Access to government information unnecessary remains : a case of professional elite

Value–added use of geographic information is important in the development of geographic information infrastructures. In spite of the European directive “Reuse of public sector information”, the market for value-added geographic information products and services based on government information hardly develops in Europe under current circumstances. The value-added business community uses the information to a limited extent because of the high price and the restrictive use conditions. As a consequence the use of these public datasets remains limited to a stable group of professional users; the mass is not reached. However, this paper argues that the barriers can be levelled through an alternative to current access policies. The alternative access policy may be a first step towards the widespread availability of value-added geographic information services satisfying the needs of the public data providers, the value-added businesses, and the citizen.