1.Since 1980s, the driving mechanism of geological survey in major countries has changed from traditional driving to demand driving.
With the national demand as the leading factor and the purpose of meeting the public demand, the responsibilities of geological surveys in various countries are constantly expanding. In addition to traditional prospecting and geological mapping, more attention is paid to protecting the environment and preventing geological disasters. The field of geological survey has been greatly broadened. For example, the USGS has formulated the USGS strategic plan (2000-2005) and the USGS five-year plan for mineral resources engineering (2006-2010), whose long-term goal is to ensure the quantitative assessment of undiscovered mineral potential. Ensure that priority federal land gets the latest geological environment assessment; Ensure that the United States obtains reliable geological, geochemical, geophysical and mineral data; Long-term data of mineral production and consumption needed to ensure national security and ensure energy security in the United States. From 2007 to 20 17, the US Geological Survey focused on the challenges of ecosystem change, climate change, energy and minerals, natural disasters, wildlife and water resources. The Strategic Science Plan of the British Geological Survey (2005 ~ 20 10) issued by the British Geological Survey established eight scientific themes and five cross-cutting issues to be carried out by the British Geological Survey. These scientific themes and cross-cutting issues mainly involve the sustainable development of economy and environment, such as sustainable water resources management, sustainable land management, sustainable and safe supply of energy and mineral resources, climate change, the safety of energy and natural resources and the maintenance of life on earth. It shows that in the new era of global economic development, the British Geological Survey actively adapts to changes, changes its operation mode, and serves the government, industrial departments and the public by implementing the national strategic geoscience plan. The British Geological Survey proposes to provide comprehensive, objective, fair and up-to-date earth science information to meet the needs of users at home and abroad.
Second, the project management of geological prospecting bureaus in developed countries is strict.
The United States, Canada, Britain, France and Japan are very strict in the management of public welfare projects, and they all have a set of operational procedures in project establishment, audit and performance appraisal, or they are managed through strict legislation. In the arrangement of key projects, the Bureau of Geological Exploration first solicited social demands, and determined the work priorities of that year according to social demands. For example, the US Geological Survey paid attention to energy security and environment in 2002, natural resources and national public land in 2003, invasive species, wildlife health and increasing scientific data interfaces in 2004, and formulated a five-year plan for mineral resources engineering in 2006.
The generation of every geological survey plan of the British Geological Survey, from planning to project screening, evaluation and approval, has to go through several bottom-up and top-down arguments. Not only has a special working group been set up to take charge of the whole project establishment process, but also the opinions of relevant experts other than geological survey should be widely solicited. In order to better meet the needs of social and economic development, the Geological Survey of Britain, Canada and other countries have also set up advisory (steering) committees composed of representatives from all walks of life, which are responsible for reviewing and determining the investigation plans and key topics of their own institutions.
The evaluation of geological survey projects by geological prospecting bureaus in developed countries began from the project establishment stage, with various audits in the middle, and the submitted project results will be evaluated by all sectors of society after the report meeting. For example, in addition to soliciting public opinions, the US Geological Survey has to explain in detail to the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate the use of the funds it has applied for and the benefits it can bring to the public after the project has been approved by the Ministry of the Interior and the Office of Management and Budget. In the process of project implementation, the evaluation audit is more strict. In the process of project implementation, USGS shall conduct internal review and external review of the project. Internal audit is mainly carried out through various audits. In addition, it is also achieved by reviewing whether the project complies with relevant laws and regulations (such as information quality guidelines, etc.). ). This kind of review is carried out frequently, and it is also the main means to supervise the implementation of the project. External review is generally conducted once every five years, and a hearing is held to be reviewed by experts in related fields. The British Geological Survey attaches great importance to the management of project funds. From 10 to 17 every month, the British Geological Survey will conduct a closed inspection of the financial accounts of more than 300 scientific projects and 200 commercial projects, and make a report on the use of funds.
After the completion of the geological survey project in developed countries, a report meeting on the project results should be held, and relevant government departments, universities, scientific research units and business circles should be invited to participate. Ordinary citizens can also participate voluntarily, and the final result of the project will be tested and evaluated by the society. The United States conducts external reviews (hearings) roughly every five years, and some hearings invite experts from the American Research Association and the American Management Association to participate.
Third, the social service level of geological prospecting bureaus in developed countries is relatively high.
There are various ways of socialized service of geological products in countries all over the world, including traditional service and online service. The traditional service mode is direct service mode. At present, according to the needs of customers, local geological prospecting bureaus can directly consult and purchase geological products service agencies or entrusted sales agencies, or make inquiries and orders by telephone, fax or email. Network services are online services provided through electronic information technology, that is, online information publishing, online inquiry, online sales and online ordering services. The socialized service of geological prospecting bureaus in developed countries is reflected in numerous information products, various ways (traditional or online) and high degree of socialized service. Geological surveys in developed countries provide customized services. The British Geological Survey has developed an online consulting service system. By guiding users to describe their needs accurately and getting in touch with the relevant organizations of the British Geological Survey, problems can be solved quickly and users can obtain scientific consulting services effectively. Australian users can choose to download data, copy CDs or package data as needed. Users can directly contact the relevant personnel of the Australian Geological Survey or obtain information from their retailers when requesting information. Japan Geological Survey can provide users with various translation services related to geosciences, and can also investigate and copy documents in specific fields and regions of geosciences, collect and sort out information, analyze information, and collect field samples.
At present, online service is the development trend of social service of geological survey. In developed countries, the online service of geological survey is very developed, and online geological products are very rich. There are online products on the website of USGS, including online publications and digital products of mineral resources, online spatial data of mineral resources, national atlas of the United States, national geological map database, online books, reports and brochures, online maps and photos, online map list, online report of water resources, etc. The British Geological Survey has a large number of products and data available for free download, mainly including literature reports, data on water resources provision, geoscience software, briefings, periodicals and magazines, cooperation reports and other comprehensive reports. Australia has a wealth of online products, such as some small-scale topographic data and thematic map products,1:250,000 geological map, national aerogeophysical database, national gravity database, national rock geochemical database, national landslide database and so on.
In a word, the information provided by the websites of geological survey in developed countries is rich and can meet the needs of the public. However, the information provided by the websites of geological survey in developing countries is relatively limited, or strict confidentiality policy is adopted, so it is difficult for the general public to obtain the required information. For example, the online service of the Geological Survey of India is relatively backward, with a single online service model and low service level. Only the names of some published reports, maps and publications, as well as the formation years, authors and selling prices of these reports are published on the website of the Geological Survey of India.
Fourthly, the geological survey in developed countries has established a relatively perfect geoscience information service system.
Information service system is a set of interrelated and interactive elements to achieve information service objectives, which is composed of basic elements, supporting elements and their relationships.
The basic elements of information service system include information service object (group, organization or individual), information service provider (group, organization or individual), information service content (including service category and corresponding tangible products) and information service mode. The service object is the receiver of the service, the service provider is the implementer of the service, the service content is the service and related information products provided by the service provider for the service object, and the service mode is the means of service. These four basic elements are indispensable for any information service, and geoscience information service is no exception.
In addition to the above basic elements, a complete information service system should also include supporting elements such as technology, service management and policy, and service quality. These elements are prerequisites for the smooth and effective implementation of geoscience information services. As mentioned above, information service, especially modern information service, needs the support of network service technology and corresponding service system. In addition to technical support, improving scientific policies and management is also an important factor to ensure the normal operation of information services. Which departments are endowed with service functions, what services they provide and what service methods they adopt are directly related to policy and management.
In the long-term practice of geoscience information service, in order to meet the changing needs of the country and society for geoscience information service, developed countries have established a relatively perfect information service system.
In the policies, articles of association or standards of geological survey information service in developed countries, the object, content and mode of information service are clearly defined.
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of information services, the United States, Canada, Australia and Britain have formulated and implemented a series of national or departmental information service policies. These policies have formed a relatively complete system. The main contents include freedom of information law, copyright and intellectual property law, privacy law and policies that stipulate the object, content, pricing, information release, customer relationship and service quality of information services (Jiang Zuoqin, 2006).
All countries attach great importance to customer relations, establish communication and exchange mechanisms with customers, and listen to customers' opinions in various ways at various stages, such as determining development strategies and priorities, making plans to develop information products, and increasing customer participation to improve customer satisfaction. Pay attention to users' feedback when providing information services. For example, both the US Geological Survey and the Canadian Geological Survey have customer service systems, and have established customer service standards and customer service action teams. Australia has formulated the service charter of the Australian Bureau of Geosciences to provide customers with the best professional products and services. The British Geological Survey has also formulated a series of service policies to strengthen service awareness and improve service level.
Five, the geological survey of developed countries have strict review procedures for the release of information products to ensure the quality of information products.
For example, the US Geological Survey has formulated corresponding information quality guidelines and information product planning. The scientific method of USGS for information products is to review, approve and publish. The Information Quality Guide stipulates the information review process of Geological Exploration Bureau, and provides the management process, information correction requirements, evaluation and appeal process for information that the public thinks is wrong or does not meet the quality guide, thus realizing the timely correction of information. The information quality guide aims to provide policy and process guidance for federal agencies to ensure the quality, objectives, uses and completeness (including statistical information) of information published by federal agencies, and to make it more perfect.
6. Geological exploration in developed countries began to attach importance to commercial geological exploration and formulated a relatively perfect product price mechanism.
Because the functions and tasks of geological survey institutions around the world are mainly public welfare, basic, strategic and comprehensive geological work, it is decided that the funds of geological survey institutions in most countries mainly come from government grants. Nearly 75% of USGS' funds come from government grants and 25% from paid contract income. The economic income of the Australian Geological Survey also mainly comes from government grants, accounting for more than 3/4. Government funding of the British Land Survey accounts for 36% ~ 46%, and other income accounts for 54% ~ 64%. According to statistics, 90% of the funds of geological survey institutions in India, South Africa and Brazil are allocated by the government (Shi Junfa, Jin Qinghua and others, 2006). It can be seen that the geological survey in developed countries has begun to attach importance to commercial geological survey while carrying out public welfare survey, and has become a part of the funding source of geological survey.
In addition to the most basic geological data can be downloaded free of charge through the Internet, most geological data in developed countries are charged different fees. Comparatively speaking, the fees charged by the United States are the lowest, and the free resources in the United States are also the most, reaching 65% of the user's demand.
In foreign countries, the charge for geological products is called cost recovery, and some countries have formulated cost recovery policies, but the purpose of cost recovery is not to really recover the cost of results, let alone profit, but only to better provide socialized services and promote the fair use of public resources. Because most countries adhere to the purpose of public service of geological products, the product price composition is generally based on cost and low service fee, while in Britain, the product price composition includes geological survey work fee, which has a strong commercial nature.
For example, geoscience products in the United States have a high degree of marketization, and many digital products provide free download services. Paper media, plastic media, CDs and other products can be purchased by mail order or directly from agents, and the purchase price is very cheap. From the perspective of price composition, the price of geoscience products in the United States does not include the cost of geological survey, but is based on the cost of geological survey data and data distribution services.
However, the price of British geoscience products is significantly higher than that of American products, and the price of maps ranges from 5 to 20 pounds. General applied geological and engineering geological maps are sold together with published literature reports in this area, or they can be retailed, and the price ranges from 10 to several tens of pounds. From the perspective of price composition, it includes not only the expenses incurred in the process of geological survey data and data release, but also some geological survey expenses. Obviously, the geological survey data in Britain are of a strong commercial nature, which is inconsistent with the public welfare characteristics of other countries.
Australia's product catalogue in 2002 listed the "suggested retail price" of various products, including the price of the products themselves and service charges. According to the consumption level of developed countries, the pricing of most products is not too high. However, the price of remote sensing data, especially the remote sensing data processed to varying degrees according to customers' requirements, is quite high. According to the preliminary judgment, the price composition of Australia's independent intellectual property products is generally the product cost plus a certain proportion of service fees (excluding the cost of data acquisition processes such as geological mapping). Judging from the price composition, it is mainly based on the geological survey data and the expenses incurred in the process of data distribution service, excluding the expenses of its geological survey work.
In most cases, all kinds of spatial information and data collected by Canadian geological institutions in performing their duties are now provided to the vast number of data users in the form of fees. From the perspective of price composition, the price of geoscience products in Canada is based on the cost of geological survey data and data distribution services, including the cost of carriers, services and transmission, but excluding the cost of previous geological survey work.
Seven, pay attention to copyright protection
Foreign developed countries attach great importance to copyright protection in the socialized service of geological survey results. Without the permission of the copyright owner, the work shall not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means, nor shall it be stored in any retrieval system. Usually, national geological surveys only hold the license to use the results or data, and the copyright is controlled by the state, the Federation or other institutions. For example, the copyright of the works of the British Geological Survey belongs to the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and the intellectual property management office of the British Geological Survey is authorized to issue licenses for the use of results on behalf of the Natural Environment Research Council, while the Australian Geological Survey sells licenses for the use of data, not actual data.
The legal basis for the copyright of the Australian Geological Survey is the copyright law of 1968 (revised twice by 1980 and 1984). The Australian Bureau of Geosciences provides information products to customers according to licensing conditions. Any data provided to the other party always retains copyright, even if there is no license fee or royalty, and the other party is granted extensive rights to use the data. For example, most products that can be downloaded from the Internet website of the Australian Bureau of Geosciences have no license fee. However, the Commonwealth of Australia still retains the copyright of the data, and users must abide by the licensing conditions, which are provided with the download.
In order not to infringe the copyright of the work, the British Land Survey must obtain the permission of the copyright owner. In general, you must hold a specific copyright license and pay an appropriate annual fee to copy the works of the British Bureau of Investigation. Witnesses with annual (permit) certificates have the right to extract maps and other documents from the British Land Survey and transfer them to third parties as required. However, the licensee of this license has no right to regard the works of the British Geological Survey as the licensee's own works or to publish them.
Eight, the geological data related to national defense security and national strategy are strictly confidential.
Geological products have certain particularity, and many of them are closely related to national defense security and national strategic issues. Therefore, all countries have strict regulations on the use of such information, which is usually classified as confidential and not made public. Even if some developed countries claim that all their geological survey data are provided to the public, it is only that the conditions for the use of confidential information are relatively loose. For example, in Australia, obtaining data and map products that are not listed in the spatial data use measures and price policies requires special license and payment of use fees; In Japan, the user's application for data utilization must be approved by the production and research institute.
The Copyright Law of the British Geological Survey clearly stipulates that the digital data set of the British Geological Survey and other works classified as confidential shall not be used by foreign parties. Take the map of the British Geological Survey as an example. Its copyright owners include the British Geological Survey and the Ordnance Department. Most geological maps of the British Geological Survey use the topographic data of the Ordnance Department, which belongs to the "Crown Copyright". The British Geological Survey recognizes the "Crown Copyright" of its geological maps and other publications (and other copyright owners). Works of the Ordnance Department can only be reproduced with a license issued by the Ordnance Department.
India has a stricter secrecy system for geological data, and it can even be said that India is one of the countries with the strictest secrecy system in the world. 1967, the Indian government and the Indian Ministry of Defence issued a map security policy, and later revised the policy several times according to actual needs. The revised provisions stipulate that the sale, publication and distribution of topographic maps and geographical maps located between the demarcation line (see the "Topographic Map Index" published by the Indian Bureau of Investigation) and the land boundary line, similar maps of Bhutan and Sikkim, and similar maps of remote islands and maps with a scale of 65,438+0: 65,438+0,000 shall be subject to special regulations. Confidential topographic maps can only be provided to government agencies, educational and scientific research institutions and semi-official institutions.
All aerial photographs of India are classified as top secret or top secret. Since geological maps drawn by the Indian Geological Survey are usually based on topographic maps, their publication, sale and publication are also strictly restricted by the Indian Ministry of Defence. The export of confidential maps is prohibited unless approved by the Ministry of National Defense. Even maps of unrestricted areas are not allowed to be exported if they contain any national boundaries of India and contain contour information that can describe topographic features, and the scale is greater than or equal to 1/4 inches. It is also prohibited to export 65,438+0: 25,000 thematic geological maps based on unclassified topographic maps. If you want to sell such geological maps to foreign institutions, you must pass the security review of the Ministry of National Defense and obtain the permission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Nine, the geological survey data or information in developed countries are adjusted by the freedom of information law.
Public welfare geological survey projects in all countries are invested by national public finance, and the results of their formation are geological information, which belongs to public products. Public goods are generally funded by the government, and the results are enjoyed by the society. All countries in the world have passed freedom of information laws to regulate the management and use of such public goods. Freedom of information law is an administrative regulation on the management and use of government information (including government data), and it is the main legal basis for national government information management and the use of government information by the whole people. The earliest national freedom of information law in the world was enacted by Sweden in 1776. After entering the 2 1 century, governments all over the world have strengthened the legislative work of government information management to facilitate citizens to use the resources provided by the government and increase the transparency of government work. By the end of 2009, 68 countries around the world had promulgated freedom of information laws. Such as the United States (1966), Canada (1982), Australia (1982), France (1978), Japan (1998) and South Africa (2000). In addition to comprehensive freedom of information laws, some countries have enacted different laws for different types of information, such as data protection laws and health and environmental information access laws. Not only that, they also have implementation guidelines that are easy to implement. Among them, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which came into force in the United States in 1966, was amended several times in 1974, 1976, 1986 and 2000.
Due to the different situations in different countries, the contents of various laws naturally vary greatly. From the contents of freedom of information laws in various countries, it can be seen that the legal right of citizens to use government information is established in the provisions of freedom of information laws. Therefore, information disclosure is the fundamental principle, and non-disclosure is the exception. According to this principle, citizens have the right to know government information, and the government should bear the burden of proof if it refuses to provide information. Other government information (including data) must be made public. For example, a series of data access policies formulated by the relevant agencies of the US federal government, including remote sensing data, environmental protection information and data, marine atmospheric data, etc., are all formulated under the principle of the Freedom of Information Act.
In addition, whether the information provided by the government is charged for service is generally clearly stipulated in the guidelines for the implementation of freedom of information laws in various countries. The general principle is: the provision of public domain information is not for profit, and it can be free or charged, even if it is charged, the bottom line is unprofitable; Information provided in the commercial field can be charged or free, but both are for profit.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice's Guide to the Implementation of Freedom of Information Law, American citizens do not need to accept applications for freedom of information. However, according to the law, federal government agencies have the right to charge a certain fee. As far as fees are concerned, the Freedom of Information Law divides applicants into three categories: commercial applicants may have to pay fees for inquiring, processing and copying records; Education, non-profit scientific research institutions and media departments only need to pay the copy cost of 100 or more; Applicants who do not belong to the above two categories belong to the third category. They don't need to pay the processing fee, and the first two hours of inquiry and the copy of the first 100 page are free. The collection of total fees is also limited to information media fees and mailing fees. Government information service institutions shall not form joint ventures with private enterprises.
The implementation guide of freedom of information law in some European countries such as Britain clearly stipulates that the government can charge service fees. The British Ministry of Finance issued a guide to government information service charges in 1992. The basic principle is to allow government information services to charge fees, and the pricing quota of information services should be based on recovering all the costs incurred in the process of information management, plus 6% interest on funds. The Guide implements different charging standards for three types of service objects: the pricing level of information services that should be provided by the state, not for profit; For government services, the amount of fees is determined by financial objectives, but in principle, the cost of information management should be recovered to ensure that users make full use of information services and realize the monetization of government information value; Regarding the provision of information services to commercial departments, the Guide holds that fair competition should be considered in pricing, and under no circumstances should it be lower than the cost of information management. At the operational level, the government and private enterprises are allowed and encouraged to jointly provide information services.