FREE GEOSPATIAL DATA AND QUALITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR USERS, CONTRIBUTORS AND DISTRIBUTORS.

Geospatial data is widely available and used by a broad range of users for a wide range of purposes-from government planning for service delivery to directions on how to get to a coffee shop. What, if any, duties and standards of care are owed to users of geospatial data by the provider? This is a question complicated by a growing trend toward volunteer geographic information (or VGI) that is itself part of the broader trend of user generated content whereby the users of data contribute geographic data and create a wide range of value-added products based on available data. This paper is a companion piece to the article authored by Katherine Plante and Marc Gervais entitled "Geospatial Data Quality Guarantee."2 Plante and Gervais provide an overview of geospatial data quality guarantees in the legal context of the Quebec Civil Code. This paper, in contrast, looks at similar concepts, but from the perspective of the common law in Canada and drawing at times from other common law jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]