Open space: The global effort for open access to environmental satellite data

Changes in the satellite-based remote sensing industry are evident in recent years. Formerly a domain reserved for the military and intelligence agencies of governments, there now exists a so-called geospatial revolution due to the ongoing commercialization of Earth observation (EO). Backed with money from government contracts, angel investment, and venture capital, private companies have launched hundreds of EO satellites featuring various instruments and sensors. The result of this surge of privately owned satellite constellations is a similar level of satellite data. Beside country-specific data policies, access to this supply of satellite data is governed by competitive pricing. However, the industry is still in the process of effectively marketing the benefits of remote sensing data to commercial clients, finding profitable business models, and recouping financial investment. The book Open Space: The Global Efforts for Open Access to Environmental Satellite Data offers interesting parallels to this situation by looking at the evolution of data policies for environmental satellite data since the 1960s. Mariel Borowitz tackles an important puzzle by explaining why some governments have opted for open access policies, while others chose to limit access to environmental satellite data. More specifically, Borowitz wonders that, given the potential benefits of satellite data for myriad environmental and social problems, why “in many cases the space and meteorological agencies around the world that collect satellite data essential to addressing these issues do not share that data freely[?]” Borowitz identifies a certain pattern in data sharing policies from open access, in the early phases of government remote sensing, to more restrictive regulations, and then back to open data sharing. In this context, the book explains what drove government agencies to change their data sharing policies in this particular sequence. To address these issues, Borowitz develops a theoretical framework and applies it to seven empirical case studies that comprise relevant agencies from the United States, Europe, and Japan. Altogether, the book finds compelling answers for the questions raised, effectively creates a reference guide for data policies of current government Earth observation programs, and provides policy recommendations to increase sharing of global satellite data. This review first presents the central arguments of the book, followed by a summary of pertinent points in the individual chapters. After that, it discusses the book’s strengths and weaknesses in context of the current state of commercial remote sensing.