the entire world. The question is -- do I really wish to do it again? The question you raise is interesting though has always been an obvious issue in regards to Remotely Sensed data. But, you’re also raising this question in reference to a mid-resolution source which is very typically only used in visualization environments as a texture-layer. Thus, it would be wiser, and based on my own experience with the data and application — is that the question be more specifically pointed toward higher resolution sources, and not Landsat, as Landsat will always retain a very high level of value due to its use as said.

I can take the USGS dataset and produce the best ever base-map of the entire world. The question is — do I really wish to do it again?

]]> By: Stuart Mitchell http://www.edparsons.com/2008/08/the-economic-half-life-geodata/#comment-151927 Stuart Mitchell Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:35:20 +0000 http://www.edparsons.com/?p=516#comment-151927 This is an interesting article and provoked me to write. There's long been contention about the cost/quality (and therefore value) of EU data - OS in particular - versus the US model. I can see the value of data is similar, although inverse, to the 'price/performance' graphs of IT in general - though in this case, 'time/relevance'. Though, I don't see this as a linear graph - somewhere there's a value point where it would be economically viable for the data vendor to still make money, whilst being of good use to the market. This would make more sense, surely, than the drop-off price point at 50 years. Stuart This is an interesting article and provoked me to write. There’s long been contention about the cost/quality (and therefore value) of EU data - OS in particular - versus the US model. I can see the value of data is similar, although inverse, to the ‘price/performance’ graphs of IT in general - though in this case, ‘time/relevance’.

Though, I don’t see this as a linear graph - somewhere there’s a value point where it would be economically viable for the data vendor to still make money, whilst being of good use to the market. This would make more sense, surely, than the drop-off price point at 50 years.

Stuart

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