FAQ Licences – EN

Which paid datasets from the “NGI-standard” partition on the NGI download portal have a CC-BY 4.0 licence as of 01/06/2024?

These concern the following datasets:

• • ContourLineLargeScale: all currently available formats and coordinate systems
  • ContourLine_2019: all currently available formats and coordinate systems
  • Top10Vector: the formats GeoPackage (.gpkg) and Shapefile (.shp), with coordinate systems Lambert 2008 (EPSG:3812) and WGS84 (EPSG:4326)

Why do I have to pay for an open data licence? I do not agree to this/can I get a discount?

The legislator has granted additional time to organisations such as the NGI, which pay for part of their operations with data revenues, to adapt to the new situation. For the NGI, this period runs until 9 February 2025. The NGI has pushed this date forward to 1 January 2025 at its own initiative. No special discount is provided, but you can already take advantage of the broader terms of use described in the CC-BY 4.0 license.

Why has the NGI been granted a delay in applying the Open Data Directive?

From its inception, the NGI was an organisation that could rely only in part on tax revenue to fund its operations. Indeed, the government recognised the value of the NGI’s data to many users and chose a model where the user would pay a portion of those costs through a reasonable price for the products and services. The same is true for other government services such as rail, drinking water or education. As switching from this model to total public funding is not possible right away, the regulations provide for the option of charging a reasonable price for data and services for another two years. The government has asked the NGI to use this option so that the budget impact of the new rules can be postponed somewhat.

Can I freely share the data from now on under the CC BY terms?

Yes, as of 01/06/2024, all NGI products with a CC BY 4.0 licence may be freely shared and edited under the CC BY 4.0 terms. These conditions are described here. Among other things, it requires the user to list the NGI as the creator of the data with a link to the licence. If you change the original NGI data, this should be clearly indicated. In addition, you must not apply additional restrictions to the resulting product.

How does the CC BY 4.0 licence affect my organisation?

The main difference between the old NGI licenses and the CC BY 4.0 licence is that the data is now permitted to be freely shared, under the CC BY 4.0 conditions, of course.

These conditions can be found here and they require the user to list the NGI as the creator of the data with a link to the licence. If you change the original NGI data, this should be clearly indicated.

It is important to note that you are not permitted to apply any additional restrictions to the resulting product that restrict others from sharing or editing your work as permitted by the licence. An exception to this is other rights such as privacy and moral rights that may restrict the use of a work.

Will the products I buy now continue to exist in 2025?

Yes, all current products will continue to exist and maintain their current quality and update frequency.

There are also other conditions related to public sector data in the Open Data Directive. Will the NGI also comply with this?

The NGI is committed, with the financial resources made available for this purpose, to making the data of NGI widely available according to the provisions of the Open Data Directive. Our goal is to be fully compliant with the Open Data Directive as soon as possible. However, we can achieve this goal only when we have the necessary funds. Once there is more clarity on the 2025 budget, we will know what we will be able to accomplish in the coming years and when.

Will all NGI data be freely available under CC BY licence as of 01/01/2025?

No, not all NGI data will be freely available. Indeed, some data cannot be shared given that it may breach, for example, privacy, protection of personal data, confidentiality, national security, etc.
The NGI is also not responsible for the licensing conditions of data from our partners that are also published on our geoportal (geo.be).

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