The city of Vancouver wants to change to an Open City, declares the mayor.
Vancouver, BC is Canada's third-largest city and next February's host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. And is headlined by Autodesk as the third pilot city of its Digital Cities initiative.
Next week, that may start to come to an end. On Tuesday, mayor Gregor Robertson will be supporting counselor Andrea Reimer's motion on Open Data, Open Standards and Open Source.
The motion calls for the city of Vancouver to share its data with citizens through open file standards -- for data, documents, maps, and other media -- and open source software. The motion recognizes that there is a cost to distributing data, but that these should be minimal; the motion recognizes that it not easy to to switch over:
...when replacing existing software or considering new applications, will place open source software on an equal footing with commercial systems during procurement cycles.
Not that open source = free. While open source is often free to acquire, there is (usually) optional maintenance (subscription) cost attached that allows software developers to make their living. And so the motion figures that promoting open source might also promote related economic activity locally.
Cadastral Information Society
Heh: can you imagine trying to replace AutoCAD with something that's open source? CAD, not; GIS and DOC, maybe.
So what brought this on? I've spent some time attempting to track down the background to this motion, but ended up with just one clue (plus a rumor I won't reprint now). The motion states that Vancouver does not belong to the Cadastral Information Society. This is the only organization that the motion mentions by name, and is a non-profit that promotes the sharing mapping data between governments (runs on Geocortex). I wonder: does this desired change in mapping supplier indicate some kind of backlash against Digital City?
It would appear the cost of closed-source software is a concern/opportunity for some. I could see city hall looking to save some money, especially after the shock $750 million subsidy its surprised taxpayers are suddenly shouldering to complete the Olympic Athletes Village on time.
Source.
Update
Adena Schutzberg presents a different interpretation on the effect this motion would have, should it be adopted: Does a Vancouver proposal related do open source mean a new GIS?
Recent Comments