Building road transport networks for modelling purposes has been a time consuming and error prone task for many years. The rapid development of digital road networks has now provided a reliable and rapid means of building such networks flexibly and accurately, in a form that can always be integrated smoothly into mapping forms of presentation. A key element in the development in Victoria is the State Digital Road network, developed to meet emergency services needs as well as to become a broad common working standard for the State. The SDRN has been built as part of a major Geographic Data Co-ordination program in the state, and recently became available for broader usage. The pricing principles for the commercial availability of this key data set was the subject of a special study, which recommended Ramsay pricing in conjunction with a number of appropriate CSO (Community Service Obligations). The general issue of pricing public transport-related data is explored in this paper through the SDRN example. There will be many more such initiatives across transport and the balancing of public and private access with commercial goals is an issue of increasing importance. (A)
Abstract