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nsidc / qgreenland

Source code for generating the QGreenland package hosted at https://qgreenland.org/
https://qgreenland.readthedocs.io
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[Bug]: UTM Zones 404 on download #521

Closed MattF-NSIDC closed 1 year ago

MattF-NSIDC commented 1 year ago

Issue description

The data is not hosted at the currently-configured URL anymore https://sandbox.oarc.ucla.edu/mapshare/data/world/data/utmzone.zip

System information

N/A

trey-stafford commented 1 year ago

The dataset landing page still exists (https://apps.gis.ucla.edu/geodata/dataset/world_utm_zones) but the link to the data 404s. I emailed UCLA's Institute for Digital Research and Education about the problem. Hopefully they fix it!

Options:

Use ArcGIS data source

ArcGIS hosts the data. The source attribution is "Esri; U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)". The License around the use of this data from ArcGIS is unclear... they have a document on the redistribution rights of various datasets. For UTM Zones, it indicates that the following applies:

“Yes 1” - Redistribution rights are granted by the data vendor for hard-copy renditions or static, electronic map images (for example, .gif, .jpeg, and so on) that are plotted, printed, or publicly displayed with proper metadata and source/copyright attribution to the respective data vendor(s).

“Yes 2” - Geodata are redistributable with a Value-Added Software Application developed by Esri Business Partners on a royalty-free basis with proper metadata and source/copyright attribution to the respective data vendor(s).

“Yes 3” - Geodata are redistributable without a Value-Added Software Application (such as, adding the sample data to an existing, [non]commercial dataset for redistribution) with proper metadata and source/copyright attribution to the respective data vendor(s)

Since we redistribute with metadata and source/copyright attribution, I think we'd be fine, but I feel a bit uncomfortable using a source from ArcGIS. They have a "Yes 4" that is pretty unambiguous and would leave me feeling more comfortable about using this dataset, but it doesn't apply to the UTM Zones:

“Yes 4” - Public domain data from U.S. government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution

Use the NGA's data directly

The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency hosts a UTM zones dataset themselves. They don't have any clear licensing associated with the dataset. I think this would be OK given it's a US government resource.

Continue to use our cached data from UCLA

This is what the cache is for. If we can't find an updated path to the data we could continue to provide it and correctly cite it. Hopefully UCLA fixes the link soon and users will be able to fetch the data for themselves from the original source.

Remove the layer completely

Is the UTM Zones layer actually useful? Data are often given in a UTM zone projection so it can be handy as a reference in some situations but QGreenland uses a polar stereographic projection.

trey-stafford commented 1 year ago

Moving this into 'review'. Will re-assess as a team.

trey-stafford commented 1 year ago

Going to just leave the layer as-is. Using the existing cache is totally fine.