Yet this debate is unavoidable in our industry because data is vital to mapping software. Running a GIS application in the absence of accurate and timely data is about as practical as attempting a cross-country drive without gas money.

Money is at the heart of most data debates. Many Directions readers have noted the need for lower costs for geographic and demographic datasets. Cutting data costs surely will instill more activity among businesses and individual users. But there is another important issue to consider.

That issue is the concept of “value added” activity among data vendors. Anyone can obtain raw data from the federal government. The Census Bureau posts most of its demographic findings free on the Web. Moreover, the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics offers the 1995 TIGER files on CD for free. ESRI offers ArcData Online users free downloads of those same 1995 TIGER files.

The key question is how many people can use that data effectively? Future growth of the mapping industry largely depends on technology-shy users in businesses, universities, high schools and even elementary schools who will discover the power that mapping imparts to analysis, research and presentation. But the vast majority of these people cannot distill raw data into a form that is usable to them. That is why data vendors exist—and will continue to exist.

Data vendors add charges to their data because they have added value to that data. For the same reason, a vintner can charge $50 for a liter of wine instead of pennies for a pile of grapes and some yeast.

The resolution of a search for the true value for that $50 bottle of wine—or a $5,000 dataset—will come from the marketplace. As more people discover the power of mapping, more competitors will enter the fray. Ultimately, competition and choice will have an impact on data pricing and in our opinion, that competition will drive data costs down.

ESRI’s willingness to provide free downloadable data is in itself a value-added feature because it saves money and hassles for its customers. Microsoft, which made its fortune by creating products for millions of technology-shy users rather than hundreds of technology-savvy technicians, understands this all too well. That is why they entered the mapping market with a product that costs less than a good pair of hiking boots, yet it includes GDT’s Dynamap 2000 and Claritas demographic data. Is Microsoft’s approach a smart one? Again, the marketplace will decide.

This discussion of data costs comes at an important juncture in the mapping industry. Desktop technology and the Internet are introducing mapping to more and more consumers. That technology not only lures novices into the mapping market with affordable products, it also answers the need for accessible and affordable data with organizations such as the Open GIS Consortium, services such as ETAK’s free online geocoding, or data search facilities such as the FGDC Clearinghouse.

Increased demand coupled with increased competition can only result in diminished data costs. But don’t count on free data everywhere. The fact remains that most consumers haven’t the ability nor the time to produce custom datasets, just as the average diner hasn’t the time nor the ability to create a good bottle of wine from a handful of grapes.