[osm-professional] Utility networks OSM initiative

[Anthony Beck]

By the looks of it I'm the first poster to this discussion list.

I've been working on a utility data integration project for the past few years that utilities semantic web technology. Our focus has been to integrate GIS data held by utility companies. It is highly unlikely that data held/owned by utility companies will be hosted in an environment like OSM (at least in the UK anyway). However, that does not stop citizens from mapping the assets and street furniture they can see: and I note that there is a power subsidiary dedicated to doing this

However, in the UK, and obviously other areas of the world, there are sub-surface utility survey companies that identify underground utilities through a combination of remote sensing techniques (cat and genny, ground penetrating radar etc) and surface survey: see Mapping the Underworld http://www.mappingtheunderworld.ac.uk/ and Orfeus http://www.orfeus-project.eu/). This data is collected on a commercial basis, but ends up becoming silo-ed and not fulfilling its potential. At a workshop today I mooted to a number of sub-surface utility survey companies the potential of creating an OSM type resource for their data. The response was varied but on-the-whole positive. This will have a whole raft of benefits for the industry and will tie into some of the goals of the National Underground Assets Group (http://www.nuag.co.uk/).

The paradox for this kind of initiative is that companies may be prepared to share their data, however, they may want to restrict who has access to the data. However, those people who are allowed to access the data have unrestricted re-use of that data. Although utility companies are obliged to provide their data on request they are sensitive to the security implications on sharing large swathes of their data: the survey companies are obviously sensitive to the requirements of their paymasters. Over time these security concerns might change but currently they are there and are very important for the companies.

So basically my question is: can a professional dataset aimed at a professional market that restricts access to the data be set up under the umbrella of OSM? I think I know the answer as I'm requesting to remove the open from OSM :-(. If not is it possible to take the OSM technology stack for such an initiative. Blanket refusal would be a shame as the benefit of such an initiative to UK PLC and Global business PLC would be phenomenal. This is not just a company issue as the health and safety benefits and social benefits are enormous: easy access to good quality data will reduce the number and duration of road works (in the UK the social costs of such works are estimated to be £4billion per annum).

Any guidance?

Best wishes and thanks

Ant
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Anthony Beck
Research Fellow
VISTA Project
School of Computing
University of Leeds