Compared with other countries, Canada's service policy is relatively perfect, including publishing policy, charging policy, copyright issues, privacy issues and so on. These policies are embodied in laws and policies at the federal, provincial and regional levels.
(i) Federal legal and policy framework
1. Federal legal framework
The legal and regulatory framework that affects Canada's national spatial data release includes:
(1) information access method. Providing access to data files under government control also conforms to the principle that government data should be open to the public, but access to data must be restricted and detailed, and the release of information must be carried out under the supervision of government agencies, rather than relying on the supervision of the government itself.
According to the Information Access Law, database information that is open to the public, whether in paper form or electronic form, is regarded as public information, so it is protected by the Information Access Law. In addition, electronic publishing method makes information easy to obtain through feasible information means.
Under the control of government agencies, access to data is not restricted by user fees. Appropriate collection of royalties should comply with relevant laws, such as the Royalty Law and various other laws and policies.
(2) Copyright law. The copyright law stipulates the copyright of any product, including the term of the original geographic database. As the copyright owner, the government has the exclusive right to use data in any way and the right to authorize private and public users or organizations.
(3) Financial Management Law. This law mainly adjusts the charging items related to information release and provides some principled provisions.
The legality of charging government database access fees stems from the relevant provisions on the use of services and equipment in Article 19 of the Financial Management Law. It is worth noting that article 19 only applies to expenses and expenses that do not exceed the cost of departments providing data or related services. When the remuneration or expenses exceed the cost of providing data or related services, special authorization from the government may be required.
Outside the financial management law, the service fee must be stipulated by the department or authorized by the ministers.
(4) The Official Language Act. Like other products, publishing geodatabases requires the use of official languages, including information expressed in electronic or paper form.
(5) User fee method. Before determining or increasing the external use fee, or before increasing the application fee or extending the time limit, the federal department needs to consult the taxpayer; According to the corresponding standards formulated by other countries; Establish an independent advisory group to provide suggestions for solving complaints; A reliable minister reported the proposal of user charges to the House of Representatives.
The User Fees Act only applies to gratuities, fees or taxes.
(6) Other laws and regulations. Other departmental decrees may contain data release policies with specific directions and authorities.
2. Federal policy framework
The framework of the government's geographic information release policy is also composed of many policies and decrees from the central government agencies and various spatial data production departments or institutions. These decrees include:
(1) Canadian government's communication policy;
(2) Strengthening service policy by using new information technology;
(3) Policy on service standards for external use fees;
(4) Government information management policies;
(5) the policy of using electronic network;
(6) The policy of fees and royalties for obtaining copyright license;
(7) Citizens' Internet use policy;
(8) Internet regulatory policies of the Canadian government;
(9) Practice guidance of operator database.
3. Federal Decree and Internet Policy
The release of geospatial data in Canada is not only promoted by the central legal and regulatory framework of government information release, but also by some science-based federal departments and institutions. Through laws and decrees recorded in legislative form and various internal policies, the following specific objectives have been supported:
(1) income guarantee. Income security is a goal that needs to be achieved frequently. In order to make all users make due contributions to the goal of expenditure recovery, the income protection policy prohibits the redistribution of priced products or the copyright tax as part of the redistribution.
(2) Maintenance of data quality. The maintenance of data quality achieves this goal by setting restrictions on data modification.
(3) data upgrade. Some organizations hire the private sector to sell data for them, encourage wider use of data, and set restrictions to protect the income of private partners.
(4) Data identification. Although government approval/permission is a way to ensure that the organization's contribution to data is properly identified, it does not seem to be the main driver of the organization's plan.
(2) Provincial and regional legal and policy frameworks
All provinces and regions will gradually improve through consultation with the Canadian government GEOMATICS Conference (GEOMATICS is a science and technology for collecting, analyzing, interpreting and utilizing geospatial data).
(3) Information release policy
The Canadian government has made many useful explorations and attempts in the practice of government geographic data publishing, including the elaboration and evaluation of the government spatial data publishing environment, the establishment of the government geospatial data publishing model, and a set of laws and policy systems on national spatial information publishing.
Canada's information access law stipulates that government departments should open data resources to the public, provide them under the control of the government, and effectively provide all their citizens with the right to freely obtain and obtain information. At the same time, the acquisition of data must be restricted and detailed, and the release of information must be carried out under the supervision of government agencies, not relying on the supervision of the government itself.
The Law on Access to Information also elaborates on the database information released to the public, including "any letter, memorandum, book, plan, map, picture, chart, picture or icon, photo, film, microfilm, audio recording, video tape and any other document materials, regardless of their physical form or characteristics, and any relevant copies", whether in paper form or electronic form.
Canada's spatial information distribution and sales network and the support of high-speed Internet strongly support the effective implementation of Canada's spatial information distribution policy. Geological institutions in Canada have formed a relatively standardized information production, release, sales and service model in information release.
The development trend of spatial information dissemination in Canada is to sell data directly to advanced technology users through the Internet, and at the same time, to open the mass market by using the dealer network. The goal of information release policy for conventional products and digital maps is to transfer the functions of retail, marketing, product packaging and after-sales service to dealers or agents as much as possible.
Second, the service standard
In all sectors of Canadian society, people are increasingly aware that basic geological information has become the basis of rational decision-making in many activities, including logistics, investment, public policy, citizen mobility and citizens' awareness of environmental protection, health research, resource management and emergency preparedness. In the past 10 years, the rapid development and general growth of data publishing, processing and network have increased the demand for various geological information. However, the data distribution and licensing framework used to promote, expand and support the use of government geological information usually cannot keep up with the growth of technical capabilities and the development of user needs. Many data users believe that the dissemination and licensing of government geological information lacks a more comprehensive and consistent framework, which is not conducive to achieving the goal of promoting its wide use and efficiency.
In order to meet the needs of improving the release mode of government geological information dissemination and licensing, the Canadian Government Geological Information Dissemination-Best Practice Guide provides a unified framework for the three most commonly used government geological information dissemination and licensing modes in Canada, namely, unrestricted use mode, end-user mode and disseminator mode.
The first model is usually called unrestricted use license agreement, which promotes the extensive use and reuse of licensed geological information. It has almost no restrictions on how to use data, especially allowing further dissemination of data.
The second mode provides the licensee with specific rights about licensed geological information besides the right of communication.
When the goal of the government geological information manufacturing department is to promote the extensive use of its data in value-added applications through a system, the disseminator model is appropriate.
The Canadian government's "Geological Information Dissemination-Best Practice Guide" provides basic principles for the rational use of each model, explains how each model is built on the same structure, shows the relationship between them, and provides clear guidance to help licensors choose the most suitable model and subsidiary license agreement.
Third, service evaluation.
Geological information providers in Canada attach importance to users' feedback, aiming to achieve external evaluation of organizations and products and services through users' evaluation of service quality.
(A) the way of user feedback
Improving the survey response rate is the key to collecting user opinions and user satisfaction. The ways of user feedback include: small questionnaire survey; Listen to users' opinions; Computer online forum; Track phone and email contact information, etc.
In Canada, the government often entrusts the task of collecting users' opinions to relevant intermediaries or consulting institutions. With the help of the advantages of intermediary institutions or consulting institutions, we can extract rich information such as geospatial information policy orientation, service methods, customer satisfaction and various technical systems supporting services, and obtain first-hand and second-hand data from multiple sources as evidence to improve the quality of government spatial data services.
There are also many ways to evaluate users' opinions, such as the establishment of customer satisfaction evaluation activities by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
(B) customer satisfaction evaluation activities
Customer satisfaction measurement is a process of obtaining qualitative and quantitative information, which can show the degree to which customers' expectations are met. It is an activity of the Canadian Department of Geosciences to investigate users' satisfaction with the geological information products and services it provides, aiming at adjusting the content and delivery methods of services and products through feedback information.
1. The role of customer satisfaction evaluation activities
Evaluating customer satisfaction activities is of great significance, and the following effects can be achieved through evaluation:
(1) In order to improve the service quality;
(2) Explain the operation effect of the project from the customer's point of view and what adjustments need to be made;
(3) Determine which customers are most important/unimportant to the product or service;
(4) Feedback customers' attitudes towards their products and services to employees;
(5) Help to achieve cost recovery or other business objectives;
(6) Get the information feedback that can meet the customer's expectation, so as to optimize the investment;
(7) Ensure that all plans, products and services are the most effective and efficient under the current task and resource level.
2. Procedures for customer satisfaction evaluation activities
The systematic procedure of customer satisfaction evaluation activities includes eight steps, which are used to carry out any customer satisfaction evaluation activities that help to ensure the systematic management of the project. These eight programs are:
(1) Identify key projects, products and services. It is usually a useful starting point to determine related projects, products and services by clarifying the work outputs of departments and who will accept, use or benefit from these outputs.
(2) Determine who your customers are. In addition to direct customers, we should also consider the impact of our work on indirect customers. Indirect customers usually don't contact the earth science department in person, but they are still closely related to the way products or services are provided. For example, although the public finally obtains knowledge from groups or institutions in related scientific fields, these groups or institutions are themselves direct customers of the Land Survey. Geological Survey of Canada provides geological information and research for natural science, engineering and academic groups, which can be widely obtained by the public.
Generally speaking, the best way to identify customers is to first consider who will accept the products or services provided by the department, and then consider who will be the end users of these products or services. Usually, the person who accepts the products or services provided by this department is the intermediate customer in the transaction chain that points to the end customer. For example, topographic maps of cartographic services are sold to retailers through licensing agreements, and retailers sell them to the public. So third-party transactions have become important.
In Canada, the National Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Earth Sciences have a wide range of customers. Some employees mainly serve internal customers, while others mainly serve external customers, such as federal and provincial institutions, scientific and professional groups, or business groups; Others mainly serve the public. You may have to deal with several different customer groups based on a specific product or service. In this case, it is necessary to determine whether to evaluate all customer groups or select only one of them (based on the ability to identify key customers).
(3) Determine the goal. When setting goals, you need to consider the specific indicators used to measure satisfaction. This is not simply to ask customers whether they are satisfied with products or services, but to determine the importance of a product or service given by customers and the degree to which they meet their expectations.
(4) Formulate evaluation strategies. At this time, it is necessary to determine how, when and from whom to seek information. The choice of method depends on the goal, as well as constraints such as budget, timetable, details and accuracy requirements, and obtaining qualified staff. The overall evaluation strategy can be based on a set of methods, which can produce all kinds of evidence, through which conclusions related to customer satisfaction can be drawn. For example, we can actively seek customer feedback through indirect methods such as direct contact with customers or analysis of existing customer data records.
For special plans, determine the required level of formality. When feasible and formal measurement is needed, systematic methods should be used to measure customer satisfaction. Satisfaction is relative, not absolute. A well-conceived strategy will take into account the demand for information that can be compared at different times or with meaningful benchmarks. In this way, it can be judged whether the satisfaction has improved, remained unchanged or declined.
(5) Choose the method of obtaining customer feedback. There are several ways to measure customer satisfaction, including: customer survey (e-mail, telephone and electronic means), customer consultation (central group meetings, discussions and personal interviews) and observation. According to the objectives and constraints of the activity, one or more methods can be selected.
(6) Design and test measuring tools. Data collection tools, such as questionnaires, interview/discussion guides, mediators' schedules and observation lists, should be designed under the evaluation objectives. When designing questionnaires, consider using closed-ended questions (as opposed to open-ended questions) because they require less time for respondents to fill out and are easier to implement. Although some depend on the media used, try to control the response time of the survey within a reasonable range (15 ~ 20 minutes), otherwise the fatigue of the respondents will become an influencing factor and may have a negative impact on the response rate. For face-to-face interviews, a maximum of one hour is a good standard. In addition, try to keep the question neutral and avoid prejudice.
(7) Collect and analyze information. It is very important to collect information as accurately and efficiently as possible, so the Canadian government often entrusts this part of the work to professional consulting companies.
When collecting and analyzing information, take appropriate measures to ensure objectivity; This will protect the integrity and credibility of the research results. Ensure that there are enough fair drafts to avoid the possibility of actual or perceived bias. It may mean getting help from internal third parties, who can contribute professional skills but have no direct interest in the results (such as the National Natural Resources Exchange of Canada, quality consultants and enterprise development associations). This may also include hiring outside consultants.
Pay attention to explain the research results as objectively as possible. Low satisfaction is not necessarily a bad sign-for the Earth Science Department as an organization, the real value of customer satisfaction evaluation lies in identifying opportunities for improvement.
(8) Apply the research results to work. It is necessary to obtain background, procedures, survey results, conclusions and suggestions from customer satisfaction evaluation activities in the form of formal written reports. This will ensure that information can be exchanged with people who are interested in the activity and its results, such as employees or superiors. According to the requirements of participants, the results are summarized for their use, and the research results are recorded in the form of documents, which provides a basis for comparative analysis in different periods.
The success of the plan will depend on the actions taken by the Geological Survey of Canada according to the research results (from the customer's point of view). The increasing attention to the implementation results means that it is no longer enough to regard the report as the final stage of the evaluation process, and the research results must be used to implement meaningful changes-changes that lead to performance improvement.
Fourth, service charges.
Pricing policy
The price and pricing of spatial data products and services are the key issues of the spatial data service policy of Canadian geological institutions and its implementation. In most cases, all kinds of spatial information and data collected by Canadian geological institutions in performing their duties are now provided to the vast number of data users by charging. Price determines the availability of digital products and the degree, quantity and quality of data products to a certain extent, and Canadian geological institutions play a key role in the pricing process of data products. Important administrative departments, especially the federal and provincial administrative departments, affect data pricing, thus affecting the availability of digital geospatial data.
Because of the important role of geographic information in Canada and the global economy, governments at all levels in Canada always ensure the maximum expression of data value in the process of producing, using and publishing geographic information. Once these data are collected at great cost, they will be used to support public and private decision-making to the greatest extent. Accordingly, Canadian geological institutions adopt the pricing strategy of data products based on the concept of cost recovery for the price of government spatial data.
The cost recovery policy is to operate data collection, sorting, processing, transmission and information storage as commercial activities, and recover all the costs generated by information through information release. The basic premise of data distribution cost recovery policy is to have a strong copyright protection system to protect public information from piracy, and to sign a restrictive data use agreement with users for data distribution (such as prohibiting copying and re-dissemination). ).
Natural Resources Canada is responsible for collecting and maintaining information open to the public. In order to achieve consistency among ministries, a framework policy on external funds and cooperative activities has been adopted, and a compromise policy between public interests and cost recovery has been adopted: caring for public welfare undertakings is the essence of the power entrusted by the people to the government. The first and most important thing is to work for the benefit of all Canadians. It is considered that the demand of public and private enterprises for resources, external funds and other cooperative activities is beneficial and consistent with public welfare undertakings. Support the government's policy of charging external users, and transfer part or all of the costs of specific activities from most taxpayers to the biggest direct beneficiaries of the activities. It promotes more effective resource allocation by introducing the market mechanism of goods and services.
The Canadian Department of Geosciences is affiliated to the Canadian Department of Natural Resources, and is responsible for surveying and mapping of the national security system, remote sensing information and technology, and geographic information system expertise. Its function is gradually transformed into a balancing function. It provides information for national governance, national defense, national system maintenance, economic development and environmental protection, and is a real public sector. Its operation is a bit commercial. Customers provide them with funds in a very direct way. It provides customers with information that meets their requirements, and requires users to directly pay part of the cost of providing and maintaining information, but not the whole cost.
In short, geological institutions in Canada operate in a partial cost recovery mode, that is, the cost of producing the "first copy" of map information is paid by public funds, and the further copying, distribution and sales costs are recovered by users. The agency adopts the typical Canadian model, that is, it does not take the two extremes of cost recovery theory, but adopts this intermediate policy according to its own actual situation.
(2) Charge management
The Canadian government promulgated the federal cost recovery policy in 1989 and 12. The cost recovery and charging policy of the Canadian Federal Treasury Secretariat covers a wide range, mainly involving charging time, charging types, the relationship between charging and cost, etc. However, the policy does not specify the actual policy implementation method of cost recovery after the organization decides that its products and services are available.
The Ministry of Finance issued a policy statement on the payment of goods, services, property, rights and privileges by external users. This document includes the following principles: charging users is a way to promote fairness, charging service beneficiaries fairly to promote the fair use of government financial services, and it changes all or part of government activity funds from ordinary taxpayers to those customers who can get personal benefits from a product or service more directly. At the same time, by increasing the corresponding information varieties that users are willing to pay, the commercial operation of providing information services can be accelerated and the service efficiency can be improved.
The policy stipulates that a series of exceptions below the total cost recovery will be used to adjust the cost recovery, which will adversely affect the acquisition of projects or other government departments, or have serious consequences for some specific user groups.
Canada's information acquisition law stipulates that under the control of government agencies, access to data is not limited by user fees. Appropriate collection of royalties should comply with relevant laws, such as the Royalty Law and various other laws and policies.
The legality of charging fees for accessing government databases stems from the relevant provisions of the Financial Management Law on the use of services and equipment. It is worth noting that this applies to expenses and expenses that do not exceed the expenses of departments providing data or related services. When the remuneration or expenses exceed the cost of providing data or related services, special authorization from the government may be required.
The royalty method is only applicable to remuneration, expenses or taxes. Before determining or increasing the external use fee, or before increasing the application fee or extending the time limit, the federal department needs to consult the taxpayer; According to the corresponding standards formulated by other countries; Establish an independent advisory group to provide suggestions for solving complaints; Alternatively, the Minister reports the royalty proposal to the House of Representatives.
In addition, the Canadian legislature has also made detailed provisions on the standards for the external use of paid services, the fees for obtaining the license for the use of crown copyright, and royalties.
At present, there are 1 1 items in the approved price list of products and services published by the Canadian Department of Earth Sciences, namely: handling fees and media fees, maps of the national topographic system, map reference database of Canada, products and services of the Canadian Geological Survey, products of the national aerial photo library, and place names about Canada. CSRS (Canadian Space Reference System Online Database) products and services, Canadian Remote Sensing Center products and services, Arctic continental shelf project, planning costs of remote sensing products, and products and services provided by Canadian Cadastral Management Center. Its unit price ranges from $7 to thousands of dollars.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) copyright policy
As mentioned above, the laws that usually affect the dissemination of government geological information include: information acquisition law, financial management law, official language law, royalties law, copyright law, information acquisition law and other laws (departmental laws may include special instructions and powers to disseminate information). Among them, copyright law and information acquisition law are the key laws for the Canadian government to obtain government space information.
(1) Laws and policies on copyright and licensing
Federal, provincial and regional governments protect copyright, charge for data and restrict further use. Most organizations have formulated or are formulating policies to allow the commercial use of these data. These policies usually go through a long development process: learn from the experience and lessons of paper map sales and transplant them into digital map information sales.
At the federal level, the information access law defines three rules: the basic right to obtain government files; The lifting of visitation right should be specific and limited; Provisions on expressing independent opinions on public resolutions. Publications or materials easily available to the public are not restricted by this law. Most Canadian provinces have similar legislation. Several other federal and provincial statutory laws also affect the acquisition of information, among which copyright law has the greatest influence. Whether it is federal law or provincial law, copyright law is the basis for the government to obtain the value of information resources. Combined with the lifting of "published information" and "information of commercial value to the government" in the Information Access Law, Crown copyright has become a tool to control public information access. The government's behavior of obtaining monopoly economic benefits through crown copyright is an obvious obstacle to publishing information through "information acquisition".
A notable feature of Canada's digital data policy and its implementation is the requirement for royal copyright. In Canada, the requirements of royal copyright and complicated approval agreements restrict the wide use of geospatial data within or between departments. Using copyright and license to prevent data from being redistributed (for example, price protection policy) conflicts with the goal of maximizing the use of data and corresponding benefits, so copyright and approval requirements should be used to a minimum.
However, licensing and copyright should not prevent the use of data, but should protect the integrity of data. It is necessary to establish a "trademark" as a symbol of data quality (especially for framework data that promotes data integrity). This is valid only when the data is considered complete and appropriate (for example, in circulation), and in some cases, additional investment is needed in data collection and maintenance. For example, data organizations provide raw data products. Once the data set is provided to users, data organizations should provide data trademarks for documents or products while retaining unique data sources. Only when the trademark remains intact can users be allowed to publish the same data documents to others for free on their own web pages.
In order to ensure the validity of trademarks, cooperation with value-added data republishers and data publishers should make them realize that the original data source is part of copyright. This will help to identify trademarks, provide a level playing field and increase the visibility of public sector investment. Major changes made by users to the data set should be fed back to the data department to update and modify the original data.
(2) License system
In Canada, if you want to obtain any products in the list of data products, you must first go through the relevant licensing agreement procedures. Because data is copyrighted, it can be said that government departments sell more the right to use data, not just the data itself. Usually, users have to complete a standard license agreement procedure. Once the license is obtained, ordering data becomes very simple, just fill in an order form and pay the relevant fees to the data distributor or data distributor.
Data products can be obtained from data distributors through the national network, in addition, they can also be purchased through data sales departments. The data distributor will provide the relevant license agreement with the data.
Privacy protection policy of intransitive verbs
There is a lot of private information in geological information, and the protection of personal privacy is one of the most serious problems in the field of geological spatial information in Canada. The protection of personal privacy and the commercial development and utilization of government databases involving personal information have become a pair of contradictions.
Citizens' distrust of government and business activities is increasing, and they are increasingly uneasy about the use of information technology. As a result, citizens' concern for personal privacy has increased. It can be predicted that the debate between those who support the use of private information and those who protect private rights will continue to develop.
Proponents of protecting private rights believe that the government and commercial organizations may make important decisions about personal life based on information without the knowledge of the affected individuals. Proponents of information collection and trading rights believe that ordinary citizens are willing to give up some privacy in exchange for the benefits brought by edited databases. Both sides admit that the ability of ordinary citizens to keep their affairs secret is declining, because the technical strength and collected information are becoming more and more specific.
Seven. Partner policy
All federal, provincial and territorial government agencies related to geospatial information in Canada have reached a partnership guiding policy. With the extensive participation of the government, private enterprises and academic departments, the goal is to promote the real-time acquisition of geospatial information data resources and services through an interconnected infrastructure platform, and provide decision support for social and economic development and policy formulation.
The relevant policies of spatial data partners of geological institutions in Canada are as follows:
(1) The collection and acquisition of spatial data must be faithful to the original data and improve the vertical unified management of data in the most feasible and effective way;
(2) Geospatial information data must be integrated seamlessly, and it is necessary to mediate boundaries and management authority if possible;
(3) The collection, processing and maintenance of data must conform to international standards, so as to maintain the integrity of data in the database, improve added value and facilitate users' access and use;
(4) In addition to the agreement, partners must share the cost of collecting and managing spatial data equally, and allow the obtained data to be integrated into their respective databases, so as to facilitate the use and release of their own spatial data to shareholders;
(5) In the specific use of spatial data, there may be terms and regulations that can be coordinated among partners. Even if there is no such agreement, each institution should independently establish its own terms and regulations for the same situation;
(6) Inter-agency agreements should be exchanged regularly, and bilateral or multilateral consultations should be conducted on a case-by-case basis according to the reached partnership policy;
(7) Within the framework of government agencies, educational organizations and private enterprises at all levels, institutional partnerships should be simple and open, and can support policies and regulations of CGDI (Geospatial Data Platform);
(8) In Canadian provinces and federal governments, organizations or institutions with cooperative partnerships should designate special departments to promote and cooperate in the development of common geospatial information infrastructure within their own power and public power;
(9) CGDI (Geospatial Data Platform) is a national basic platform, which must meet the needs of users of geospatial information in different fields, social groups, data producers and private enterprises to the greatest extent.
Canadian government geological institutions have formed a cooperative mechanism of mutual trust, cooperation and win-win with private enterprises, alliances and university partners.
The Geological Survey of Canada has established a good cooperative partnership with domestic and foreign enterprises, institutions and social groups through extensive cooperation with multiple disciplines and partners in the international scope. In the cooperative project, Geological Survey of Canada works closely with its partners, sharing resources and costs, and promoting Canadian enterprises and departments related to resources and environment to stand out in the increasingly fierce international competition in various ways (such as technology transfer). The Canadian government cooperates on the basis of cost accounting, but this cooperation mechanism does not mean that the government and enterprises compete. Geological institutions in Canada have signed agreements with enterprises to provide spatial data services in the form of map products, cadastral survey, aerial photography, remote sensing, printing and document publishing.