On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 16:15:45 -0500, Chris Metzler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I have no idea whether comments from folks outside the U.S. are taken > into consideration; I'd bet not. I've sent one anyway; here it is: ==8<== I am a Canadian citizen and resident, and would like to comment on the proposal to remove the DAFIF from public distribution. Unfortunately, nearly all of the countries in the world refuse to release aeronautical data for free public distribution, despite its obvious value in many areas, such as safety, training and simulation, geographical and demographic research, and municipal planning. While the US already has the free FAA database available, the DAFIF has been the main (and often, only) aeronautical resource freely available to the rest of the world. So, I would like to start by thanking the US government for making this valuable resource available, and then to beg you not to remove it from public distribution. Perhaps it would be possible to remove any sensitive military information from the DAFIF while still maintaining the civil information, such as airports, runways, and airways -- this information is already available to any hostile party with a few hundred dollars to send to Jeppesen, so removing the DAFIF from public distribution would not deter those parties; however, it could prevent poorly-funded organizations, such as academic researchers or municipal governments, from using the DAFIF data for their own research and planning. If the DAFIF does disappear, it will no doubt be replaced by a collaborative, open international project run by the aviation, geographical, and flight-simulation communities; however, such a new project would take time, and, more importantly, would be entirely outside of your control -- it could end up containing much more sensitive military data than the DAFIF. Of course, such a project could appear anyway, but as long as the DAFIF is freely available, there is less incentive for people to start it. Again, thank you for making such a good resource available: whatever you decide to do in the end, you have done a great service to many communities by making that information available for so long. Thank you, and all the best, David Megginson Ottawa, Canada ==8<== All the best, David -- http://www.megginson.com/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel 2f585eeea02e2c79d7b1d8c4963bae2d
