Virginia Base Mapping Program 2011 & 2009 orthos

The Virginia Geographic Information Network - VGIN - has just released its updated ortho imagery web services (ArcGIS Server) to contain the images from the VBMP 2011 spring flight.  For the first time, these web services are accessible to GIS users without restriction or cost.  At the October 2011 VGIN Advisory Board meeting, the Board endorsed this action to further the data's utilization and to make the data more pervasive (Note:  digital copies of the 2011 orthos still require purchasing).  The web service can be accessed by pointing ArcGIS desktop to this URL.

With the delivery of the VBMP 2011 orthos, VGIN is releasing into the "public domain" the orthos from the 2009 VBMP orthophotography acquisition. For the 2009 VBMP orthos, localities now can use their own data distribution policies (instead of VGIN's).  These orthos can also be requested through VGIN (fees may apply for media and processing time).

Congress Asks NOAA to Consider Charging for Data

Note:  This is a repost from the Lea Shanley's Geodata Policy blog

David Malakoff, Science Magazine, December 2011 (Vol. 334, no. 6051, p. 1337)

For decades, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been carving satellite data into customized chunks that help other federal agencies solve some unusual problems—at no cost to the users. But faced with soaring NOAA satellite costs and a bleak budget outlook, lawmakers last month ordered the agency to explore ways of charging other federal agencies—and perhaps even some large consortiums of academic scientists that partner with government agencies—for its “specialized data products.” It’s time, they argue, for beneficiaries to help NOAA sustain a cash-strapped satellite program. A storm is brewing over the suggestion.

For full text of the article, visit Congress Asks NOAA to Consider Charging for Data.

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