Paikkatietolainaamo is a pilot service by University of Turku. It is a archive of different sorts of geographical and locative data about southwestern Finland. By allowing temporary free use of the archive, they aim to boost R&D in the field. That's nice, but I wonder one thing: if most of the surveying and gathering of geographical data is conducted by government organisations(?), why couldn't this data available to the public for free? And secondly, what kind of open source cartographic initiatives and communities there are out there?
Related: Elephant Paths, Locative.org