ABSTRACT

Data pricing policies should allow for flexibility: data for humanitarian aid purposes may be made available free of charge at the time of the emergency and for authorised users, but the same data may carry a charge for other uses. This could allow, for example, the inclusion of very high spatial resolution data both serving a humanitarian aid purpose and fulfilling the commercial objectives of the data supplier. A similar argument applies to value added services. Information products that normally carry a charge may at times be made available for free by the value added product supplier on their decision, for example in cases of severe pollution events. The encryption/decryption approach noted above would provide the technical means of allowing control of the data and information products. Several different pricing models could be used, tailored to different circumstances.