This highly technical work is at the leading edge of spatial analysis. It covers the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative in the international context of access to environmental data. This book identifies the data policy issues, such as intellectual property rights, privacy, licensing and archiving policies, that affect environmental monitoring organisations, statistical institutes, mapping agencies, institutes for natural resources and Earth observation. It recommends courses of action to improve information services in GMES and assesses the impact of data policy on access to and cost-efficient use of information services in GMES.

This title will be essential reading for government institutions such as mapping organisations, space agencies, environmental departments, military and defence departments; it will also be useful to students of environmental policies and industries involved in mapping, cartography, aerial surveys and the space industry.

Introduction and Objectives; Documented Data Policies; Socio-Economic Data; Evidence of Data Access Challenges; Evidence from Application Projects; Evidence of Good Practice; Data Access and the Internet; Interoperability, Linkage and Data Access; A European Shared Information Service; Institutional Factors; Socio-Economic Benefits Analysis of Global Environmental Monitoring; Conclusions and Recommendations.