Map of the Week 10-10-2011: Scotland’s Greenspace Map

Detail of Scotland’s Urban Greenspace Map

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-14898280

UK Ordnance Survey
Thanks, Andrew Maroko, for sending me the link

“Scotland's Greenspace Map is a world first; no other country has mapped its greenspace in this way.  This interactive map provides information about the type and extent of greenspace in urban Scotland (i.e. towns and cities with a population of over 3000).  It was compiled in 2011 from greenspace data provided by the 32 Scottish Councils.”  

From: http://www.snh.gov.uk/planning-and-development/advice-for-planners-and-developers/greenspace-and-outdoor-access/open-space-audits-and-strategies/

The interactive map itself:

http://www.snh.gov.uk/planning-and-development/advice-for-planners-and-developers/greenspace-and-outdoor-access/open-space-audits-and-strategies/dataset/

The interactive map opens up showing all of Scotland and a good bit of northern England as well.  Glasgow, for instance, (my future home!) appears as a huge and many-tentacled green blog, indicating that Glasgow has lots of greenspaces, especially, it appears, along linear corridors.  However, if you really, really zoom in, (zoom to four or five levels below the top – the website says to at least 1:18,056, but since there is no scale on the map, that is singularly unhelpful advice!) you can see all the types of greenspaces differentiated as to playgrounds, civic centers, sports facilities, public parks and gardens, green corridors, natural and semi-natural greenspaces, private gardens and greenspaces, golf courses (it IS Scotland, after all, and golf courses run rampant!), cricket greens, tennis courts, transportation rights-of-way, churchyards, cemeteries, community allotments (similar to our community gardens), school grounds, woodlands, etc.  The more zoomed in you get, the finer the categorization of the types of greenspaces.  There are 23 primary types and a number of secondary types of greenspaces included. 

It’s very interesting how they’ve managed to include even all the private greenspaces in the whole country.  Their methodology included using aerial photo interpretation of Open Survey Mastermap to produce a GIS data layer showing primary (and where appropriate, secondary) typologies for each greenspace polygon.

The standard methodology used to map Scotland’s greenspaces is detailed in the Urban Greenspace Mapping and Characterisation Handbook, available as a free pdf downloadable at:

http://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/upload/File/GreenspaceMapping_Handbook_revised%20Dec2010.pdf

            This is a very worthwhile document to peruse, and the level of detail and explicitness is commendable. 

PS – STUDENTS!  TAKE NOTE!  THIS is what a good methodology report should look like.  It includes a data dictionary, data needs assessment, metadata, explanation of how things were categorized, and full description of analyses undertaken.  From this handbook, and assuming access to the same data, anyone would be able to duplicate the work done.  This is what needs to be compiled at the end of a research project, and it makes an impressive appendix to the dissertation!

The Greenspace Scotland organization’s website:

http://www.greenspacescotland.org.uk/default.asp?page=587

Karaoke hoarder becomes first Scottish file-share convict

Procurator Fiscal:
"Law and honour"

Via the ever-helpful Hector MacQueen comes news of a media release from the other side of Hadrian's Wall, issued earlier today by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scotland. It reads as follows:

"FIRST PERSON IN SCOTLAND CONVICTED OF ILLEGAL MUSIC FILE SHARING

Anne Muir, 58, has become the first person in Scotland to be convicted for illegally sharing music files online. Muir pleaded guilty at Ayr Sheriff Court last month to a contravention of section 107(1)(e) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Muir, from Ayr, admitted to distributing £54,000 worth of copyrighted music files by making them available to others via a 'peer-to-peer' file sharing application.

Following an initial investigation by BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) and IFPI International Federation for the Phonographic Industry), a formal complaint was made to Strathclyde Police. Officers subsequently obtained a search warrant for her home at Gordon Street, Ayr, and seized vital evidence, including computer equipment.

This is the first conviction of its kind in Scotland and is particularly significant to the music industry.

District Procurator Fiscal for Ayr, Mirian Watson, said:

"Intelligence gathered by BPI and IFPI revealed that Anne Muir was a prolific user of a particular file sharing network based in the UK. Illegally flouting copyright laws is tantamount to theft and not only deprives legitimate companies and artists of earnings, but also undermines the music industry as a whole. We will continue to work effectively with law enforcement in this area and to apply our robust prosecution policy."

Sentencing has been deferred until 31 May at Ayr Sheriff Court".

The BBC has supplied further details. Muir's lawyer Lorenzo Alonzi is reported as saying that his client, an auxiliary nurse at Ayr hospital, had not used the network for any financial gain, but to build up her self-esteem after suffering from depression for a number of years:

"Mrs Muir was not in any way trying to distribute on a large scale, she had a very big quantity of these files because she was hoarding -- a symptom of a severe obsessive personality disorder that she suffers from. She has, for many years, suffered from bouts of depression, which causes her to have extremely low self-esteem."

Her haul consisted of 7,493 digital music files and, truly depressingly, 24,243 karaoke files.

Much will depend on how the court treats Muir when it comes to the sentencing.  A low sentence will be seen as no more than a slap on the wrist and as a message that it's not worth prosecuting file sharers; a high one will make her into a martyr and can result in poor publicity for the copyright-reliant industries.  The court may have a tough job getting the right balance, particularly if Muir's mental state is a major issue.

Use it or lose it? The Scottish Law Commission reflects on copyright and limitation periods

The 1709 Blog has just heard news from the Scottish academic and amiable IP personality Hector MacQueen that the Scottish Law Commission has just published its Discussion Paper No 144 entitled "Prescription and Title to Moveable Property". This doesn't sound much like anything to do with copyright, but let Hector take up the story:

"In Part 11 it considers the possibility raised amongst many other points in Fisher v Brooker [2009] UKHL 41 [the "Whiter Shade of Pale" case, potted by the 1709 Blog here], namely that under Scots law's Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 non-use of a copyright work for 20 years could lead to the right-holder being unable to enforce the right and indeed losing it altogether. While Lord Hope in Fisher thought this could not be right, there is no provision in the 1973 Act to make the point directly. The Discussion Paper discusses the implications for the problem of orphan works, and suggests that the 1973 Act should have added to it a provision similar to section 39 of the Limitation Act 1980 in England, under which limitation rules do not apply to any right for which a fixed time period is provided by any other enactment, whether passed before or after the coming into force of the enactment in question.
This would apply to the copyright legislation and prevent any possible difference between Scotland and England in the application of copyright law.

One of the difficulties for the Commission is that, so far as it can tell, this suggestion could only be put into effect by the Westminster Parliament. This is because it seems that the amendment would apply only to intellectual property legislation, which is not devolved to the Scottish Parliament under the Scotland Act 1998. One of the things the Commission would like to know is whether section 39 of the Limitation Act 1980 has any application beyond intellectual property legislation. If it does, it might then be possible to say that the Commission's suggestion did not apply only to intellectual property and hence could be legislated upon by the Scottish Parliament. Para 1.12 of the Discussion Paper briefly explains the issues".

Hector adds, and we agree, that it would be very helpful if any of our readers who are expert in English law generally could point the Commission in any relevant direction on this.