It’s always interesting to hear about foreign examples of data freedom. And the state of Manitoba, in Canada, has taken a very important step, after deciding that the bureaucracy invvolved in charging different bits of government for mapping data generated by another part of the state goverment was a waste of money – taxpayers’ money.

So it has made the data available for free.

Read Canada proves itself to be genuine land of the free: Manitoba (about three times larger than the UK, but with only 1 million inhabitants) might not give a precise comparator to the UK (since its local-level geography will change much more slowly, with less housebuilding and changing). But the rationale – that it’s too expensive to charge for, and more effective to make free – is encouraging.

You can also read about the Manitoba Land Initiative, as the scheme is called. [URL corrected - thanks Chris Corbin.]

The following posts may be related...(the database guesses):
• Home Office responds re OS and crime maps (21 November 2008; score: 25.48%)
• Ordnance Survey says Met Police crime maps break its licence. Does Jacqui Smith know? Or Gordon Brown? (19 November 2008; score: 18.59%)
• Environment Agency yanks flood data from OnOneMap site (30 June 2007; score: 18.51%)
• How home information packs give local government a pricey monopoly (10 May 2007; score: 17.71%)
• The police and crime mapping: and another perspective from the Observer (1 June 2008; score: 16.73%)