On 7 Oct 2009, at 10:07, paul perrin wrote: > The problem with free the post code is that it is never going to be > complete/accurate enough to rely on... and worse, you have > absolutely no idea of how accurate/complete/incomplete it is... a > good idea but fundamentally flawed.
Ditto OpenStreetMap. Ditto Wikipedia. People have been saying they can't possibly be any use for years, but that hasn't stopped them evolving into really useful, free resources. > The strength of the post code system is that it is complete and > reliable Clearly you've never lived on a new development, where three years after my house was built, an ambulance couldn't find it based on its postcode; and two years after the Cambridge postcodes were updated, my Virgin Media bill still comes with the old postcode on it. > It does cost money to maintain post codes - (and other freeable > data - like ordinance survey maps) - if the data is freed then > where does the money come from? Again, it's a discussion that's been had many times, not least on this list if IIRC, but the gist of it is that the cost of creating and maintaining the postcodes was and is born by the taxpayer. The current model for recouping some of that cost is to charge for the data. A different and arguably better model is to make the data freely available and to rake in more tax from the increased economic activity that results. Tim _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
