This story appeared in the BBC a few days ago, but so far I haven’t had a chance to comment. Basically, the government is going to make the Royal Mail postcode database available for free to those who want it, with the Ordinance survey database to follow.

This is a surprising glimmer of light in an otherwise rather bleak legislative and business landscape, and the mention that the ordinance survey data might follow is also good. A victory for the data freedom community certainly.

Details on exactly how the data is to be made available is somewhat thin on the ground. We tax payers have paid for its development, so it is my hope is that the data will be made public domain and available to all without usage restrictions. A situation where it is small f free – free for non-commercial use for example will be less useful.

Nevertheless, this is encouraging and definitely a step or two in the right direction.