Data policy
Conditions of access to tide gauge data
The aim of SONEL is scientific applications. In this respect the agencies which provide SONEL with tide gauge data have agreed to a free publication policy (SHOM, LEGOS,...). Users of tide gauge data published on SONEL agree to :
– register as a user of SONEL,
– describe briefly the aim of their studies and the context (agency, funding, programme etc.),
– communicate the final and/or partial results of the studies (reports, articles etc.),
– cite the source of the data (agency that produced the data, for example: SHOM, LEGOS ) and the access to the data (in this case SONEL),
– communicate any problem with a bearing on the quality or the integrity of the data,
– not to provide data to a third party, instead they should give the address of the third party to SONEL.
The data producer cannot be held responsible for the scientifc uses made of the data, our approach is one of research and questioning which may even include the measurements themselves.
As for the operational pratical or commercial applications, the users are asked to contact the agencies that produced the data (this information which can be found in the documentation files attached to the data), since these applications are distinct not just in terms of the economic and financial stakes, but also through the responsabilities that should be examined on a case by case basis. Offenders have no garantee as to the integrite or the quality of the data. Moreover, they may be liable to prosecution.
Conditions of access to the GPS data
The publication of GPS data complies with the policy of the international IGS service, established at the beginning of the 1990s. The GPS data are freely accessible and published on the Internet. This policy of scientific service is founded on the need to share the load of an infrastructure that greatly exceeds the capacity of any given agency. This policy is similar to that of a public service and provides access to products of a quality that could never be achieved without this infrastructure and that are useful in numerous applications of precision positioning (satellite orbits, clocks etc.).
The IGS thus depends on the goodwill of agencies which understand and have in common this logic of free publication and sharing. However, it is important to acknowledge this kind of service in the publications of the results obtained by thanking either the IGS and all of those involved, or the agency that provided the data which were used in the study. In SONEL, the agency is indicated in the specification file for the GPS stations. Thanks for your cooperation !
Two references which are suggested by the IGS for citation in publications written using the stations or products of the IGS are :
Dow J.M., R. E. Neilan, C. Rizos (2009): The International GNSS Service in a changing landscape of Global Navigation Satellite Systems. Journal of Geodesy, 83, pp. 191–198.
Dow J.M., R.E. Neilan, G. Gendt (2005): The International GPS Service (IGS): Celebrating the 10th Anniversary and Looking to the Next Decade. Adv. Space Res. 36 vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 320-326.
