[Openstreetmap] Fwd: PAF Consultation

[Mike Ryan]

Hi All,

I found a consultation document on the www.postcomm.gov.uk website that
discussed the Royal Mail management of the PAF database:
http://www.postcomm.gov.uk/policy-and-consultations/consultations/postcode-address-file--management-of-information/RoyalMailsmanagementPAFJune1604CD.pdf

Interestingly, they seem to take issue with the Royal Mail's many updates to the
PAF, which obviously allows them increased control of the database.

Anyway, I've sent the following mail on to see whether concerns about access to
the data from the general public can be addressed. I'll obviously update this
if I hear anything back

Best Regards

Mike

----- Forwarded message from mike.ryan at redmar.com -----
    Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 11:17:56 +0100
    From: Mike Ryan <mike.ryan at redmar.com>
Reply-To: Mike Ryan <mike.ryan at redmar.com>
 Subject: PAF Consultation
      To: paf at psc.gov.uk

Hi,

I note from the postcomm.gov.uk website that there was a consultation document
issued with regard to the Royal Mail?s management of the PAF which was due to
be published by summer 2005. Has this now happened and are the results
available?

I don't know if you're aware, but Google have recently released a mapping
feature that lets normal people develop maps online with points overlayered on
top. In the US this has resulted in a proliferation of websites from all walks
of society as people map out areas of interest to them and make their findings
of use to everyone over the Internet. In the UK, this hasn't happened to the
same extent, and a large part for this failure is the Royal Mail's tight
control of the PAF database -  it is simply too expensive for a normal person
to map a postcode onto a map, as they need to be able to convert a postcode
into a Latitude/Longitude  pair to plot the relevant co-ordinates. This has
also resulted in the development of grass roots efforts such as
www.openstreetmap.org and www.freethepostcode.org as people struggle to develop
their own solutions to this intractible problem.

If there is anything I can do with regard to this situation via yourselves then
please let me know. Similarly, if the consultation process is still underway,
perhaps this could be added to the list of concerns to be discussed?

Thanks and Regards

Mike Ryan