Ed Parsons to leave Ordnance Survey: but why?
Ed Parsons, the go-ahead chief technology officer of Ordnance Survey, is to leave at the end of this month.
The reasons aren’t clear; there’s simply a posting on his blog which reads (in part, quoting the “agreed statement” that went out inside OS):
Ed Parsons is leaving his post as Chief Technology Officer of Ordnance Survey to pursue new challenges in the increasingly dynamic Geographic Information (GI) Industry.
Since his arrival in June 2001, Ed has developed Ordnance Survey’s IT strategy and has led OS Research labs. Ed has been instrumental in moving the organisation’s focus from mapping to the creation of geographic information.
Ed’s comment:
I am not is a position to add any more to this statement, but of course I am sorry to be leaving a great group of very committed GI professionals, the future for me is not completely clear at this point – but whatever it turns out to be, you will read it here as it happens !!
Odd that he would be leaving with no definite plans, but we’re sure that there are going to be plenty of companies looking to hire him – he’s got experience they’ll find invaluable.
Our take? The fact that he has his own blog shows he’s not your average member of a public sector organisation. We found him an interesting person who was certainly prepared to engage in the debate about free data and constantly looked for what the future holds in mapping. Who will succeed him, and will they bring that same drive to OS?
- The following posts may be related...(the database guesses):
- Ed Parsons, formerly of Ordnance Survey, now of Google (8 April 2007; score: 23.72%)
- Ed Parsons blogs his thoughts on the RSA debate (19 July 2006; score: 21.22%)
- Vote for the idea you think should win Show Us A Better Way (2 October 2008; score: 15.06%)
- Ordnance Survey launches "OpenSpace" (sort of); Guardian reports on delays in government GIS report (13 September 2007; score: 11.41%)
- Wouldn't it be wonderful to have this data for the UK? (18 January 2009; score: 11.39%)
December 6th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
[...] As the Guardian’s Free Our Data blog says: “We found him an interesting person who was certainly prepared to engage in the debate about free data and constantly looked for what the future holds in mapping. Who will succeed him, and will they bring that same drive to OS?” [...]
December 8th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
[...] With interest I note that Ed Parsons is stepping down as CTO of the Ordnance Survey. Some in the industry are puzzled but after having watched the interaction between Ed and projects like OpenStreetmap I’d like to hazard a guess. Ed has shown some interest in the open data movement (here, here and especially here for example). I think his guarded support should be read as very encouraging given his position as an executive officer of a government organisation that depends on commercialising its data to fund itself. In fact, I like to think that perhaps Ed would have liked the Ordnance Survey to be rather more open than it currently is. I’ve never spoken to him so this is purely speculation, but I think the key part of his post is this quote from the OS intranet: Ed is keen at this stage of his career to help develop more innovative areas of the GI industry. His decision comes as Ordnance Survey is focusing on a period of a consolidation in its strategic IT development and direction. [...]