Comments > Newfoundland
This personal opinion from map librarian Alberta Auringer Wood at Memorial University of Newfoundland:
Greg McKay of ESRI in Halifax sent me your message, and I just responded to your petition, but decided to compose a response off line, instead of doing it on your form. As a map librarian, I am able to obtain free of charge from the U.S. Geological Survey a wide range of maps, large and small scale, including ones on CD-ROMs. I can obtain at a modest charge, cost of CDs, very large scale U.S. Census Bureau mapping or the Digital Chart of the World. Along with other libraries in Canada, I receive paper topographic map products for a small fee of about $100 per year. However, we must pay a considerable amount more in order to obtain any digital versions of the same scale maps. As a result, I do not have any in my map library, up to this point in time. Until the inauguration of the Data Liberation Initiative, we did not have any reasonable access to cartographic boundary files. We now have that, along with social science statistical data, but at a cost of over $12,000 per year, as part of the DLI. We have heard many stories of university courses using American cartographic data, because the Canadian data was too expensive. Thanks to ESRI and Statistics Canada, we now have some cartographic and statistical data on the Arc Canada CD. This is not exactly the same as your focus, but I feel that lack of digital mapping hinders the education process because the students will not be familiar with this data when they graduate making for additional training time. We have received paper copies of Canadian hydrographic charts free from the Canadian Hydrographic Service for many years and continue to do so. However, the electronic navigation charts are not sent to map libraries in Canada on this free basis. Since we are in St. John's, we were fortunate to be the recipients of a free set, but other map libraries must purchase them. Even with a 50% discount, this is still a considerable sum. In addition, there are restrictions regarding their use, much beyond ordinary copyright provisions. While I am not in the business sector, I feel that the Canadian economy is stifled by the lack of digital data as compared to the U.S. There are numerous products in the U.S. that provide detailed street maps in digital form, such as Rand McNally's Street Finder and DeLorme's Street Atlas USA, for example. As well, there are numerous online mapping sites. There are no equivalent products for Canada, because the basic information is not available freely to Canadians the way it is to Americans. These value added products are lacking in Canada, as a result. This is just my opinion. Sincerely, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alberta Auringer Wood, Maps, Data and Media Librarian Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, CANADA A1B 3Y1 phone: 709-737-8892; fax: 709-737-2153; Internet: awood@morgan.ucs.mun.ca http://www.mun.ca/library/maps http://www.mun.ca/library/media http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~awood Believe in your abilities and you'll find the courage and heart to keep trying. Faites vous confiance, et vous trouverez le courage de continuer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comments > Newfoundland