Spatial Law and Geospatial Technologies
- Author: Sangeeta Deogawanka
- Full Title: Spatial Law and Geospatial Technologies
- Category: articles
- URL: https://www.geographyrealm.com/spatial-law-and-geospatial-technologies/
Highlights
- As the world moves towards technology integration, issues surrounding location tracking and data are becoming obscure and outdated. In the United States, the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act (GPS Act) introduced in 2011, aims to limit government surveillance using geolocation information. The legal framework was extended to give “commercial entities and private citizens clear guidelines for when and how geolocation information can be accessed and used”.
However, with the proliferation of location based technologies like mobile phones, GPS devices, location based tracking devices, connected cares, consumer wearables with GPS and geotagging; regulation of location based technologies have become equivocal. Although by law, it is required that location information be permission based, in reality installation of the LBS (Location Based Service) application comes together with the user opt-in for allowing device location. In their existing framework such laws are in reality self-defeating (View Highlight)
- Google Maps feature international borders differently around the world, to ensure compliance with geopolitics driven laws. Arunachal Pradesh, one of India’s 29 states, is viewed correctly from India, but appears as ‘South Tibet’ under Chinese control when viewed from China. Viewed from UK both borders are marked with a dotted line to indicate dispute. An example of territorial aggression driven WMS policies! (View Highlight)
- Cloud computing poses legal challenges of privacy and security of spatial data stored in the cloud. The private cloud is clearly defined by individual vendor contracts and laws of the country where the host company is located. The public cloud however is steered by crowdsourced or VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information) and company initiatives. This calls for responsible standardized integration of geo-referenced services and critical geographic information. (View Highlight)