Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ W3C The Responsible Use of Spatial Data

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This is a W3C editors draft for comment. Its purpose is to "raise awareness of the ethical responsibilities of both providers and users of spatial data on the web." This is especially important, the authors write, because "spatial data may be seen as a fingerprint: For an individual every combination of their location in space, time, and theme is unique." So it should be used responsibility - but what exactly do we mean by 'responsibly'? One example: "great care has to be taken when trying to assign properties averaged over a region to individuals, a problem known as the ecological fallacy." The document looks at existing legal and ethical frameworks, and considers the issue from the developer, user and regulator perspectives. I wouldn't exactly call it advanced thinking on the issue, but it's a start. Image: UN, Spatial Data Infrastructure. Via Ton Zijlstra.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 03:02 a.m.

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